I don't think it's Toyota drivers. I think it's drivers in general. I haven't found a friend that has read the manual for their car from cover to cover. Some haven't even opened it. (no idea where the jack is, don't know how to use cruise control, no idea what to do if any of the warning lights come on).
RANT--Cars and Those Who Make Them Suck, or Why is Changing a Tire So Hard? - Ars Technica OpenForum OK it worked that time.
...and my wife wonders why I insist on changing my own oil and filters. Hell, it's the only thing left I CAN do. I used to have a 1968 Plymouth Fury III. In the truck was a U-Pick strawberry basket containing a roll of duck tape, vice grips and a whole bunch of twine rolled around a small board. That car stranded me on the road several times and every time I was able to get going again with those three things.
The problem with modern cars is that when it's minor, you can still drive it.When it breaks, it BREAKS. It's not like the old days when a plug wire got knocked loose and you just had to replug it back in. Nowadays everything is electronically controlled. All the plugs have locks to prevent unpluging. The fuel filers on modern cars are not like the old days where it's clamped to a rubber fuel line. My 86 Toyota Pickup was like that. It was easy as hell to replace. My 97 Tacoma's fuel line is mostly metal. The fuel filter is screwed on on both sides. It's impossible to replace without jacking up the truck, put it on the stand, dismount and loosen up the entire fuel line before I could un bolt the fuel filter. This is something I can't do on the side of the road.
On some of our modern cars, changing the headlight bulb is something the dealer has to do because you have to dismantle half the car.
On a side note, I was at a Honda dealership last week (my sister was getting a Civic hybrid, apparently she doesn't like hatchbacks). In talking with the sales guy there (and yes, he may not be impartial), he had an interesting opinion on the whole unintended acceleration thing. While it sounds a little conspiracy theorist-y, I have to admit that it has some merit. With the collapse of the US automotive industry, foreign imports (particularly Toyota and Honda) had taken off in sales. Since the government now has such a large stake in GM's success, it had to do something to put a halt on foreign imports and help revive domestic brands. Thus the Toyota recall and all the press surrounding it. According to him, it was just a flip of the coin - they could have just as easily targeted Honda. He also claimed (and I regrettably have no way to check if this is true or not) that domestic brands that had the same problem (because they bought their gas pedals from the same manufacturer) avoided a recall... instead, they offered everyone affected free oil changes and quietly fixed the problem when they came in.
The Cobalt has been recalled because of unintended acceleration claims but there was no hoo-haa surrounding it.
