Toyota sinking faster than the titanic

We own two Fords (Explorer and motorhome) that are currently under recall for a brake switch that may spontaneously catch fire. Its not any better on Team Ford.

And I used to have a subscription to Automotive News which listed all of the current recalls by the various manufacturers. GM was well represented on that list.

Our only safe vehicle is the 2001 Toyota Avalon that my GF drives. Go Team Toyota! :madgrin:

 

If you want to make a lot of money, buy Toyota stock. I am going to.

 

As a Toyota owner, I hope you're right, but I doubt it. Do you really think gas prices are a parallel to a safety issue?

The only reasonable comparison I can think of is the Audi 5000, that car went from a hot seller to completely shunned very quickly over (real or perceived) sudden, unintended acceleration. And it took many years for Audi to restore their reputation in the US, certainly wasn't 3 months. How Toyota handles this will be important too, still unfolding. Time will tell...

 

A situation that was much much worse was the Exploder / Firestorm mess. Ford is the new darling of the media and the general public. They botched that worse than anything Toyota has done poorly in these matters. The fact is that very few of the NA driving public had any horrific incidents with the Exploders. Since the vast majority of the driving public didn't have the bad luck of the others then the Exploder fiasco never happened....to them. All is forgotten.

Fuel prices as you say had everyones attention for 6 months...now they are a dark threat only, that is until they break $3.50 - $4.00 again.

My contention is that 99.9+% of Toyota owners have never experienced any of these issues; floor mats trapping pedals, sticky pedals, Prius braking 'bumps', Woz's CC simulation. These 99.9+% of owners are looking at their vehicles and saying:
'Why not me? Did I get the good one?'
As long as these owners are not incovenienced they will rely on their own experiences far more than what the 'haters', the flap-jawed pols or the media would have you believe.

 

I will stick with toyota until I become room temperature. I would never buy a US care if they gave it to me. I was screwed over by GM in 1974 and I am glad they did because I have been driving toyota's trouble free for 35 years. I will not let a stinking gas pedal change my mind.

 

Ah, the Jim Cramer school of stock manipulation:

 

LOL, I love that Cramer clip.

I also love what Luscious Garage did:

 

It will take more than a few months for Toyota to recover, but it will. Go farther back in auto history: The Ford Escort, the one that would blow up from a rear end impact. Ford admitted they knew about the problem, a poorly located bolt, but built the car anyway. A major black eye for the company. However, they kept selling vehicles (though fewer Escorts).

 

I have no doubts that Toyota will recover from this.

I believe you are referring to the Ford Pinto, not the Escort.

 

The only way that Toyota fails to recover from this is if they have misdiagnosed what's wrong, or if this re-inforced steel addition the speak of fails to solve the issue. People will give Toyota the benefit of the doubt once, but not twice for something like this.

 

The massive trail of cover up and deceit is what will really hurt Toyota down the line. It is always the cover up that is killer.

This is a disaster for Toyota dealers. For them I feel.

 

Massive coverup, according to whom? I've heard about it, mostly, from the principal stockholders in GM...Toyota's rival company. I view anything they say with a certain level of skepticism, for obvious reasons...conflict of interests, anyone?

ALL cars have occasional problems, and given the frequency of recalls for all car brands, this is nothing new. I would personally describe it as a witch hunt...statistically irrelevant (but, is even *1* life irrelevant?) data that's being blown up into a media circus.

Toyota is being crucified...and wrongly. Their behavior will determine how well they emerge from this.

Saturn had cars that literally caught on fire...they made it right, and became the only American brand I would buy, partially BECAUSE of their handling of that particular recall.

Chuck

 

Anyone who watches and reacts uncritically to news is allowing themselves to be victimized by it. Whatever happened to common sense?

I had a friend send me the warning about my brakes, because it's a Prius. It's special. It's unique and for the brakes to act up in some situation is news? How come it's not news in other cars? They al have their quirks and quirky solutions.

I've had my Prius for just 30 days and instead of focusing on the quirks, why isn't the media asking "How come every car out there doesn't have a hybrid system in place?"

Hate to sound cynical but this whole brake non-story is just another crass manipulation of stock prices for someone's gain, most likely those who want to pull down Toyota's in hopes that GMC or Ford will go up so they can make money.

And then here's you claiming not to be a troll but parroting their margin calls? If you don't stand to profit from this then I'll assume you have something better to do with your time? Something positive? WHatever you do, be sure to turn off the news because it isn't informative whatsoever.

 

It will blow over....

 

I have bought distressed stocks many times. It is almost certainly too early to buy. There will be a one or more bad quarterly reports to pass first. The only way I would buy sooner is if it goes down below $65/share. The economy itself has not picked up to the point where Toyota is back as a cash machine yet.

Toyota has the technological lead over every other car company when it comes to hybrids. If the price of gas and oil increases Toyota's advantage will be huge but with the economy still sputtering this has not materialized.

 

One might also want to consider the state of the Chinese and Indian economies, which may continue to boom or go bust with due to artificial demand.

There's also a lot of uncertainty in the Eurozone with Greece and other countries accumulating debt.

If Toyota does not sufficiently address the issue then you might never want to buy their stock...

 

I don't think that toyota is going to sink from this, but if anything else is recalled it's going to be a real rough road for toyota. With congress opening up discussions on toyota safety it does not look good. Only thing I know for sure is that Mr Toyoda job is is in jeopardy. Unlike US companies that are run into the ground and the CEO gets a golden parachute.