Toyota to restart stalled US production on Feb 8

Toyota will restart US production of 8 of its most popular models, after recalling millions of vehicles due to faulty gas pedal.

Toyota will restart US production of vehicles affected by a mass recall due to faulty gas pedals on February 8, the Japanese automaker said Monday.

''We will begin production next week on February 8,'' Jim Lentz, president of Toyota Motor USA, said in a conference call with reporters.

Toyota announced plans to suspend the sale and production of eight of its most popular models last week after recalling millions of vehicles because the accelerator pedals became ''sticky'' or trapped in floor mats.

Its first priority is to repair vehicles already on the roads, Lentz said.

Toyota announced earlier Monday that it had found a ''comprehensive solution'' to the pedal problems which involves installing a steel reinforcement bar to the pedal assembly.

Those bars should arrive at dealerships on Tuesday or Wednesday and repairs should begin this weekend.

Sales of vehicles already on dealer lots will begin once dealers have time to repair them.

Lentz did not provide a timeline as to how long customers would have to wait to get an appointment to have their vehicles fixed but said the repairs should only take about 30 minutes and that the supply of replacement parts will not be a problem.

''It's going to be on an individual by individual dealership basis,'' Lentz told reporters. ''The replacement pieces... we will have those in quantity very, very quickly.''

Toyota has redesigned the pedals so that new vehicles will not need the reinforcement bar, Lentz added.