A Toyota Canada executive says a planned retrofit for some 270,000 recalled Canadian vehicles will provide Toyota customers will a fast and simple repair, which will prevent further problems with sticking gas pedals.

"It's not a quick fix at all, but it's a sure fix," Stephen Beatty, the managing director of Toyota Canada, told CTV News Channel on Monday afternoon.

"It's simple, its elegant, it's easy to deploy and those, of course, are the best engineering fixes for anything like this where we need to respond to a significant number of in-service vehicles."

The company says the repair can be completed in about a half-hour.

The Japanese automaker recalled 4.2 million vehicles in North America, Europe and China on Jan. 21, after a sticky pedal problem was blamed for unwanted acceleration in some vehicles.

Toyota engineers have determined that the sticky gas pedal problem is related to a friction device in the gas pedal assembly that is supposed to provide the proper pedal "feel" by adding resistance. The device has a shoe that rubs against a nearby metal surface during normal pedal use -- but it can be adversely affected over time through wear and environment conditions. Hence, the company has decided to install steel reinforcement bars into the gas pedal assembly to correct the problem.

"What it is, is a situation where the friction mechanism inside the accelerator pedal assembly beings to wear over time," said Beatty.

"And the wear in itself isn't an issue. It's that once you combine wear with exposure to condensation, then you get excess friction. And that excess friction, of course, impedes the travel of the accelerator pedal back to its full rest position."

He said it is a "rare set of conditions" that lead to the problem, which had affected only five Canadian customers as of the start of the Jan. 21 recall.

Beatty said the automaker is highly confident in the retrofit solution.

"We want to make sure that our customers have 100 per confidence that the problem has been eliminated," said Beatty.

"We've tested the modification through hundreds of thousands of cycles, representing years of service, and it is completely effective."

Parts needed for the recall remedy are already being shipped to dealers and Toyota is training its employees on how to fix the problem. Large-scale repairs could begin as soon as Thursday.

In the United States, Jim Lentz, the president of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc., offered an apology to Toyota owners.

"I know that our recalls have caused many of you concern, and for that I am truly sorry," Lentz said in a videotaped statement released to the public.

"Toyota has always prided itself on building high-quality, durable cars that customers can depend on. And I know that we let you down."

Lentz said the 172,000 U.S. Toyota and dealership employees would "work hard to fix your vehicle properly and regain your trust."

More than 2.3 million vehicles were recalled in the U.S., more than eight times the number recalled in Canada.

The company also says it will install a failsafe, so that the accelerator would go idle if the brakes are pressed, in all vehicles by the end of 2011.

In Canada, the automaker recalled the following vehicles, according to a list on its website:

  • Certain 2009-2010 RAV4 models
  • 2009-2010 Corolla
  • 2009-2010 Matrix
  • 2005-2010 Avalon
  • 2007-2010 Camry
  • 2010 Highlander
  • 2007-2010 Tundra
  • 2008-2010 Sequoia

None of the company's Lexus or Scion vehicles are affected. Toyota's Prius, Tacoma, Sienna, Venza, Solara, Yaris, 4Runner, FJ Cruiser, Land Cruiser, Highlander hybrids and certain Camry models are also not affected by the recall.

Any Toyota customer with questions about the recall can call the Toyota Customer Interaction Centre at 1-888-TOYOTA-8.

Vehicle production at two southwestern Ontario plants will be halted this week because of the recall.

The Japanese automaker was also dealing with a floor mat recall in recent months that did not involve Canadian vehicles.

But between the two recalls, Toyota has recalled some seven million worldwide vehicles.

The company's stock, which fell last week, was up nearly four per cent on Monday.

With files from The Associated Press and The Canadian Press