Fixing Toyota's Recalled Pedals: The Video starring Doug the Master Technician — Autoblog Sorry if posted elsewhere
There are several steps in the repair procedure where the mechanic can make an error or inadvertently damage the pedal assembly (disconnecting and reconnecting the electrical connector, moving the pedal assembly from the car to the workbench, taking the gap measurement, selecting the correct shim, properly positioning the shim, etc.). The guy in the the video took his time. He had completed only four modifications. What will the quality of work be when it is late in the day. The mechanic is tired and wants to go home. The boss says that there are 6 more cars to complete. There is no video camera rolling and no one is watching. I suspect that after Toyota completes this procedure on the 4 million recalled cars that the net effect will be an increase in the number of Toyota automobiles with defective gas peddles.
Great video! I'll be posting it on some other car forums. http://www.autoblog.com/2010/02/04/...-pedals?icid=sphere_blogsmith_inpage_autoblog is good too. This thread ought to be moved to Other Cars.
Can someone explain what he is shimming? He doesn't say if he's closing the return spring a bit, increasing the distance between the friction plate and the arm, or preventing the pedal from being depressed past a certain point.
Do you work as a copywriter for FOX or CNN? Because submit your resume! How Tired is Your Mechanic? Is your Fix Fixed?.... Come on! Quit fear mongering....the same danger exists in almost any major and even a lot of minor repairs done everyday. You always have to trust something is being done correctly whether a recall or just a brake pad replacement at any major outlet. So lets give Toyota a break on this one...no pun intended..and assume that the repairs are being done correctly...videos like this help and if I was an owner I'd sure get a flashlight at my own convience and maybe take a look.... But to suggest that the recall will result in more problems? Simply not valid. It seems like a pretty simple procedure and repetition usually leads to improvement not deteriation.
These might help: Cts Gas Pedal Analyzed | The Truth About Cars Toyota Gas Pedal Fix Explained – With Exclusive Photos | The Truth About Cars Toyota Gas Pedal Fix Simulated: Friction Reduced, But By Too Much? | The Truth About Cars Why Toyota Must Replace Flawed CTS Gas Pedal With Superior Denso Pedal | The Truth About Cars
I'm just curious. Hypothetically, imagine you are sitting in The Toyota PR War Room trying to decide how to best spin recent events. Are you happy about videos like this appearing on the internet? Or are you unhappy? Does watching or seeing a mechanic going through this process make you feel more confident or more uneasy? It's a hard call IMO, because while I think it demonstrates that the problem was relatively basic and simple, watching gas pedals being removed I think still makes people nervous. My opinion call is, it's better for PR if videos like this don't exist. I think for most people not mechanically minded, it's just going to make them uneasy. But I concede the flip side exists.
Without too much digging one, can dig up the complete repair procedure on the net. FWIW, Toyota put out their own video at but it unfortunately is FAR less thorough than the one in the first post.
I always prefer candidness and unrestrained information flow (but I am technically inclined ). But even if I wouldn't, you could hardly prevent third parties from producing such videos, could you? So the best thing you can do as a PR manager is to release an "official" and accurate video yourself, to try to prevent rumor and gossip from spreading out like a wildfire, at least in my opinion. The worst thing to do is to attempt to cover up the issue, because this will only make your company look like a buch of liars.
Even if that doesn't turn out to be true, the RISK of it is high. You have to imagine that factored into Toyota's slow decision making on this issue - worse to do nothing or worse to introduce this new fix that can't be quality controlled very well at it's end point install? Just think of all the "incompetent service department" comments that come up in PC threads. If I owned one of the recalled models I'd give the pedal assembly a very good personal evaluation before taking it in for the procedure and I don't even have reason to question my dealer's shop. - D
I viewed and noticed that Toyota had put their own version on the net. I suppose it is true that there would be no way to stop something like this from appearing. Seeing Toyota's version is what got me thinking that from a PR standpoint is this something you would really want *if you could somehow control it's release anyway. At one point in the almost silent Toyota version, you hear a car in the background and then the squeal of tires/brakes. (about 40 seconds in) Which..sorry I had to laugh. I'm suprised Toyota didn't edit that out, or remove the sound completely. I also thought about PR value because of Jim Lentz's language within his introductory statement. Brilliantly he never introduces the term "broken" "defective" or "recall". Refering to the recall only as "the fix" and the whole procedure as "cars being fixed"...which is the right thing to do but somebody at a desk very carefully wrote that statement. From a Toyota P.O.V. they obviously would rather people think of this as "The Big Fix" instead of "The Big Defect Recall".
As far as the culture, keep in mind that most Asian cultures tend to keep things hidden. Americans tend to pretty much expose everything for what it really is, which is a hard concept for cultures that would find that personally offensive I'm not excusing Toyota on this. They were aware of the problem for awhile now, and have received major egg on face as a result. I can't wait until the FJ Cruiser goes through a similar recall for fender bulges/cracks or exploding rear axles
