Toyota issued a recall on Feb. 1 of about 270,000 vehicles in Canada and 4.2 million around the world to fix a problem with sticking accelerator pedals. (Charles Rex Arbogast/Associated Press)

At least one Calgary auto dealer has hired extra staff to deal with the crush of business resulting from Toyota's recall of faulty gas pedals.

On Feb. 1 Toyota issued a recall of about 270,000 vehicles in Canada and 4.2 million around the world to fix a problem with sticking accelerator pedals. The company says that in rare occasions, a friction device in conjunction with a spring in the accelerator pedal assembly may fail to operate properly.

The recall affects at least eight models of Toyota automobile products.

Another recall appears imminent for Toyota's 2010 Prius model, a fix that can only be done by the dealership.

Dealerships in Calgary are busy as they gear up to fix the faulty accelerator problem.

Correy Baum, manager at Stampede Toyota, said the dealership has extended its hours and hired extra tech staff so they can get both recall repairs and regular maintence jobs done as quickly as possible.

"We've extended some hours," said Baum. "We've dedicated some techs just for that and we've hired some extra staff just to deal with phone calls. The only thing that would hold us up right now is parts availability. So that's the main concern right now ... we got about 500 [appointments] right off the bat."

Baum said he expects most recall repairs will be completed before the end of the month.

The demand for appointments at places such as Stampede Toyota has driven some customers to independent repair shops for non-recall work.

At Monza Auto in North East Calgary, mechanics are finishing up repairs on other models to make room for Toyotas scheduled to come in this week for non-recall work.

Dealership 'overwhelmed'

Owner Vince Greco said he has been getting a lot of calls from customers asking if he can take up the slack as the Toyota dealerships are jammed. While Greco's shop is not authorized to complete the recall work, his is a licensed Toyota repair shop.

"People are calling us and asking if we can service their cars, and we're overwhelmed with this," said Greco, adding he's fully booked for the next two weeks.

Other garages say they're bracing for even busier times in the coming weeks.

But not everyone is darting off to independent garages.

Steve Turner wants to complete regular maintenance on his Toyota Tundra soon. But he'll wait until the backlog subsides at his Toyota dealer.

"I'm a pretty loyal guy, especially to my garage. I don't like other people touching my vehicle so I'll stay put ... I'll wait."