Uninformed/unqualified Prius owners/drivers

I think you are not realizing that some of what you are seeing is called 'astroturfing', people pretending to be part of a grass roots movement, but actually part of a planned agenda.
[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing"]Astroturfing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

The reason some posters here do not seem to know much about their Prius, is that they work for some other car company, and hope to stir up FUD here on PriusChat as their car does not yet exist. Since they do not make a car like a Prius, they make bad guesses about how a Prius works and what options it has.
Fear, uncertainty and doubt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

They are under orders to blame Toyota. I suppose it pays the bills, but it must be hard to look at yourself in the mirror, and know "Today I lied anonymously about innocent manufacturers we are failing to compete with in our factories or on our showroom floors."

I hope this restores some of your respect for the actual Prius owners here, trying to help the new owners and prospective owners find their way to safe, frugal, green, happy car ownership.

 

I don't own a Prius but I have a Ford Fusion Hybrid, a descendant of the Prius family. I do have a '04 Avalon. I think Toyota is getting a bum rap. Read this NYT article: Op-Ed Contributor - Sudden Acceleration Often Caused By Drivers - NYTimes.com. Toyota is going to have to take the offensive sometime soon or be ruined by the false claims. I just hope they don't have something to hide in the Event Data Recorder (EDR) knowledge base.

 

Do we hear the same Prius stories come out of Japan? Doesn't the Prius roll off the same assembly line for domestic and export markets? Toyota might just have to mandate dealers to give a "Prius for Dummies" seminar to Americans taking delivery of a Prius.

 

At this point only thing toyota can do is address the problem, which I am sure there has to be some valid claims while the rest could be hype. Fix it and it will all blow over, the same as the ford explorers and the tire thing.

 

The Ford Explorer sales figures were never the same after that episode, I wonder how this will affect the legacy of the Prius, it was clearly on pace to eventually break into the top 10 selling list within the upcoming years.

 

Ask yourself this question, have you seen how Corolla drivers drive?

 

Yes...pretty awful. I think that generalizations really hold true when it comes to seeing a particular car model and how it is operated by the owner. As an example:

Mercedes drivers: Usually drive conservatively and don't drive obnoxiously
Kia drivers: As a group their demographic is younger (I notice more females) and they drive fair.
BMW 3 series: Obnoxious, rarely use signals, snooty like they're the only people on the road.
Volvo: Conservative most of the time (except the young punks in the lower end models)
SUVs in general: Not rated PG so I won't even bother.
Corvette drivers: Mostly respectful and drive with the flow of traffic (sometimes slower!).

Actually this was more tongue and cheek but I definitely notice a pattern with respect to vehicle type/brand and the way the vehicle is driven. A correlation does exist but many people will disagree.

 

Hey, I traded in a Corolla for my Prius! Am I a better driver now? LoL!

Sigh, for right now Toyota is screwed. It's difficult to disprove a (probably) non-existent problem! I saw two news reports on Friday that went something like this:

"Until Toyota fixes the dangerous runaway acceleration flaw, here's how to stop your Prius!"

"Toyota is guilty of criminal negligence by refusing to recall all defective Prius'!"

All while showing Sikes' and his car over and over... sigh!

 

THIS has undermined your faith in humanity? Well... the other day I was behind a Prius driver and his turn signal was out!!! I almost gave up just then and there.

 

THANKS THANKS THANKS!!!!!
You put in words what I was feeling as well this week. I was almost about to leave the forum as well, for good. I am sick and tired as well of people who *never* read manuals, and then complain or say there is a problem with their cars. I hate it.
(I even started a poll sometime ago Does anybody read the manual?, and considering the number of replies, clearly it is not that important to read the manual...)

Please stay in the forum - we need people like you to compensate for the "others" and the "trolls".

 

In Munich where I live, 60% of cars are either BMW, Audi, VW or Mercedes. And often, not the small ones.
Though I would not include all VW drivers in the category BMW, I certainly can say that your BMW statement applies to all the brands mentioned above in 80% of the cases. Often also, especially the higher-end cars, are lease cars, which means their drivers are not the owners, it is usually a company car, so they drive even more obnoxious because they flaunt it that they have a privilege of having a company car...
I have to drive in a sea of car drivers like this. Poor me!
And I am also a fool (and possibly at fault) because I didn't buy a german (branded)-car! Too bad that my previous VW was not really the best of quality...but that is another story.

 

Well I drive a 04* Toyota Prius, a 07* Toyota Land Cruiser, a 68* Toyota Crown and a 88* Yamaha FJ1200, what kind of driver am I?

(*All vehicle dates are manufacture dates.)

 

I propose to ban the words "unintended/unwanted/unscheduled acceleration" or "runaway car" from Priuschat . That would surely help a little .

 

The BMW one holds true in Raleigh, and as another poster pointed out, maybe it's due to leasing terms putting it in the range of those that only think they have money and class.

 

I think Toyota has to go after drivers like Sikes. Many of the unintended acceleration drivers KNOW they pressed the wrong pedal. Others do not. How can you fix something that's not broken? Look at the claims on "repaired cars". I think they have to make the rounds in the media to refute it also. They can't worry about the people who have had an accident which is an extremely small number. They have to re-assure the other millions of owners who have been panicked. Modern airliners with electronic throttles do not have unintended responses (except maybe auto-throttles) because the control levers are unique and stand alone. They are not side by side pedals. I will be surprised if there are ANY proven UAs. I am not including some of the low speed, low power reports on this forum about the Prius.

 

Your joking right?

Have you spent any time on Volvo boards over the last two or three years?

Stalin and Mao would be so proud of their followers who hang out there.

Here is a story from Market watch and once your read it you will under stand this is a media and Government witch hunt. All because Toyota is closing their one UAW plant.

UAW to ask Toyota to keep U.S. plant open - MarketWatch

 

Oh yes! I forgot about the closing of the plant...another reason to bash at Toyota....

 

Downside UP?