Toyota Suspends Sales of Eight Models - NOT Prius

The Detroit folks: They never cease to amaze me. Rather than build quality to gain reputation, GM's dealer malorn, and that ilk finds it benefitial to shine the glareing spotlight on the flaws ... highlight the negativity ... the soft underbelly of the competition. The tactic mirrors that of politicians who have nothing to offer ... other than mud baths smeared on the other party. My my my ... one would think GM or Ford never had fatal flaws along the road, with such rightious indignation. It makes me think, "I wonder how many folks GM thinks will run out and buy GM cars/trucks when they hear about a recall". Does anybody really believe that such a scenerio happens?
I wonder if malorn sold his stock when his own company's product ended up killing people ... I wonder if he was thinking GM's own defect remediation was comparable to watergate. I wonder which Toyota dealership's owner/manager ran over to a GM chat board ... saying, "See? . . . see? . . . I TOLD you GM is really really Bad!"

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Wow Hill, I have never sensed so much defensiveness from you. This mess has been brewing for almost a year. It was denied, and denied and swept under the carpet and spun and now is out of control. Just think of what the headline would be in every major newspaper would be if this catastrophe belonged to Ford or GM cars and trucks.

 

Maybe I'm taking a very broad look at this, but for those posting that they think this is the start of Toyota going down the "GM" road, I think just the opposite.

Toyota identified the problem and voluntarily halted sales and then also production. In the past would GM of done this?

I know this is a dark time for Toyota, and clearly some changes with suppliers and vendors and quality control need to be made. But at least I see Toyota being pro-active on this issue, creating their own headlines. As bad as it is for an automaker to have to halt sales on as large a number of automobiles as this halt does affect, much better to have the headline "Toyota Halts Sales" as opposed to potentially more damaging headlines if the problems lead to any other accidents or deaths.

Dark days for Toyota indeed but I give them credit for evidently doing the right thing. This is the best way for them to protect the image of quality and safety that they have so carefully built for decades.

 

I agree with you completely.
It is a dark day for Toyota (I see their stocks are down over 7 dollars per share today), but they did the right thing. I praise Toyota for that. (and I may call my financial advisor about buying Toyota stock if it falls some more).

 

Apparently you didn't read that correctly. The stop production order was done at the same time as Toyota's VOLUNTARY decision to halt sales. While legally it was required to stop production due to the fact that Toyota halted sales of those models. Toyota's decision to stop sales was their decision and as a result Toyota already decided to halt production even though it was legally required.

Unlike some car makers Toyota didn't require the NHTSA or any other government entity to order it to do so nor did it challenge any decision by the NHTSA in court.

 

do you still think Toyota "did the right thing" if they were aware of the seriousness of the problem months ago?

 

I think Toyota has gotten ahead of this buy Halting production on their own and being Pro-Active. Perhaps they learned something from Tyneol ( how to keep their good name intact in the face of adversity)

 

It's relative. No huge corportation makes decisions that will impact negatively on the bottom line without going through a huge decision process. Also a process of discovery and definition of the problem. That takes time.

But since I feel automakers have in the past dealt with similar issues by simply ignoring the problem and/or denial I do give credit to Toyota for being pro-active.

I think they are "doing" the right thing. I do not have enough behind the scenes information or access to know anything about the timeline for this decision or any impact that timeline might of had to consumers.

 

I have friends at work with potentially affected vehicles. Is there an easy way to tell the difference between a "CTS" or a "Denso" pedal?

Photos anyone?

Thanks,
Bob Wilson

 

I can honestly say this to the folks that seem to think Toyota swept this under the rug. They didn't. As The Electric Me stated, it takes time to diagnose a problem that doesn't happen to every vehicle.

Unofficially, I have already heard of the fix for it. NTSB has to approve it. Once it is approved, it will happen very quickly. In fact, Toyota is already having a different supplier build the part they need. About 100k per day is the figure that I have heard.

So, it WAS a voluntary recall by Toyota. Once you have a recall, you cannot legally continue to sell the vehicle until the fix is announced and approved. So, while some say the government forced Toyota to stop sell the vehicles in question, that isn't entirely true. Toyota didn't have to issue the recall in the first place. Therefore, there was nothing for the government to force upon them.

 

I can't take a photo of the CTS pedal (cameraphone isn't that good), but I can describe it. There is a rectangular flat piece of medal that the pedal attaches to. Right before the pedal goes into the ECT module, there is an oval piece of medal welded to the rectangular piece. The oval piece is the same diameter as the rectangular piece is wide. VERY hard to notice unless you have a flashlight and are looking for that specific oval piece.

The Denso model has the same type of rectangular piece, but it goes straight into the ECT module. The ECT module is 3 times to width of the rec. piece and is made entirely of plastic.

Actually, the camera took some good photos.. uploading them now.

 

Another way to detect a CTS pedal is that close to the firewall on the pedal assembly itself is a rectangular plate. If it is shiny, i.e. bare metal and looks like a dog tag it is a CTS pedal. If the assembly is all black and has plastic on it the pedal is made by Denso.

 

Denso Pedal:





CTS Pedal:




Sorry for the crappy pics, but you can definitely see the difference between the two.

 

Thanks for the info TFM and Jabber. I am sure there are people on here that love to know this info.

 

It is not the CTS brake pedal.

 

Why would they be different if they are made to Toyota's spec?
Would they have two different specs?

 

Could you please supply your evidence for that statement? Is there any concrete evidence to support your claim, i.e official documents, technical evidence, NHTSA evidence or such? Such evidence would be very helpful in support your claim.

 

There are some variations of parts from different factories and/or countries. For instance port installed leather on a Camry has different leather kits depending on whether it is made in the US or Japan. Also note that when you buy certain parts for a vehicle the parts sales person frequently will ask for your car's VIN, Ongoing changes and suppliers often require slight differences to parts depending on region and time of assembly.

 

Supplier Perplexed by Toyota Recall - WSJ.com

You know in the automotive world, the problem is said to be much deeper in the engineering.