Like my father used to say, "wish in one hand and sh!t in the other...and see which gets full quicker"! David (aka Blind Guy)
I just went to pick up my daughter's Honda Civic from the shop, just normal stuff but I haven't driven anything but the Prius for 5 years..... I had to put a key into a slot in the door and turn it in order to get in!! Then I had to put the key into another slot in the car and turn it again in order to start the car...goodness!! No engine braking, no electric assist in steering...it was .....traumatic ;( It is a nice Honda but I am so spoiled with my car...
Won't jump in the 'refund' part, but will keep mostly to thread. I believe the real issue is that Toyota had a fix for a brake problem and did nothing to notify owners. For a company that has built its reputation on quality and customer service, that's unacceptable. In the more traditional Japan, it is "loss of face". My native Japanese wife was horrified when she read the news and couldn't believe it. She's still looking for the article where a non-Japanese person took over the company as the reason behind it. Bottom line: it's not about mistakes or perfection; it's a violation of trust based on the Toyota reputation.
I would venture to say that Toyota's dealer network has contributed to the problem, in all the Toyota dealers that I had to deal with, not one was trustworthy, treated me as a customer, or even cared about me or my car, I was simply a person to give them money, and I'm talking about 6 dealers in 3 major cities, that doesn't really create a customer feeling of being cared about. Even Toyota creates the same problem, multiple examples of that, upgrades costing more then they should, ie Navigation DVD upgrade, HID headlight replacement costs, things that should be simple and not to expensive, become major expenses.
Personally, and this is just my thought here, but I think Toyota would of told Prius owners of this but with all the heat on 8 of their vehicles all at once it was probably to much for them. After this went away, the Prius' brakes problem (which I do NOT believe is a problem anyways, but thats a whole other 'thought') would of been brought to owners attention and been dealt with. On the other hand. You can find all sorts of info on Toyota's but do A LOT of research to find anything on Fords 'customer satisfaction program' ....better known as a recall. Ford had no other major recalls going on, and yet after someone runs a stop sign it comes out that they have fixed the current cars but now the owners need to bring their cars in. MUCH worse then what Toyotas done...hence why I don't and will not own an American BUILT car.
Last I heard it was about 4 crashes being blamed on the prius brake issue. 4 (FOUR) crashes out of 270,000 vehicles. I suspect many more reports will start to surface, no doubt that the brakes will be blamed. Honestly, some folks will never be able to handle the technology so they should just sell or return their Prii's and slip back into the comfortable vehicles they are used to and love. Can you imagine some of these people driving a fuel cell, cng or other non-mainstream product?
no new model year car is perfect. be glad they're fixing it. and when they do you all will like it again
i'm so sick of people whining about the recent toyota recalls. some people seem to treat it as if this is the 1st time any manufacturer had issued a recall for their vehicles. my old bimmer had gone through a few recalls of it's own. if you take the time to check out nhsta's recall list you'll see all kinds of manufacturers listed on there. it is quite unfortunate that toyota is being targeted the way it is right now. i don't recall all this media frenzy when ford issued its largest single recall (4.5 million vehicles) last year for faulty cruise control switch that could lead to fire. so why all this attention on toyota? i'm sure all this negative media wouldn't hurt u.s. car makers such as GM to regain some of its market share. its a shame to finally see why it's a bad idea for our government to own a large part of GM (60% share). our u.s. transportation secretary, ray lahood, wants us to park our toyotas. i'm glad to see my tax money hard at work to protect my interest.
Taking a huge step back and looking at this situation, this is mass hysteria at its' finest. We demand absolute perfection from the things we make, yet we completely overlook the fact that we ourselves are not perfect -- About 4 documented incidences with over 270,000 cars, yet we ignore the fact that every day many more "accidents" are caused by cell phones stuck in somebody's ear. Keith
I agree that the brake issue was well overshadowed by the 8-model problem. I just would've been happy with an email, even if it came from the mail clerk. A simple, "we are preparing an update that will provide improved brake performance -- please stand by until we take care of the accelerator critical safety issue." Often, simple acknowledgement from the company before the media heads off a lot of heartache.
How about the Ford Hybrids also. They have the same brake issue..... New Hybrid Braking Issue: First Prius, Now Ford Fusion Hybrid - Green Car Reports
Correction, a simple email stating we are preparing an update that will provide improved "brake FEEL" not brake performance. The brakes can stop the car fine, it is the feel that has created all the rukus. Ford is having the same exact issue with the fusion and mariner.
The fix has been implemented into newly produced car since late January. Today it's the 6th of February and Toyota has announced that pre January car are going to be fixed. What is wrong with this way of assessing the problem? Let summarize: 1. Toyota found an issue in a particular model through user feedback. 2. Toyota found a solution to the problem and FIRST implemented it straight to the ongoing production and 3. THEN to the rest of the produced and already sold cars. This particular step is not straightforward and requires time to notify, coordinate and organize its worldwide network of dealers. This is the right procedure to follow. Toyota might have also considered implementing the fix in a silent way during regular maintenance to avoid people panicking and to ensure its reputation was not damaged. In fact, this is a minor issue. The car brakes work well in 95% of situations. In the remaining 5% of situations accidents caused by this loss of braking power which can cause people to get injured or die are very rare. Surely Toyota has made an estimate of the likelihood of such events and concluded that the risk for users was acceptable. Furthermore in case of emergency Prius brake are outstandingly good because the regen part is skipped and brake assist is triggered.
You did take a chance to buy the first year redesigned model. I give credit to Toyota for fixing it before 2011 model come out. It is amazing how some people can be easily "mass media washed". Why isn't the North American car of the year Fusion hybrid with more serious brake problem not getting more attention? IMHO, the media is doing disservice to Fusion hybrid owners.
Also why hasn't Consumer Reports did the same to Ford? Not recommending that car like they did to all of the Toyota's? Why did Mr. Lahood so call miss spoke and tell all Toyota owners to park their vehicles until repaired?
