Feds Investigate Hot-Selling Toyota Hybrid

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jayman\";p=\"96425)</div>

This is one area where I think the Prius's transmission screws it slightly... On a normal car, you can just shift to neutral, restart, pop it back in gear and be on your way. Can't do that in a Prius. You do get the battery to help out slightly.. but that's not always going to save you.

 

you mean push starting?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DaveinOlyWA\";p=\"96451)</div>

Restarting while in motion.. you don't have to push start to do that.

 

I channel surfed to Fox News and caught part of the late-night replay of Your World w/ Neil Cavuto. Niel was questioning the stability of hybrid technology due to the recent "recall" on the Toyota hybrid. And we wonder why people come to this forum confused about this topic.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(brandon\";p=\"97179)</div>

I wondered why there have been customers/new prospects asking so much about the "recall for shutting down". I have been keeping up on it in the paper and what I have read it is still under investigation by the feds. But the media is screwing things up by not getting the whole story right. Figures, :x

 

Come on now. You complain about Fox News not getting it right?

 

one of the salesmen at work cornered me the other day and said have you heard about the recall on the Prius and I said really a recall? or are you just getting the news story all wrong? He looked at me kind of funny and said the recall for stalling! I said you mean the news reports of the 33 incidents of stalling on the hi-way? He say's 33? I said yup 33 reported incidents of stalling that when you take the car to the dealer they reflash the computer and it's fixed. He say's, all this hype for 33 reports? yup. I said, you realise that GM alone last year had 10.7 million vehicles recalled. His final reply was, 33! and he walked away.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Fredatgolf\";p=\"97219)</div>

Good point.

 

well how you think i feel when 6 different people with super smug "i told you so" looks on their faces come up to my last Sunday asking if i needed a ride to work.

one of em asked me "so i hear your car may not start sometimes"

i told him....

no, it will start, you just wont be able to hear it start because by then i be 5 blocks down the road.

then they said " i hear that the engine may cut out with no warning while driving down the freeway"

i said

yep, does it all the time, and i love it 'cause i know im getting 99.9 mpg when it does that

they shut up after that

 

New software is at my dealership. cars made prior to late feb 2005 [around the 23rd] are the ones found.and they have the vin numbers on the ones to be done.there is no recall.mine will be done monday am.......

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jonnycat26\";p=\"94953)</div>

I assure you, my foot was only on the gas when mine died...

And like another poster mentioned above... why are people so eager to blame the driver rather than consider that there might be a problem with the car??
[/b][/quote]Hello everyone; :mrgreen: just joined this Forum and I can already tell that you owners are really proud of your cars just like the owners on the www.beetle.org site and they are like a lot of you in the respect that they know fully that the VW Beetles have all kinds of problems , but if someone else mentions the problem or problems to them they immediately go on the defensive and thats how a lot of you are coming across on this Forum if you do not realize it or not. BTW, I was looking to purchase a TDI Beetle W/DSG Trans. until I really got into researching the forums and soon found out that in general the VW Dealers are to say the least (Lousy) not to mention all the problems with the Beetles in general.
Brings me back to this posting of the Prius as a few have mentioned (Face-It-Some-Prius-Cars-Cut-Off) like it or not. Stop, making excuses for Toyota or Whom-Ever and be glad no one has gotten killed because of the defect in the Prius, what ever the problem is with the car.
This is just my first posting here and I fill sure some of you will appreciate it while others will certainly have some rather interesting comments.

If your wondering why I'm on this forum it's because I'm thinking of ordering a "2006" Prius.

Have a nice day "ALL".
tiger

PS; I work at a Dealership

 

Hello Tiger,
First, thank you for investigating this forum to become "enlightened".

Yes I to believe that those of us who own one of these beautiful cars do become defensive but do welcome any criticism or questions.

You mentioned that the VW Beetle owners have complained about problems with their cars and rightfully so. The NHTSA has issued 8 recalls affecting several million New VW Beetles for model years 2000-2005 that resulted from complaints regarding the fuel system, brake lights and child safety seats. This is in no way saying the New VW Beetle is an inferior car only that the NHTSA is doing its job and looking out for the safety of the driving public.

The NHTSA has received 33 similar complaints regarding shut down of the ICE under certain driving situations. Their job is to investigate these complaints that may or may not result in a recall of the vehicle. It is still early in their investigation and to speculate that the Prius does in fact have a problem is premature. Toyota has issued several service bulletins addressing a possible issue, with the computer that may cause this condition, with a fix available at your dealership. It may be as simple as those 33 cars were never taken in for the fix or they ran out of gas trying to squeeze that extra mpg from the last fill up (if you explore this forum you will find that one of the few negative issues, with our beloved Prius, is the accuracy of the fuel gauge) or something entirely new that will require addressing by Toyota. In any event I am sure the NHTSA will do a thorough investigation with a final result or recommendation.

I too had been interested in the New Beetle and may have bought one sometime in the future, (my wife has been wanting one as a nostalgia fix for her long gone 1967 "Classic Beetle) but I bought her the Prius and now a new love affair has ignited and the only Beetle in this household is probably under a rock outside.

Good luck with you 2006 plans.

 

That certainly wasn't objective. Stick to the facts. Refrain from making it personal.

