Toyota USA apology commercial

Are you planning to sell yours tomorrow? The resale price has only to do with the number of buyers and sellers in the market.

However if the price of fuel breaks $3.50 again in late spring then you could very likely make up not only your purported theoretical loss but you might also be able to sell it for more than it was worth last November. How do I know? It happened 20 months ago. It was stupid. 1 y.o. Prius' with 25,000 miles on them were selling at auction at $4000 above full MSRP of the new 2008's sitting on the lots, if you could find one. We bought 50 of them at these stupid prices because the public demanded them.

If you actually sell yours now before the peak driving season when gas prices hit their highest point then you're simply giving money away.

If you bought a new 2010 Prius last Fall for say $25000 MSRP before taxes, etc. then when you drove it off the lot it became 'worth' about $20,000 instantly, it was used. It had been titled. If you wanted to trade it in a week later on another vehicle you'd have received about $20K for it.

If the value is $20K now but it's $21K in late spring / summer what value did you lose?

 

What this tells me is that they are very confident in what they've done to resolve the 'hot' issues. Whether the new vehicles become scintillating 'gotta-haves' I'll wait.

 

This is not the final fix and Toyota and Toyoda know it.

 

I'll wait until they fix the brakes on my 2010 Prius before I start to accept their apology.

 

I started trying to sell or trade mine off after I drove it in the first snow here in Denver. It's dangerous. I have a 2006 that I bought used, so the depreciation of a new car does not apply.

And it is not a theoretical drop in proce. The following news story indicates the book value is already being adjusted down:

Toyota Recall Impacting Price of Cars
Experts Say Recall Is Hurting Value Of Some Toyotas

DENVER -- As the uncertainty over Toyota drags on, auto pricing experts say the value of some vehicles will decline. Paul Barratt is the owner of a 2009 Toyota RAV-4. He was drawn to the vehicle for its safety record and price. "I have three kids and one of the considerations I made when purchasing was the safety, track record of the vehicles," said Barratt. But what was a good price in the past, may be quickly eroding, because of the Toyota troubles.

"The value of the effected Toyotas are dropping as of today," said Robyn Eckard of Kelley Blue Book. Kelley Blue Book is known for publishing lists with the values of various cars. "As of today, Kelley Blue Book has dropped the value of the effected Toyotas by about two to five hundred dollars," said Eckard. The experts say the drop could continue for the next 30 to 60 days. That decline could increase the value of your car, if it's not a recalled Toyota.

Not to mention the brakes on the Gen II Prius, which have the same problem (only worse).

But all we can expect is: :hail: TOYOTA (at least on this board).

 

It's a smart psychological move.
They hold their heads down to make it difficult to take a swing at it.

 

+1. But really fix the problem (don't limit the attention to the cars that are making the headlines; there appear to be problems with earlier production cars as well).

 

Debatable? Not even comparable. The bailout was done with my money. Toyota will pay for this out of its own profits and reputation.

 

What choice does Toyota really have? I think the officals in toyota City are just now beginning to understand the potential harm done to the Toyota brand world-wide. It would be different if the recalls were on 10-20% of the model mix, but they are on almost 60% and will soon include the Toyota crown jewel.

 

I know what your saying, and I agree. But they are debatable and comparable IMO from the perspective that they were both high profile media hits to each companies image. And I am contrasting response as well.

Seems like if you screw up with part, albeit essential part, the public is less forgiving than if you run a company so poorly that it goes from Automotive Icon to Beggar.

 

Toyota is setting an example that the Detroit 2 has not done. Which is to acknowledge the problem, promise a commitment to improve, and restore its position in the market.

In 2009, General Motors has had 9 major recalls. Those are:

December 2009 22000 2005-2007 Corvettes with removable roof panels. A previous recall in 2006 failed to remedy the problem. The removable roof panel can be seperated from the rest of the vehicle while in motion.

October 2009 2006 and 2007 model Chevy Cobalt and Saturn Ions for cracked fuel reservoir that can result in engine compartment fires.

July 2009 1880 Chevy, Isuzu and GMC T series trucks for braking problems

July 2009 185,903 model year 2004-2009 Colorado and Canyon trucks for loss of brake lights Parts won't be avaliable for a fix until Feb 2010

May 2009 -- GM is recalling 15,393 MY 2009 Chevrolet Traverse vehicles for failing to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 135, "Passenger Car Brake Systems."

MAY 2009 -- GM is recalling 27,188 MY 2009 Cadillac Escalade, Escalade Hybrid, Escalade ESV, and Escalade EXT; Chevrolet Avalanche, Suburban, Tahoe, Tahoe Hybrid, and Colorado; and GMC Yukon, Yukon Hybrid, Yukon XL, and Canyon vehicles. The fuel system control modules may have a condition in which an adhesive separation of the room temperature vulcanizing (RTV) seal between the seal and the housing may allow water to seep into the module.

