Toyota Announces Voluntary Recall on 2010 MY Prius

Re: words mean things

That's exactly what I've been thinking to myself every since I heard this was fixed after a certain manufacture date. I've experienced it three times but I'm not worried about it whatsoever. I just pressed harder on the brake and the vehicle stopped. No big deal.

IMHO, if Toyota is guilty of anything it's for not issuing a TSB in January.

 

Re: words mean things

hahaha...well, sure, they were not aimed at you!

And, in checking on my Toyota Owner's website, from the mouth of Toyota itself:

1. SAFETY RECALL A0B - CERTAIN 2010 MODEL YEAR PRIUS VEHICLES - ABS ACTUATOR ECU UPDATE Campaign Code: A0B Campaign Memo
This is an important Safety Recall. Please contact your authorized Toyota dealer and schedule an appointment to update your vehicle's ABS Actuator ECU as soon as possible....

Safety Recall Campaign

In accordance with the requirements of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act, when Toyota has determined that a defect which relates to motor vehicle safety exists in your vehicle, a Safety Recall Campaign is launched. The specified inspection and/or repair will be performed at no charge to the vehicle owner.

Seems pretty clear to me, no need to redefine what the term 'safety' means now is there???

 

Re: words mean things

What ... you think in todays climate Toyota should do a bald face rejection of any & all media claims? Good luck with that. Is it a safety issue? In the same way grabbing hard on the front brake of a 10 speed is a safety issue. Dumb peope (including myself) have gone over the handlebars because of it. Can manufacturers build a better bike? ... tons of computer monitering / anti lock / warning signs up the wazoo, increasing the cost 10 fold, all to help dumb people? ... maybe drive the manufacturer out of business, because you have to build to make a product idiot proof? Sadly, our modern society has redefined safety issue.

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Well, they could have called it a "Special Service Campaign" if it wasn't truly a SAFETY issue and, in fact, if it were truly just a matter of making a customer experience "feel" better about the condition-especially for newbies, then that's what it would have fallen under.

 

We agree on that. I wish they would have just done an ordinary TSB late last year.

I do feel I have to add to this whole thread that I do love my car. It's a great car, I don't have any fears or concerns driving it, but I will take it to the dealer for the fix once my dealer sets up my appointment.

I've already gotten a few jabbed "have you seen the Toyota apology commercial" comments here at work...and I already feel a bit beaten up by it and even, to some extent, by my fellow Priuschat users. My car is a great car- I look forward to climbing in and driving it every opportunity I get!

 

In the land of personal responsibility avoidance, it's never anyone's fault. When you can never do anything wrong, you never get blamed. Let's hold hands with Toyota and sing Kumbaya together.

It's blather to suggest that a problem with braking should be anything but a safety recall. The drama is self created. Had there been a responsive reaction to this and the acceleration problem(s), the damage would be minimized.

Furthermore, manufacturers can not issue a "Technical Service Bulletin" for braking dropout without recalling loads of cars. It opens them up to liability issues, and rightfully so. A safety recall is exactly that. Period.

 

I don't know. You start to debate minutia of semantics and what is meant by calling it a "Safety Recall" as opposed to a TSB...and it just de-evolves with everyone advancing their own opinion and agenda.

Anyway here's my feeling, chuck full of opinion...light on agenda.

It's at the very least suspicious that revelation of a software update and voluntary implementation of a recall did not happen until The Japanese government started pressuring Toyota and we got close to upcoming hearings in the USA. It's NOT necessarily anything more than suspicious but the timing legitimately casts suspicion on the earnestness of Toyota's decision to recall.

My opinion is that Toyota had already begun implementing the software update in current model year Prius on the assembly line. Which tells me that Toyota felt it important enough to apply the change A.S.A.P..

If this was simply an evolution in the braking system, with no immediate regards to safety then the change could of been applied ONLY to the next model year. But the problem was evidently great enough that Toyota decided that being pro-active and pre-emptive in a "fix" was better than doing nothing and waiting for either the Japanese Government agency or the NHTSA to start insisting on a recall.

This way whatever might surface in hearings in regards to definition of the "braking problem" can be met by Toyota with the response that they have reacted and are fixing the problem. That's about the only PR benefit Toyota gets from recalling The Prius right now, but with hearings in Washington that might be a huge benefit.

Anyway, my feeling is even if most 2nd generation owners and even most 3rd generation owners felt the braking issue was not a safety risk and was simply an acceptable part of regenerative braking under specific circumstance, evidently Toyota must feel that the Japanese Government and The NHTSA might not agree. Basicly despite debates over terminology and timing, it boils down to in all recalls to date, I don't think Toyota would execute them if they did not feel they had to, and/or it was in the companies ultimate best interest.

They aren't fixing 100's of thousands of Pedals, and recalling and re-programming Prius brake software just for kicks. They aren't doing it to appease a relatively small amount of formal complaint filers. They are doing because they feel they must. Hopefully because they feel they should, but for sure because they feel they must.

 

This was always my take on it. I consider it a safety issue in that an inexperienced driver or a poor driver could be panicked into doing the wrong thing. Anything that deviates from the norm and expected makes a car more dangerous in the hands of an inexperienced driver. Look at how many people have driven Porsche 911s backward off of turns. The 911 is capable of incredible cornering, but god help you if you lift your foot off of the gas.

Most of the bickering and sniping on these brake threads is hair splitting over whether this is really a safety issue. Obviously, fixing the brake drop out issue makes the Prius a safer car. Arguing about whether it was dangerous before or not just opens up more room for hair splitting discussion, and doesn't really make a lick of difference at this point. At the end of all this, the 2010 should be a better car if for nothing more than an improved driving experience.

Tom

 

Re: words mean things

Out of curiosity, do you believe Toyota has an obligation to sort out the braking issues that seem to be occurring on earlier generation Prius cars?

 

Re: words mean things

No. It's not a big issue on the Gen II. That said, Toyota may have to address it due to the current media frenzy and bad publicity storm that has ensued.

Tom

 

Re: words mean things

What would make it into a 'big' issue?

 

Re: words mean things

And why does it have to be frequent? Does one fatality make a difference? Or, do there have to be multiple fatalities before it rises to a concern?

I agree with you on reproducible symptoms; but consistent? Meh, I am a bit skeptical about the consistent criteria.

 

Re: words mean things

Unfortunately, that seems to be exactly what is occurring. If it takes a spate of bad publicity to get Toyota to contemplate (much less actually initiate) investigating the Gen II Prius brake system issues, the culture of safety deafness is alive and well.

 

There are literally millions and millions of vehicles recalled every year. All are safety related issues ( or else they wouldn't make it into the NHTSA recall purview ). What makes you think that this one little adjustment is going to be such a huge issue?

It gets fixed, it's over.

As I noted my Gen 2 was/is subject to 3 recalls during it's life. Yawn. They were done, it's over. No big financial ramification resulted at all. I think that you'd like for there to be some huge ramifications but taking a more rational and unemotional perspective what's so different about this than any of the other millions of recalls done every year?

Since you don't own one, are not incovenienced by one, have nothing to gain or to lose financially I can only surmise that you're just hoping for some financial disaster to befall Toyota. Sorry you're going to be disappointed. Again, it's no big deal. There are millions and millions of vehicles recalled every year, even the wonderful Gen 2 Prius which is universally considered the most reliable family-sized vehicle in NA. I have the statistics.

In the long view, it gets fixed and life moves on.