KENNEWICK, WA -- Help is on the way for thousands of local Toyota owners as the company tries to slam the brakes on its pedal problem. Starting Friday, Toyota of Tri-Cities will be prepped and ready to fix thousands of recalled cars by offering extended service hours and extra technicians.

Action News got a first look at how Toyota is making the fix.

"This is the little shim that we're putting in," Mark Dowells pointed out, the Toyota of Tri Cities Master Technician. "This is the repair part."

If Mark Dowells has anything to do with it, you won't wait long at the service department. He's one of 14 technicians at Toyota of Tri-Cities putting in the extra hours to make sure you drive safely again. At this point, the dealership estimates that roughly 2,000 drivers will be impacted in Benton and Franklin Counties.

Luckily, replacing the faulty gas pedal only takes minutes.

"We're taking a measurement of the space under here," he said, as he went to work on one of the cars off of the Kennewick lot.

After a quick measurement, Dowells replaced the tiny metal piece, bolted it back in the car and used a laptop computer to make sure it fit correctly.

"The process from beginning to end doesn't take all that long, but it's pretty important it gets done," Leonard Lord said, Toyota of Tri-Cities Service Manager. "We're trying to accommodate as many people as we can as efficiently as we can."

The floor mats, on the other hand, could take a while to replace. This dealership is still waiting for those to be shipped and hopes to have them as early as Friday. Once they've arrived, the replacements will happen in phases. Camry and Camry hybrid drivers get first dibs, then Avalon, Prius, Tacoma and Tundra. The idea that the most popular models will be fixed first. Customers should get a notification about the floormats in the mail by next week.

"That one is a more involved recall and the customers should anticipate three to four hours at the dealership to accommodate that recall," Lord said.

But Service Manager Leonard Lord believes waiting shouldn't hurt. He said there's a slim chance drivers will have problems.

"I wouldn't think that there's any reason to panic and there's definitely not a reason to be concerned that your car is going to accelerate out of control and have a massive crash," he said. "Not that we're going to make light of it. We think this is a very serious concern and we're going to deal with it as quickly as possible. But my wife drives a Camry, for instance, and I'm not too concerned that she's going to have a big problem with the car."

Toyota found that, overtime, gas pedals in some of the recalled cars became sticky. At first, it was just a little harder to push down and, when you lifted your foot off the gas, slower to come back up. In the worst case, the pedals on the recalled cars can got stuck part way down. That could mean the car kept accelerating even after you took your foot off the gas.

Toyota officials advise if your gas pedal sticks while you're driving, the best thing you can do is put the car in neutral, hit the brakes, and pull off to the side of the road. Then you're supposed to turn the car off and call your local dealer.

Extended Hours:
Monday through Friday: 7 AM - 7PM
Saturdays: 7:30AM - 6:30PM

They'll keep the extra hours as long as there's a demand.

Plus, the dealership said you can still buy Toyotas even if they are on the recall list. The problem will be fixed before you drive the car off the lot.

CARS RECALLED:
Source: From Jim Lentz, President and Chief Operating Officer, Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.

2005-2010 Avalon
2009-2010 RAV4
2007-2010 Camry
2008-2010 Sequoia
2009-2010 Corolla
2005-2010 Tacoma
2008-2010 Highlander
2007-2010 Tundra
2009-2010 Matrix
2009-2010 VENZA
2004-2009 Prius

Customers can call 736-9900 to set up an appointment.