Toyota USA agrees to pick up recalled cars in New York state
Owners of recalled Toyotas who don’t feel comfortable driving their cars to a dealer for repairs can have them picked up by the carmaker at their homes -- if they live in New York state, that is.
Toyota USA also will give customers loaner vehicles at no cost while the repairs to prevent potential unintended acceleration are being made.
New York Atty. Gen. Andrew Cuomo announced the agreement with the company Wednesday, saying it would affect the owners of about 500,000 Toyotas in the state.
Some dealers nationwide have been offering such services on their own, but this is the first time Toyota itself has agreed to do so.
“We didn’t want the consumer to pay the price. They did nothing wrong here,” Cuomo said at a news conference. “This is one of the benefits of being a New Yorker today.”
Cuomo, who is expected to run for governor of New York this year, made the announcement in a cold drizzle outside his office in lower Manhattan in front of three recalled Toyotas in his agency’s fleet: a Camry and two hybrids, including one SUV.
He said his office owned 28 Toyotas, including 19 that have been recalled.
“Now that we have this agreement we will get them repaired expeditiously and at no cost to us,” he said.
The news conference took place as Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda was due to testify on Capitol Hill.
