Toyota Suspends Sales And Production On Select Models

[accadacca]

So whats the skinny? Not too long ago Toyota became the largest US auto manufacture. Is all this mass production finally catching up to them? Are they letting too many US workers get their hands on them.

Toyota owners...are you scared?

Certainly some bad PR: http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&so...ed=0CCEQsQQwAA

[accadacca]

What? No comments on this? Come on where are all the Toyota haters? I own two Toyota's and that's all I buy. Yet they are old and have high mileage. I prefer not to dump money into vehicles...

Motorcycles? Well that's another story and I would like to dump more into them.

[bbennett]

I almost bought a new Tundra when I bought my truck. I actually had my heart set on one but I started to hear about frame recalls. Who wants to deal with that? It's not exactly a quick trip into the dealer for something like that.
I'm happy with my Chevy. Who know's, maybe if their quality hadn't have slipped, I might have bought my Tundra, been very happy with it and followed that puchase up with a new Sequoia. Now it's looking more like a Tahoe or Acadia might be my next vehicle purchase. It's going to take a while for Toyota to gain back my trust and I don't think I will even consider buying one for a long time.

[Scott P]

The part that is being recalled is not built by Toyota (it was built by CTS), but that actually makes it more disturbing. The company that makes the accelerators for Toyota also makes them for Ford as well. Toyota and other car companies are outsourcing more parts as time goes on. Chrysler outsources the most parts and the results have not been good. Unless things have changed, Honda outsources the least amount of parts.

The problem with subcontracting parts is they almost always take the low bidder. Toyota is still at or near the top of the quality statistics, but even so I

[JP]

The part that is being recalled is not built by Toyota (it was built by CTS), but that actually makes it more disturbing.

And you're worried about a Dodge killing you

[bbennett]

Now it's looking more like a Tahoe or Acadia might be my next vehicle purchase

GM actually has far more recalls than Toyota has. Here are 8,850,000 recall pages to look through:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&s...aqi=g-c4g1&oq=

That may very well be the case and I accept that every manufacturer is bound to make mistakes and issue some sort of recall every now and then. I took issue with Toyota's recall due to frame rot. It's not like this is just a poor design on a gas cap. And this was my determining factor when when choosing not to purchase a Toyota. If you were looking into buying a new house and learned that the home builder had been using rotten wood, would you look for a different contractor or just take your chances on a rotten frame?
Your link to "8,850,000 recall pages" is little exagerated. Here's a link for 8,120,000 pages of toyota recalls to look through:
http://www.google.com/search?sourcei...toyota+recalls . Sure, Toyota has 73,000 less pages than GM but I believe GM owns something like 9 different vehicle brands while Toyota only owns 3 or 4.

[Scott P]

And you're worried about a Dodge killing you

Yep.

That may very well be the case and I accept that every manufacturer is bound to make mistakes and issue some sort of recall every now and then.

Agreed.

Sure, Toyota has 73,000 less pages than GM but I believe GM owns something like 9 different vehicle brands while Toyota only owns 3 or 4.

Toyota actually sells way more vehilces than GM, at least in recent years (though this could change in 2010). As said, I think the Toyota recall is pretty bad and does not reflect well (and I really dislike their outsourcing) and should be held accoountable, but GM has a very long history of poor quality and has far more recalls.

http://www.internetautoguide.com/aut...lls/index.html

Of course, all this doesn't let Toyota off the hook.

[Iceaxe]

Just keeps getting better for toyota....

Prius owners blame wild rides on cruise control

Atlanta, Georgia (CNN) -- The Toyota Prius sometimes accelerates while in cruise control, rocketing past the set speed and sending drivers on wild rides, according to some owners and auto safety experts.

The most prominent Prius owner to voice concern over the issue is Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple and owner of several Priuses, including a 2010 model.

"This new model," Wozniak said during the Discovery Forum 2010 earlier this month, "has an accelerator that goes wild but only under a certain condition of cruise control."

The computer guru blamed the problem not on floor mats or a sticky accelerator pedal, as Toyota has maintained, but on bad software. An exasperated Wozniak expressed frustration with his efforts to contact Toyota and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

"I don't know a way to get heard," he said. "I don't know a way to get through to the government, the government safety people."

'I was just praying'

Grover Walton repeatedly slammed on the brakes of his 2008 Toyota Prius on a road trip to visit his granddaughters in South Carolina last October. The car lurched back and forth, and gained speed.

"I can't get the cruise control off," he said to his wife, who was in the back seat.

Barbara Walton looked up from playing Scrabble on her laptop. She figured her husband's lousy driving was to blame.

Yet the hybrid kept zipping along the wet four-lane highway in tight traffic. "I was just praying he could get the car stopped," she told CNN iReport.