The fact is that Toyota was already dealing with this before the newspaper article (who's timing is highly suspicous) was published. And sure enough, we are finding that those updates have prevented any further occurences.

The defensive nature is a response to claims made that it isn't fixed yet, without providing any facts to actually support that. The enlightened have discovered that people like to generalize and jump to conclusions, so they want to see the data for themselves.

 

tiger,

I think you are misinterpreting the intent of the messages posted in this thread. No one has said, "there is no problem; this is a big conspiracy! Toyota is infallible!"

Yes, cars have problems. Every Toyota, GM, Ford, VW, etc. If that were not the case, cars would require no maintenance and would last forever. No one pretends to live in that world.

What concerns the posters in this thread is A) the fact there is no recall, B) people readily assume that this is some sort of wide-spread, recall-worthy problem that affects every Prius ever produced, when no such supporting evidence yet exists, and C) media outlets are blowing the issue out of proportion for all the wrong reasons. Let the NHTSA and the automaker complete the investigation and do their jobs; only then will we have the information we need to have an intelligent discussion of this issue.

In short, this is not a group of Prius owners blindly flocking to the defense of Toyota. This is a group of Prius owners that know disinformation is being distributed, even if unintentionally. We do not make excuses for Toyota or the possible defects in their vehicles. We are a conscious, well-informed group of owners who strive to provide the correct information necessary so that prospective owners like yourself can make a proper, informed buying decision.

I hope you continue to draw on this forum as an informational resource, and best of luck with your purchase decision.

 

:iagree Brandon and Prius Owners, I'm glad I don't have my exact address down: :lol:

I think further comments are necessary at this time. I am (NOT-SAYING) that Prius owners are up in arms because some "33" vehicles may have a condition of "Cutting-Off-Stalling", and this being (BLOWN) completely out of (Proportion) by the "Media" at 6:00PM nightly. It may not be fair but I can tell by reading the comments here that I bet if any of you would admit it your really not surprised
(Now-Are-You)????

BTW, I'm sure that the other manufactures that produce the gas drinking SUV'S wouldn't be just jumping up and down along with the Gas Companies that are getting richer by the minute with every gallon sold.

Surely none of them would consider throwing (GAS) :guns: on the situation, now would they???

The more I read and find out about the Toyota Prius the more excited I am about ordering the "2006" model for myself. :mrgreen:

Wrong place to ask this question but here goes, do any of you know or have an educated guess if the "2006" Prius will have XM or Sirius Satellite Radio? Comments/View Points/Remarks/Speak

Terry

 

Tiger: Anyone who reads our posts and concludes defensive behaviors is not reading the posts very carefully. Anyone that reads these posts only spasmodically is probably not a serious observer, but I can concede that we may appear defensive to them. You, on the other hand apparently are a serious observer and have seen beneath the surface of some of these comments.

If you want to know about XM or Sirius do a search in the space provided on each. There have been a ton of posts on these subjects.

If you want to learn a lot about the Prius, click on John's web site above. I think you will find with time that the contributors here only seem sensitive because they are highly educated about the Prius and can literally back up practically everything with hard data. There are some pretty swift folks contributing here.

 

An interesting twist is that I've done a lot of playing offense, where I have challenged those standing against Prius (and have been encouraged to do so). That's quite different from taking a defense posture that is commonly observed among enthusiasts.

The most well-known effort was the "up to the chore" thread on Edmunds. After a year and a half of fierce debating in that anti-hybrid environment (back then), showing how the limitations the hybrid design paled in comparison to the problems with traditional vehicles, the host finally declared that they were in fact up to the chore. No one actually ever expected Prius to be able to endure that much scrutiny. But it did.

And to my own benefit, I earned credibility by being open to participate on forums that weren't isolated supporter-groups. It was blaring proof that I wasn't out of touch and was willing hear what others had to say. But that puts me in an awkward place now, only wanting to hear new information rather than recites of the same old stuff already debated heavily. Got any?

This topic is a great opportunity to take a constructive look at what's realistic to expect from a vehicle. For HSD, that's both with those early models and what the 2006 will bring. For traditional designs, how come they still have some problems despite having been around for so long already?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(john1701a\";p=\"97690)</div>

the bean counter is the main problem with traditional designs. Cut costs to the absolute bone and tolerater the few problems that crop up. Remember when master cylinders were held on with 4 bolts, then 3, then 2, they're still working on 1 and some beaner will dictate to RnD to do it. I hope the Prius never falls victim to the beaner the way some of the Big Three makers vehicles have.

 

Frank:

The Beaner never takes a long-term look. Everything is Current Period, and Pass The Buck. Of course, the Corporate Tax Laws encourage this too.

If we tried to run our personal finances the same way the Beaners run large corporations, we'd be living under a bridge somewhere.

Jay

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(eak354\";p=\"94743)</div>

[font=Comic Sans MS:135b4fb37e]That is the exact reason I heard from my friend at a Toyota dealership. The 'majority', but not all of the problems were related to people running the car out of gas and running the battery down to nothing. When that happens there are only a few chargers around to get the car back up to be able to run. We were told, as it states in the manual, to make sure you never runout of gas as it causes many problems. Another problem they encountered was someone, who thought they knew more then the Toyota engineer's messing with the circuits and such. With any new technology there will be some problems and I think out of all of them Toyota has done a good job on minimizing them[/font:135b4fb37e]