Local mechanics are ready to fix recalled Toyotas, but few come in

After a three-hour training session in North Haven Thursday morning, a half-dozen mechanics and technicians from Girard Toyota drove back to the dealership ready to fix the accelerators in recalled models.

"We came back ready to start our work," said Bart Voss, a certified technician at the New London dealership.

But only a handful of customers had their cars repaired at the dealership Thursday, the first day technicians were properly instructed on how to install a reinforced plate on the accelerators that have been recalled because of their potential to stick and cause unintentional acceleration.

Despite the attention given to the recall, local Toyota dealerships said they were not overwhelmed the first day they could make repairs.

"I think a lot of it was because the customers didn't have any answers or know any of the answers initially," said Harvey Stoute, the parts and service director at Valenti Toyota in Westerly. "A lot of it is how it's handled over the phone. We took the time to explain to the customer what's going on … 99 percent of the people were satisfied with that since we called them back."

Dealers may have more phone calls to answer after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced Thursday that it has opened a formal investigation into allegations of momentary loss of braking capabilities in the 2010 Toyota Prius Hybrid after receiving 124 reports from consumers. Toyota said in a news release it is cooperating with the investigation and the condition is not related to either the floor mat entrapment recall or the sticky accelerator recall.

Technicians from around the region attended training sessions Wednesday night and Thursday morning to learn how to install the small, reinforced plates for the faulty accelerators. Many Toyota owners have not yet received a letter informing them their model is affected. Service managers said once those letters are sent out, they expect their appointment slots to fill up.

In anticipation, service centers said they are prepared to extend hours and increase staff and mechanics have volunteered to start earlier and stay later.

"We're doing this over anything, even our internal work," said John Antonino, a partner in the Antonino Auto Group that owns Girard. "If someone comes in with this problem we drop that and get them out."

Stoute said the Westerly dealership had completed about 40 accelerator repairs by Thursday evening. Fifteen appointments were scheduled, but with walk-ins, that number was expected to more than double, he said.

The dealerships said because they have extended their hours and there hasn't been a crush of people needing the recall repair, they've been able to keep up with their regular service.

In New London, technicians completed about 10 repairs by the afternoon, but that slowed in the afternoon and only two appointments were scheduled for Thursday evening.

Kat Startz, an assistant service manager, said the department had been slammed with calls from concerned customers since Monday. She had an 11-page call log with the contact information of hundreds of customers who believed their cars were part of the recall.

Antonino said the service department was ready to extend its hours if need be. He said the dealership would be giving customers an "inconvenience certificate" that would be worth up to $100 on future repairs or parts for dealing with the recall.

While Antonino explained how the dealership was prepared to handle the repairs, New London resident Armin Harris was sitting in the waiting room, watching the flat-screen TV, while his car was being fixed.

Harris wasn't aware his 2007 Toyota Camry was part of the massive recall until he came to Girard.

"I came in for an oil change, and they told me it was one that was affected," he said. "I knew if it was broken they would fix it no problem."

m.naughton@theday.com