Toyota Announces Voluntary Recall on 2010 MY Prius

How can you know that in advance of the details of the recall ?

 

Hybrids are the wave of the future so the entire auto market will be "inconvenienced" by any flaws in the technology especially given that the switchover issue is a fundamental characteristic of energy regeneration in lieu of traditional braking.

This is highly relevant to the future progress of this market. To discount it as not a big deal, life goes on is not the right thing.

Yes, there are thousands of vehicles (rarely millions for one recall)
recalled but those are with tried and true "old" technologies and most recalls are caused by defective parts. That's not the case here. To date, no one outside of Toyota knows what gets fixed.

 

It's a technical term related to the NHTSA. It's the same as the word 'safety' in the announcement.

IF the NHTSA has come to Toyota and demanded that Toyota institute the recall and Toyota refused, then the NHTSA could force an involuntary recall. That would never happen.

Since it was Toyota that told the NHTSA that it was instituting the recall then it's classified as voluntary. Remember the NHTSA is part of the largest political agency in the world, the US Gov't. Everything is done in a political perspective.

That's why the word 'safey' is being used. The NHTSA has no say whatsoever in customer satisfaction recalls. An example might be a loose trim panel inside the vehicle such as the console armrest. Toyota could issue a customer service campaign to repair those free of charge for anyone wanting it done ( in fact Toyota did that very thing on the Gen 2's ). The NHTSA has no say in that 'recall'.

The NHTSA only has a say in safety-related issues. Note the website: www.safercar.gov.. and the section therein pertaining to such issues ==> Safety Recalls. By calling this a 'safety issue' it allows the NHTSA to take ownership of it and wins Toyota brownie points by allowing the NHTSA look more forceful. Politics, and it's good business.

These details escape the public.

Note the difference in the Ford and Toyota situations. Ford did exactly what Toyota is going to do but Ford did it as a customer service campaign ( on the QT though ). Why, if it was the same tweak, wasn't the Ford issue also a safety recall? Because they did it, got it done before it hit the press and didn't have to run it through the NHTSA. If it doesn't go through the NHTSA it is not considered a safety recall, it's a customer service campaign. Politics. Good for Ford, they dodged a bullet on one of their new halo vehicles.

 

I read the recall on toyota.com today, called my dealer, and I am scheduled for the recall work on ABS software tomorrow. I have not felt the problem to date, but we have studded snow tires and haven't really engaged the ABS.

 

If they had done it earlier as many have suggested via a TSB then Toyota would be in exactly the same situation as Ford now is. Ford saw it, got it done on a customer service campaign, and got it behind them ( no NHTSA involvement ). Toyota waited and it became a safety recall run through the NHTSA.

The difference is in HTMLspinnr's post several pages back. This is the way the auto industry works.

 

Politics.

Again, Ford did exactly what Toyota is going to do. Why wasn't Ford's customer service campaign a safety issue? Simply because they did it and got it behind them before the NHTSA got involved.

That's the only difference between 'customer service campaign' and 'safety recall'. Again see HTMLSpinnr's prior post.

 

I don't understand what you're getting at. So what if hybrids are the wave of the future. This is a simple fix, it gets done for those that want it done and like the 3 recalls on the Gen 2 Prius life moves on. This time next year this issue will simply be last year's news.

But Ford certainly understand this issue, c.f. their customer service campaign for exactly the same issue.

 

I'm sick of this. I just want it to go away. All of it.

 

P1. This is exactly what I said. By making the announcement themselves it becomes a voluntary recall, ipso facto.

P2 You don't understand the auto industry so I can see how you might be confused. In any event, if they had issued it as a customer service campaign like Ford did then they could have avoided using the word safety, like Ford did. But they chose to run it though the NHTSA which then required the use of the word safety.

I'll have to remind you that the NHTSA has no oversight on recalls other than safety recalls.

By running it through the NHTSA they puff up that agency and win brownie points, by doing the right thing. How does that make Ford look? It's part of the game.

 

Because the "fix" has already been implemented as a running improvement. All current Prius coming off the line have the new software. It's a safe bet that the recall will apply the same software fix to existing 2010 Prius. Anything less would be PR suicide for Toyota, considering the tremendous amount of attention devoted to this topic.

Tom

 

I will press you further.
So how many of the "fixed" Prius has gotten into customer's hands ?

The fix was done in Jan 2010 and it's 9 days into Feb now, yet you are certain it's an improvement.

 

And you suspect it is a step backward? Why?

Tom

 

It's simply not known without any details from Toyota which is the real issue.

 

Wow, that was quick.

The movement toward more fully electronic vehicles simplifies the entire 'repair' or 'adjustment' process from weeks and months to days and hours. Q.E.D.

I understand that the reflashing takes 15 min in the shop.

 

I just scheduled my fix for next week. The dealer told me they'd need my car for 2 hours.

 

Already got mine done too. Some made such a big deal about a delay, not realizing it would only take a little bit longer.

I started this new thread for those tired of the hysteria and just wanting info about the update itself:

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...-a0b-brake-recall-abs-control-ecu-update.html

.

 

Sounds painless and quick.

 

Except that we have first hand reports, and the results so far have been good.

Tom