Grover Walton rode the brakes and looked for the best place to pull over. He turned onto a dirt road and popped the car into neutral.

When the car stopped, the two front brakes "had a red glow to them," he said.

"My wife was panicking. She didn't know if she should take the stuff out of the car or what."

The incident began, he said, when he hit the "resume" button on his cruise control, thinking he'd speed back up to around 63 mph. The car got up to 75 mph.

Herb Kuehn of Battle Creek, Michigan, said the same thing happened to him in 2005 on a two-lane highway. He said he tried to resume cruise control at 58 mph.

"Instead, it just fully accelerated and kept going," Kuehn said.

He frantically pushed the power button. It didn't respond. The car wouldn't shift into neutral. His last hope: mashing on the brakes as hard as he could while speeding at 76 mph.

The car came to a stop on the shoulder of the road. An overwhelming battery smell wafted through the inside of the car, he said.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/02/11/prius.cruise.control/index.html?hpt=T2

[accadacca]

Toyota is certainly hitting the apology commercials hard during the Olympics.

Maybe its a conspiracy to help the US automakers...

[Sombeech]

"My wife was panicking. She didn't know if she should take the stuff out of the car or what."

IT'S GONNA BLOW!!!!!!

[Iceaxe]

It's just a floormat problem my ass!!!!!

Some woman's Lexus (Toyota) takes off on her on the highway, she applies her brakes, her handbrake and she puts the gears into reverse. Nothing works!

Read the rest here: http://www.injuryboard.com/national-...oogleid=278512


[quote]"I was entering the interstate and accelerated and merged into second lane. I lost all control of the acceleration. The cruise light goes on. I thought maybe the cruise control caused the car to accelerate as my foot was not on the gas pedal. I take my foot off cruise control but it continues to accelerate. I put the car in reverse but it speeds at 100 mph with both feet on the brake and nothing slows the car, not even the emergency brake.

"I thought I'd have to put it into the guard rail before I hurt anyone else. I called my husband with the blue tooth. I knew (she cries) he could not help me but I wanted to hear his voice. After 6 miles God intervened. As the car came very slowly to a stop I pulled it to the left median with the car stopped and both feet on the brake the motor still reved up and down at 35 mph and would not shut off. Finally at 33 mph I was able to turn the engine off.

"After my husband arrived there was nothing unusual with the floormats, the dash lights and radio were still on. the wrecker driver asked my hsubnd to put my car in neutral so he could use the winch. My husband was able to shift into neutral, but when he did that, the car tried to start itself. The wrecker driver attested to this. After ten days Toyota did not contact us. We received an analysis stating "if properly maintained the brakes will always override the accelerator." Well that

[Last Child]

New Evidence of Runaway Toyota's May Help Imprisoned Camry Owner
Jury Did Not Believe Driver Who Claimed He Could Not Stop Car That Killed Three

Poor bastard. Can you say reasonable doubt?

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Runawa...ory?id=9903455

[accadacca]

[accadacca]

http://www.toyota.com/recall/

[Iceaxe]

I'll believe they actually have the problems fixed when they start replacing the ECM (Electronic Control Module), which is where the problem really is. It's one of the more expensive parts to replace in their cars, which is why they tried to avoid doing a massive recall to begin with.....

Right now Toyota is still trying to put lipstick on a pig.....

[Scott Card]

Glad I got my Tundra in the "good" years. No recalls, no repairs, 120K on the truck and no problems.

[JP]

Little blown out of proportion? Is this just another case of the Administration (pertaining to Government Motors) using their theory, "Never let a serious crisis go to waste, it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before."

Yep, take your competition out one competitor at a time...using any means necessary

Let's face it, this wouldn't be happening otherwise. Look at the stuff Scott posted about his favorite motor corporation, who even remembers it? That's if you don't believe Scott is making it up

I'm still alive and loving my carbon footprint

[Iceaxe]

Little blown out of proportion?

I'd say NO.... only because it's a safety issue that appears to have been known internally for 4 or 5 years and the attempt was made to cover it up.... In the end I expect to see some heads roll within the corporation.... maybe even some jail time....

At the very least these problems will create major credibility issues with Toyota. It's taken the US auto companies over 20 years to recover from the crap they were selling in the 80's.

FWIW: Toyota was basically in a dead heat with Ford and Chevrolet last year in quality.... that was before this issue hit the fan....

[moab mark]

So this just happened again in California. A highway patrolman pulled in front of a Prius to stop it. I haven't been following this that closely but are the victims of these wild rides claiming the ignition will not shut off the car? Yea I understand you loose your power steering and power brakes but seems manual is better then WIDE OPEN.

Mark

[Salmoholic]

Don't forget when you shut off the ignition you will also lock the steering column no power steering or brake assist and locked in line. Most cars have rev limiters go neutral get off the road then shut down.