MAY 2009 -- GM is recalling 1,243 MY 2010 Chevrolet Camaro equipped with a V8 engine. The positive battery cable may contact the starter motor housing and cause wear on the cable insulation

APRIL 2009 -- General Motors is recalling 1,497,516 MY 1997-2003 Buick Regal, MY 1998-2003 Chevrolet Lumina, Monte Carlo and Impala, MY 1998-1999 Oldsmobile Intrigue, MY 1997-2003 Pontiac Grand Prix vehicles equipped with a 3.8L V6 naturally aspirated engine. Some of these vehicles have a condition in which drops of engine oil may be deposited on the exhaust manifold through hard braking. If the manifold is hot enough and the oil runs below the heat shield, it may ignite into a small flame and may spread to the plastic spark plug wire channel and beyond increasing the risk of an engine compartment fire.

MARCH 2009 -- General Motors is recalling 276,729 MY 2009 Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Cobalt, HHR, Malibu, Traverse, GMC Acadia, Pontiac G5, G6 and Saturn Aura and Outlook passenger vehicles. These vehicles fail to comply with Federal Motor Vehicles Safety Standard 102, "Transmission Shift Position Sequence, Starter Interlock, And Transmission Braking Effect",


Of these 9 recalls 8 are safety related.

However there is no public information that GM has issued an apology or publicly committed to improving its product to reduce these recall incidents.

Those 9 recalls does not include NHTSA's investigation started this year into 905,000 Cobalts with faulty power steering systems resulting in 1,132 complaints alleging the sudden loss of control of the compact car, with 754 of the complaints received in the past six months. Of those there have been 11 reported accidents and 1 injury.

The Cobalt investigation alone is far more than the 2010 model Prius's 100 complaints and no accidents nor injury.

In comparing the two Toyota has responded to the problem with a soon to announced fix and listened to their customer base.

GM has apparently none little but to acknowledge the NHTSA's investigation on the Cobalt.

 

So, is Toyota going to be releasing a fix for the brake problems of the Gen II Prius?

 

Toyota is setting an example? How by knowing of a serious problem causing injuries and deaths and ignoring it, hiding it and then after threat from the NHTSA finally acknowledging the problem? NHTSA shut down the assembly lines, don't kid yourself about that. If toyota did it to look out for the consumer they would have done it by last august at the latest.
If you are at a Toyota dealership of any size I will bet the farm your service department knows of at least a half dozen to a dozen instances of your customers coming in and complaining of the acceleration/brake problem.

Wiat 'til the cover up is the lead story on MSNBC/FOX/CNN and is the headline in the NYTs. Your beloved Toyota will pay dearly for this, I do feel for your dealer though.

 

I was thinking that myself. If it takes shutting down assembly lines to get a fix to a defect, what hope do the people with Gen II Prius' have of getting a fix to their issues? It is not as if the assembly lines for those cars can be shut down....

 

Problem? Let's see Toyota has already announced the repairs for the accelerator problem, and has dealers extending their service hours to address the problem. They will shortly announce a solution for the brake feel situation.

Before you make claims about other problems for Toyota please look at your own product. I am quite sure that with GM's 9 major recalls in 2009 and its own pending problems with 905,000 Cobalt models GM's service departments will have their hands full.

BTW is there a reason GM hasn't provided a fix, recall, acknowledgement or apology for the power steering problem that dates back to 2006? After all it is a SAFETY PROBLEM that has resulted in 1194 complaints to the NHTSA and 11 accidents and 1 injury.

 

Damn TFM if you keep slapping him in the head it might leave a mark, but again maybe not, a rockhead is pretty hard to mark.

 

Personally - not sure how much impact commercials as this will end up having on the public. First the timing stunk - Released and run quite often even BEFORE the Prius recall was announced. I think it would have been a good touch to include a shot of a U.S. map when Toyotas are built - many still consider Toyota as a "foreign" company, although the US economy - and employment - gains much. Of course, not touching on the Prius mfg.

This 'touchy / feely' type of Marketing commercial may turn out to be a solid baseline to restore reputation, but I would have preferred a heartfelt talk by an executive as well - either Toyoda and the U.S. Toyota President. At some point this type of mass media message MUST be done.

This thing is SO overblown - the Prius "recall". Drip Drip Drip over more than a week. And the media and unknowing public don't realize this truly is a minor matter. Not discounting Toyota's blowing of the deal here - appears they tried to stonewall the problem and got caught up in the frenzy. And if -IF- the acceleration issue is not resolved OR Gen II Priuses are recalled as well --- all bets are off on the long term damage to Toyota...

 

This is like a snowball rolling down hill. The toyota dealers I know that also have Ford or chevy stores always have said the Toyota customers expectations are much lower than the comparable ford or Chevy customer. The toyota customer will live with little problems much easier because the expectation is it is a Toyota so it must be ok even though it doesn't feel or sound right. Now that part of the toyota teflon is gone and it has all of a sudden not only become ok to complain about your toyota it is downright fashionable.
Toyota could not have handled this any poorer. Now they are paying the price. Good article on toyota's handling of the mess.

Toyota's Brake-Safety Crisis: Made in Japan - WSJ.com

For those of you who missed it, this ran on the front of the weekend section in the wall street journal on Saturday. The toyota problems have been on the front page of the New York times for 15 days in a row, unbelievable.

 

This is what GM has dealt with for decades, everyone is out to get the big dog, now toyota is the big dog and they are not haandling it worth a sh**. Perception is everything, for years the perception fo Toyota was they were perfect when they were really far from it. Now they worm has turned so to speak.