ATLANTA, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Toyota dealers in five U.S. states pulled commercials from local ABC-TV stations due to "excessive" stories about Toyota's recall problems, sources say.
Complaining about coverage of the company's safety and recall problems by ABC News investigative reported Brian Ross, 173 Toyota dealers said the action was because of "excessive stories on the Toyota issues," ABC news said Monday.
The dealers are running commercials on non-ABC stations in the same markets "as punishment for the reporting," an ABC station manager said.
ABC News and Ross reported on "runaway" Toyotas beginning in November, before recent significant recalls by the company.
The commercials were pulled from ABC stations last week by the Atlanta ad agency representing the dealers, known collectively as Southeast Toyota, ABC said.
Dealers in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina and North Carolina are represented by Southeast Toyota. The group's Web site says its dealers sell 20 percent of all Toyotas sold in the United States.
