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The men and women who provide support on FixYa are some of the most talented and dedicated people you’ll ever meet, and many have been recognized throughout their lives for their excellence. One of the new additions to the FixYa Team stands out, even among his highly-decorated peers, for his exceptional number of awards and commendations.

Kel1guy2002, otherwise known as Kelly, was born in Creston, Iowa. His father worked alongside Kelly’s grandfather in his shop, ‘Brown’s Garage’. Kelly joined his father and grandfather in the shop around age 6, acquiring new knowledge and experience every day. By age 8, Kelly was repairing lawn mowers, learning to weld, and driving tractors around his grandfather’s farm. At 10, he built his own mini-bike, soon to be followed by a go-kart and several other projects he refers to as “experimental”.

When Kelly graduated from high school, he went to work as a welder for the Lenox Division of Hoover Ball Bearing Tote Systems. There he redesigned the construction methods of several fertilizer sprayer tanks, increasing production from 3 to 10 tanks a day and earning Kelly his first professional recognition as a ‘Top Welder’ for Tote Systems.

Over 1 million baby slings made by Infantino were recalled today after claims linking them to the deaths of three infants. Both the Infantino SlingRider and the Wendy Belissimo Sling are being recalled. The Consumer Product Safety Commission says that babies can potentially suffocate in the soft fabric slings. The agency urges parents to stop using these slings for infants under 4 months of age.

The slings, which wrap around the chest and shoulders of parents, are popular because they allow the parent to carry their infant very closely, fostering bonding. Infantino , based in San Diego, isn’t the only maker of these slings. Earlier this month, the Safety Commission issued a broad warning about sling-style baby carriers, due to the potential risk of suffocation.

Honda has recently joined the ranks of major automakers plagued by a slew of recalls. Earlier today the automaker announced the expansion of an earlier airbag recall. The recall now extends to 438,000 new vehicles. Affected models include some 2001 and 2002 Accord, Civic, CR-V, and Odyssey models.

This recall is due to dangers caused by the airbag inflators, which can place too much force on the airbag when deployed. This can fracture the inflator and producing metal shards. So far this has resulted in 12 incidents, including one fatality.

One of the great things about FixYa’s large group of Experts is that many of them have led very illustrious careers, and are highly placed in companies and organizations of interest to the technical support sphere. So when very major events, such as Toyota’s recall of 5.3 million vehicles makes the news, our Experts are often in a position to give us some real insight into what’s going on behind the scenes.

One such Expert is Toyota Ed, an award-winning Service and Customer Relations Manager at his Toyota dealership. Having worked with Toyota for years, Ed has unique insight into the situation. He set the record straight about the current recalls and the actual scope of the problem, showing that consumers needn’t panic.

Ed started by saying that “the current situation that Toyota is experiencing with the alleged sticking accelerator pedals has been grossly exaggerated,” and went on to explain the situation to us:

The truth is that there are two different manufacturers of the accelerator pedals- Denso and CTS. CTS is the manufacturer of the alleged defective unit, and is installed in roughly 50% of the vehicles produced in the US only. The Denso pedal has not been found to have any issues whatsoever.

On Monday, Toyota issued a second recall of several popular models due to safety issues. The number of cars recalled continues to climb, and has already affected some 5.3 million vehicles.

The most recent recall, “Pedal” involves the possibility that some accelerator pedal mechanisms may mechanically stick in a partially depressed position, or return slowly to the idle position. Affected models include the following:

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

Toyota’s engineers have developed a solution for vehicles currently in production, as well as vehicles already on the road, and repair kits have already begun shipping to Toyota dealers.