Though Toyota is getting the brunt of the attention for what are apparently faulty gas pedals, the fact that the problem has been traced to supplier CTS means that Toyota isn’t the only OEM that’s shutting down production until a fix for the pedals is found. Bloomberg reports that Ford’s JV with Jiangling Motors in Nanchang, China has halted production of the Ford Transit commercial van, after switching over to CTS-supplied pedals in December. “We think it’s pretty isolated, but we are aggressively running it to ground,” Ford’s Alan Mulally told analysts in today’s financial results conference call. No other Transits are said to be affected, and Jiangling says that they have not received any reports of unintended acceleration for its Transits.
This sounds like responsible management to me.
Seriously, how hard is it to design a gas pedal? Then go back to 60’s designs. The pedal in my 68 roadrunner never had a problem except that it was always on the floor anyway!
CTS claims that the pedals involved in the recall are made to Toyota specifications. This leads me to a bunch of questions:
1) Are the CTS pedals really made to Toyota specifications, or is there a manufacturing deviation from the spec?
2) Since no Japanese sourced vehicles are being recalled, presumably because they do not use CTS pedals, do those pedals have a different design than those used in the North American Toyota plants? If so, why? If the design is the same and CTS is really building to spec (see question #1), why are Japan sourced Toyota vehicles using that pedal also not recalled?
3) Why would Ford be using Toyota specified pedals in China, or is this a case of all CTS produced pedals being tarred with a broad brush?
Edit: This site has some interesting info about the differences between the Denso pedal and the CTS pedal. http://www.insideline.com/toyota/toyota-pedal-recall-update-3-why-lexus-and-scion-vehicles-are-not-affected.html
Honda and GM use CTS pedals as well. Probably others as well – I just don’t have time to look. I’m sure every manufacturer is taking a close look at their throttle mechanisms at this point no matter who the supplier is. If this spreads to other manufacturers it could get interesting.
http://www.ctscorp.com/publications/press_releases/nr080212.htm
http://www.ctscorp.com/publications/press_releases/nr061211.htm
The question is how different are the pedals? It seems that they are different. If you are a company that sources parts, you should routinely check the parts meet specifications as well. It also depends on how strict the specifications are. I work for a company that does have 3rd parties build products. It is truly amazing the amount of detail that must be put into every specifications to get the product you asked for, and sometimes, you still don’t get that.
For number 3, it is simple. Ford isn’t using the same pedal and no one is sure there is a problem with it yet. But, they are investigating it.
I like the phrase “running it to ground” very much. I think I’ll try to incorporate it into my everyday lexicon.