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Toyota announced that letters will be mailed for the sticky accelerator pedal recall but not all Toyota car owners will have mailing address information that is correct is Toyota’s database.

In a separate announcement on February 8th, Toyota tells Prius owners included in the 2010 Prius recall to wait for their recall letter. Does Toyota believe that they will get a 100% delivery rate?

As Toyota has starting fixing cars that are part of the massive Toyota recall program, some Toyota owners are at risk of falling through the cracks.

In an exerpt from Toyota’s February 5th press release:

“The company also announced that it has begun mailing letters to owners of recalled vehicles to let them know when to bring their vehicles into a dealership. Owners will only receive a letter if their vehicle is involved in the recall. Upon receipt of a notification letter, owners will be asked to contact a local Toyota dealership to schedule an appointment to have their vehicle fixed.”

As part of the 2010 Toyota Prius recall press release dated February 8, 2010, Toyota says:

Toyota will begin mailing letters to Prius owners included in this recall next week and HS 250h owners within the next few weeks, to let them know when to bring their vehicles into a dealership. Owners will only receive a letter if their vehicle is involved in the recall.

The press release did not address the very practical problem that Toyota’s database can not contain accurate mailing information for all Toyota owners affected by the recall.

Car sales between private owners as well as mailing address changes as consumers move within the country will impact the effectiveness of a Toyota national recall notification mailing.

Toyota Owners Will be Missed

According to the US Postal Service website:

• 17% of Americans change addresses annually.
• 43 million people move each year.
• One out of every six families move each year.

The ability for any company to maintain an accurate mailing address of their customers has always been a challenge in the direct mail industry. With over 8 million cars included in the floor mat recall and the sticky accelerator pedal recall, when you apply a conservative mailing address error rate of 8%, it can be estimated that over 500,000 Toyota owners will not receive their recall letters.

Since Toyota’s press release says that mailed recall letters as the trigger for consumers to call their local dealer, consumers who don’t get recall letters in the coming days are advised to call their local Toyota dealer to check and see if their VIN# and mailing address is correct in the Toyota database. The Toyota press release did not cover what consumers are to do who own cars included in the recall and that do not receive a letter.

Toyota Recall Owners Have a National Podium

Consumers can also particpate in forums and discussions to share their experiences during the recall process on an independant website at www.toyotarercall.org.  The website will allow consumers to freely express their recall service experience and the effect the recall has on their confidence in the Toyota brand. Consumers can also request a local Toyota dealer contact them about a recall service appointment or to confirm that their car in included in the recall.

This independent website which is not affiliated with Toyota, is a popular destination for Toyota car owners to express the questions comments and reactions to the Toyota recall process. The PCG Digital Marketing chose the .org domain extension because the website is designed for public information, education and commentary.

The website www.toyotarecall.org was recently recognized by the Public Interest Registry (PIR.ORG) as a fine example of the effectiveness and application of a .org domain name. You can read their post at: http://blog.pir.org/?p=541

Official Toyota Hot Line

Consumers who are concerned about the safety of their Toyota models not included in the current recall are advised to call the official Toyota Customer Experience Center at 1-800-331-4331.

Add Another Headache to Toyota Motors!

According to a report on February 4th by  MSNBC.com, a Toyota spokesperson admitted on Thursday that problems exist with the brakes on Prius vehicles sold prior to January.

Toyota Motor Corp. spokeswoman Ririko Takeuchi said Thursday that Toyota discovered there were design problems with the anti-lock brake system and corrected them for Prius models sold since late January, including those being shipped overseas.

We first covered this story six weeks ago and posted a question to Prius owners about reported problems with the Prius braking system. If you are a Toyota Prius owner, add your comments to the emerging conversation: Toyota Prius Brake Forum

Toyota Prius Owners Action Plan

If you own a Toyota Prius and have experienced problems with the braking system, you should contact a local Toyota dealer right away. You can use  our Toyota dealer directory.  As additional information on the Toyota Prius anti-lock brakes comes out, we will be covering the news on this www.toyotarecall.org

If you have friends and family who own a Toyota Prius, please send them a link to this page and encourage them to keep connected with the latest news on this serious matter. You can also follow our news updates on Twitter. http://twitter.com/RecallCars

One consumer wrote in to say:

My 2010 toyota prius purchased in Nov 09 also hit a problem during last week when there were heavy rains. Slippery Road, ABS and BRAKE (red in Color) were the signs that all appeared together. Even after the roads were much drier, these signs won’t go away. I took them to dealer and they said that they will have to replace “brake accelerator” which is the heart of braking system. Never imagined that I would run with this problem in a new vehicle.