More bashing....Is your car OK?

If only Landrovers could do that - it would make a huge change to farming overheads, and our native motor industry

 

My son-in-law's dad told me he "read" that there was going to be another recall for all Prius cars to install whistles on the front, because so many blind people were stepping out in front of the (very quiet) Prius coming toward them.

At first I laughed, but then realized he was serious. Then I decided to just keep my laughter to myself, so not to offend the poor guy for being so naive. BUT THEN, I started to wonder if there had ever been a blind person struck by a Prius, and if so...
Yeah, would Toyota actually be stupid enough to issue a recall to install a whistle?

You're laughing? Guess you haven't had your gas pedal cut up and your OEM vinyl mats taken out, eh? Yeah, that's what Toyota wants to do to my 08, and cutting up a gas pedal makes no more sense than a whistle to warn blind people.

Hey, I noticed I had some bug splatters on my windshield today. Anyone know if there is a recall for that?

 

There is somewhat of a truth in there. In Japan, there are some very angry blind pedestrians that claim they cannot hear the Prius coming and so it is dangerous. Japan has been studying whether or not to put noise makers on all vehicles that can run without an ICE, but this was a while ago and nothing came of it. Also you have to remember Japan is incredibly densly populated, and a significant portion of the population in the cities walk, so the pedestrial situation is 100 fold what it is in say, NYC.

So not as laughable as you might think, but still funny. And nobody is intending to recall any vehicles over this.

 

I guess they have whistles on speeding bicycles in Japan? My killer Prius seems to ignore the hundreds of blind people tapping their canes down the center line of I-5. HOWEVER, you line up a gaggle of little, wide-eyed orphans along the side of the road and my Prius will go for 'em every time. Same thing with nuns... if there's a nun in sight, I can't control the car. (that's my story and I'm stickin' to it)

 

If they can't hear them, how do they know it's a problem. That's like an old psoriasis commercial where they talked about people "Suffering the heartbreak of psoriasis without even knowing it." How was it a heartbreak if they didn't know about it?



Tom

 

When it is moving too slow to make enough tire noise, it likely won't have enough air speed to operate a whistle either.

 

Perhaps they will install belt driven compressors along with the whistles.

Tom

 

Maybe a little arm off the fender so we can use a clothes peg to hold a playing card in the spokes... you know, like we did on our bikes when we were 12 and wanted to have it sound like it had an engine.... hmmm... might need a different wheel style to get the right sound.

 

My 2004 Gen II has almost 120K miles on it - still original brakes. And I was one of the lucky ones that took advantage of both the Costco Auto Program, 24 mo/25K miles free maintenance, and the 3 yr. 0% financing and I'm the proud owner of a Red 2010 Prius IV!

I've heard all the crap, the one about the depreciation is funny, since we tend to drives cars a long time, so it's a non-issue for me.

 

If they are blind, how would they even know that it was a Prius??

 

Wonder how this is going to play out for Nissan Leaf, Chevy Volt and the occasional Tesla (I have seen one on the road in suburban Seattle)?

 

I have owned my 2010 Prius (my first Prius) for 21 days now. Two people have commented on how brave I must be to buy a car that will "attempt" to kill me. Too funny, I just laugh and ignore the comment. Haven't thought of a smart-nice person answer for them. Maybe Prius to them is the machine that will take over the world? Their version of Skynet.

Reminds me of the original iPhone. I was one of the early adopters that paid $699 for it. As you know Apple lowered the price by $200 in two months. Once at Target someone approached me with a smirk and said: "That phone is worth much less now than what you probably paid." I told them, "I know, hopefully you could afford one now." Of course, this was back in the days when iPhones were rare, now everyone and their mother has one.

Luis

 

Yeah.. Who would have thought that the Prius would become a symbol of bravery!

 

No Crap! Ha haaa! Now that is funny!

 

And these comments have come from total strangers that have walked up to me to tell me that. Friends, neighbors, relatives, etc tell me how nice the car is, ask me about features, comment on the color, etc. Not one of them have brought up Toyota's recent recalls.

At least is good to know that to these stranger's eyes I am some sort of brave hero .

Luis