Toyota's troubles are getting worse

I think the amount of pain, and length of that pain can't be guessed at yet. It will depend largely on how Toyota handles this situation.
I know of people looking forward to the deals they will be able to get on Toyota's in the next few months. I also know of people that are no longer considering a Toyota for their next purchase.
Just how many of each will there be? Only time will tell.

 

I sat and thought this through for a good 5 minutes. I wasn't sure that I wanted to comment on this sensitive subject since I'm in the business and have a dealership name attached to my handle. The thing is, I've been selling Toyotas for 5 years and have sold something like 1800 Toyotas. Not one of my customers was enraged when they called me for clarification about what they read in the paper or saw on TV. The media is crucifying Toyota for this recall. I'm not suggesting that we should turn a blind eye to the recall, misbuilt gas pedal, or potential for a floor mat to become tangled in a accelerator but seriously! "toyota's troubles are getting worse?"

How about this: "toyota recalls and offers a correction for a poorly designed/ engineered/manufactured gas pedal quickly to cure concerns over unintended acceleration!"

The articles suggests that Toyota isn't being "frank," about the problem. Really? Did they know for certain what the cause of the problem really was?

Look at the numbers from this article and tell me how clear this is to you.

"The Japanese automaker made several similar decisions in earlier investigations involving sudden acceleration, and had to be pressured by federal regulators into a recall of floor mats that could trap gas pedals. That recall has grown to cover 5.4 million vehicles.
Sean Kane, a safety researcher who works with attorneys pursuing cases against Toyota, said Friday that he had found 19 deaths and 341 injuries stemming from 815 separate crashes involving Toyotas and sudden acceleration.
"This company is not being frank about the causes of sudden acceleration," Kane said. "We need to get down to the cause, and get it resolved quickly."

Since the vehicles being recalled for a "sticky' accelerator pedal are also involved in the floor mat recall. We'll use the total of 5.4 million vehicles. Why split it up, the data is unclear in terms of which crashes were floor mats and which were accelerators sticking. "Frankly," I don't know and we may never know.

1) .015% chance that your Toyota will have an incident of unintended accleration frm floor mats or accelerator pedal wear.
2).0004%- is the chance that your Toyota will kill you from unintended acceleration accident

Read this old article.http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2004-04-13-unintended-acceleration_x.htm
It brings the Audi and ford unintended acceleration problems back into mind simply as a reference. Read the statstics that suggest that unintended acceleration is 6x more likely for folks older than 60 when compared to younger drivers. I'd like to know what ages are younger but I can only assume it's day 25-45? Some what an offensive stat in my mind.

I think the data suggests that unintneded acceleration happens. I don't think it's necessarily a defect that shows up on all cars at a set time or miles driven. I suspect that an electronic accelerator pedal is to blame. Every day we employ new technology. This technology is going to fail or show defects. We should evaluate those defects and know that these machines and elctronic devices aren't always going to work as intended. Should less than a percent chance that your car will accelerate without you hitting the gas deem Toyota, Ford, Audi, Honda, Chev, or any other manufacturer unsafe?
I don't think so, I say we identify the possibility (which we have ). Look at the pedal design and change what needs to be changed ( if anything). Employ the software that will cancel throttle output when both the gas and brake pedals are pressed....then move on with life. There's no need to hang a manufacturer out to dry. Look at the numbers! It isn't overwelming data. The smoking guns were only recently brought to light as far as I'm aware. ( ABC News ) I don't believe that Toyota was turning it's back on any certain data before this.

As sure as I know that today is Sunday.... I know that we'll run into another dangerous attribute to something we use every day. What when someone fianly proves to us that the cell-phone we put to our head have such a high radiation level that we are all growing golfball sized tumors in our head? What about that laptop? That batter charging, the wifi.....it's all raidation man! One day some study is going to prove what's already out there and you know we'll all be out for blood and will scream about the "cover up." Will you throw out your Black Berry?

 

Look at the source: it's the Detroit Free Press. Japanese auto makers are not very popular in that area.

Tom

 

Time to buy Toyota stock.

<SSSSHHHHUUUSSSSHHHHHH!> Don't tell anyone else!

Bob Wilson

 

I guess they don't want to blame the failure on an American sourced part. That particular part is NOT used in Toyotas manufactured in Japan (from what I've read). It's also interesting to note that this fact is not mentioned in many mainstream media sources.

 

That's an understatement of the year!

 

Just for kicks today, I took my '06 V-6 AWD 269hp RAV4 to a gigantic vacant parking lot to test out this accelleration thingy. Stomped on the pedal from a rolling start and got the car up to 45mph in just a few seconds. (This car goes like a bat out of hell.) With the gas pedal still all the way to the floor, I used my left foot to stomp on the brake and my car came to a stop seconds later. If I used my right foot on the brake, I definitely would've stopped the car even quicker. It seems odd to me that a driver could not control their car if they wanted to, unless the floor mat happens to simultaneously cramp the brake pedal to prevent braking.

My local Los Angeles Times' articles on the subject try to give Toyota a fair shake, but they enjoy fanning the flames. It sells papers. For example, they would never try to give perspective by saying the several hundred incidents covered over six million vehicles. That's, ahem, one in 20,000!!! And that one reason there's so many reported incidents is that Toyota sells so many doggone cars!!! And that ALL manufacturers have reported cases of unintended accelleration. Toyotas just show a slightly higher rate - possibly the floor mat problem - along with a higher total number - just from selling so many vehicles.

