Toyota's sales declined in the United States due to safety issues with unintended acceleration in some of its vehicles. Reports of fatalities linked to Toyota vehicles surged after recalls in late 2009 and early 2010 for issues with gas pedals and floor mats trapping accelerators. Most other major automakers saw increased sales in February 2010 compared to the previous year, while Toyota sales were down almost 9%. Ford surpassed General Motors to become the top selling automaker for the month.

1. What led to the downfall of the
Toyota brand-name worldwide?
s1170187 Daichi Kikuta

2. About Toyota
Reported highway fatalities associated
with runaway Toyota vehicles surged in
recent weeks as the world’s largest
carmaker revealed that its U.S. sales
continued tumbling.

3. 2009
● Automakers on Tuesday released their
U.S. sales figures for February.
● the first full month since Toyota’s
recall woes hit the headlines. Nearly
all the major companies except Toyota,
whose sales declined almost 9 percent,
reported double-digit percentage
increases over sales in February 2009.

4. 1990
Ford Motor Co. led the way with a 43
percent jump, which let it seize the
monthly top spot from General Motors Co.
for the first time since the late 1990s.

5. NHTSA announced that the number of
fatalities unofficially blamed on
unintended acceleration in Toyota
vehicles since 2000 had risen by more
than 50 percent since Feb. 15.

6. Recall
● Three-quarters of the fatal accidents
(32 out of 43) were reported to NHTSA
during the four months since Toyota
recalled nearly 4 million vehicles in
October for gas pedals becoming
entrapped by floor mats.
● Twenty-six fatal incidents were reported
after Toyota recalled more than 2
million vehicles for “sticky pedals”
in January.

7. Toyota’s showrooms
● Toyota’s showrooms began hurting in
earnest in February, with U.S. sales
declining 8.7 percent.
● The overall drop included a plunge of 20
percent in purchases of Camry sedans,
the top-selling passenger car in the
American market for the past seven
years.

8. Even
Chrysler LLC experienced a sales gain of
0.5 percent last month, its first year-
over-year gain since the recession began
in December 2007.

9. Victory
● the biggest winner was Ford, which sold
142,006 cars and light trucks, compared
with 99,050 in February 2009.
● Ford’s surging numbers topped GM’s
monthly unit sales for this February
(141,535), the first time Ford has done
so since July 1998, when GM was hampered
by a labor strike.

10. Reference
● http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/
● http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009%E2%80%932011_
● http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/mar/03
● http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/02/24/evening