That's just my two cents.

 

If it is anything like my industry, Toyota doesn't hand the vendor a completed design and say 'build this'. Instead, the vendor is given a functional spec and plenty of freedom to design it as they wish, to make best use of their own expertise, patents or intellectual property, and manufacturing process. Toyota will approve the overall product and some of the fine details that are most important to them, but doesn't micromanage all the details.

With this sort of process, the parts from different suppliers can be quite different.

 

I do think there is a lot of media sensationalism behind this whole turmoil, but fact is, the perceived most reliable car brand in the world now holds the largest safety recall in history. If you ever doubt what the power of media is, just take a load of this. I'm trying to sell my Prius because I simply don't like it and since so many people wants to have one and there is nothing wrong with my 7-month old Prius, it seems logical selling it would solve my big problem and help somebody else.

Unfortunately, this whole recall crisis exploded right when I started appraising my Prius in popular buyers like carmax. I have looked at quite a few non-private buyers already and I'm having a hard time in getting in decent and honest price for my Prius. All them have a similar claim... Toyotas are selling a lot less after the bad news and that has directly impacted their purchase price even though my Prius is not included in the recall.
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Talking about good resale value... that's a benefit I never thought I would not enjoy from Toyota... how frustrating... in fact, the used car I want to buy to replace my Prius is from a brand historically labeled as having poor resale value, nevertheless that car is worthing 2-3K more than my Prius right now in the used car lots... and they do have very similar values when brand new....

I suppose I'm pretty much stuck... maybe in the summer with higher gas prices. I hope...

 

First, this is absolutely the worst time to sell your Toyotas. Period.
Even if someone is willing, you will get a lousy price from it.

Second, this gas pedal recall cann't explain several things
- Lexus vehicles were also reported to have the same/similar issue, and yet not being recalled. More to come?
- Some incidents of UIA involve vehicles (a Toyota Truck, if I recall) that are stopped at red light, and it "surged" forward while the foot on brake. That is not caused by a "stuck gas pedal" if you ask me....

When Toyota claimed the floormat was the problem to all the UIA problems, I laughed. My floormat of my Prius is still there. I simple don't believe the BS.
I knew the problem was much more than that (see my old post). Now, Toyota think it is the stuck gas pedal. I still don't believe it. A stuck gas pedel does not "accelerate". It, at best, just keeps going. There is some thing that is interfering with the drive-by-wire system. Magnetic interference, for example, could cause electronics to receive false signal. The sooner Toyota finds the solution, the better it is for all, including Toyota itself.

I used to think that Toyota has the best marketing department among all automakers. I now doubt that. The whole thing was simply poorly handled.

leadfoot, your experiment in empty parking lot proves nothing, though I thank you personally for trying. If the issue was as simple to find as a simple parking lot experiement, Toyota would not be in the mess now. Some issues are very elusive.
I worked on software on daily basis. Try to reproduce a multithreaded programming bug, for example, can prove to be a daunting task.

BTW, I am not a troll. I registered here as a Prius owner much earlier than most of you.
Still own our Prius, though it is now driven by my wife now. I have taught you everything she needs to do in case (though chance is very slime) the UIA happens to her. Most times, my kids are in her Prius. Can't say that I am not worried.

Let us hope Toyota find the "true" solution to this issue asap so we can all go back to worry about other things...

 

Man, things just go from really bad to worse yet for ya. I guess your just stuck with that crappy 43 mpg (winter), creaky, rattling piece of junk. Hope things get better for you!

 

You sure have had a stretch of bad luck:

• bought the Prius just in time for the winter MPG hit
• trying to sell the Prius just in time for the recall
• next summer, selling it just in time to miss the higher summer MPG

You might consider buying lottery tickets ... so much bad luck ... maybe you'll hit the lottery. <just teasing>

Bob Wilson

 

Yes, consider the source. It is the Detroit Free Press. Prejudice could easily exist.

IMO a very poorly written and constructed article UNLESS your intent was only to make Toyota look as bad as possible.

Sensational headlines constructed from either "lawyers" with clear agenda against Toyota, and/or taken from owners and specific situations that may or may not have anything to do the current situation.

Toyota's Troubles are getting worse? Well I wouldn't say that based on this article. Just seems the bloody water is attracting more sharks.

 

Precisely...

 

Perhaps you and "The Electric Me" could strike a deal. He doesn't have a Prius but a lot of interest in things Prius. You have a Prius and lost interest in things Prius. Sell the car to him and everyone will be happy.

Bob Wilson

 

Bob, even if my Prius returns 100 MPG in the summer, I don't want to deal with a Toyota anymore... the only good thing left to meet my expectations was reliability and even that is questionable now... so much for begging for good MPG...

I will try to cope and wait for a better time...

In the summer or hurricane season, when this pathetic pedal thing is hopefully faded and gas prices hopefully go up (never thought I would wish for that), then it will be a better time to sell it.

I’m still looking and hoping for a smart soul who is not making this a big deal to offer a decent price for my Prius… who knows…

 

I wish it was only Detroid news...

Toyota Faces Fallout Over Recall - WSJ.com

 

OR state seems a bit too far for a deal, but we can try, please PM me if interested...