Don't drive recalled Toyotas, transportation chief says

[Colston69]

It doesn't change the facts of consumer law.

It often doesn't accurately state them, either. I'll keep my Toyota, it's still better built than a Cobalt or a Focus.

 

[daughtersrus]

If the spring on the gas pedal is faulty, why are the adding a metal piece to the pedal instead of replacing the faulty spring?

http://www.whotv.com/news/who-story-toyota-recall-020310,0,7257181.story

...Service Manager Scott Westercamp says the problem lies with a small spring in the gas pedal assembly. He says, in some cases, the spring does not offer enough pressure to return the pedal to its original position.

"It will progressively catch. There's a good chance the customer will actually feel it not releasing and it's not necessarily going to rev up to a full throttle situation as much as it would be a not return to idle position," Westercamp says.

The fix is quick and simple. Westercamp says technicians remove the gas pedal and place a small metal plate near the faulty spring to increase the tension. The whole job takes about an hour and there is no charge...

 

[Pea-n-Me]

It often doesn't accurately state them, either. I'll keep my Toyota, it's still better built than a Cobalt or a Focus.

Seems you missed the point of my post, which wasn't about what kind of car you or I like.

It was about consumer responsibilities during a compulsory recall, something I haven't seen mentioned in this thread and something many probably haven't heard of before.

From what I read, Toyota "hasn't decided" whether it's a compulsory recall or not. Seems it would be important information to know since there are legal implications if it is or becomes one.

FYI

 

[Squirlz]

If the spring on the gas pedal is faulty, why are the adding a metal piece to the pedal instead of replacing the faulty spring?

It's not a faulty spring, it just may not provide enough tension.

 

[luvmy3]

If the spring on the gas pedal is faulty, why are the adding a metal piece to the pedal instead of replacing the faulty spring?

http://www.whotv.com/news/who-story-toyota-recall-020310,0,7257181.story

...Service Manager Scott Westercamp says the problem lies with a small spring in the gas pedal assembly. He says, in some cases, the spring does not offer enough pressure to return the pedal to its original position.

"It will progressively catch. There's a good chance the customer will actually feel it not releasing and it's not necessarily going to rev up to a full throttle situation as much as it would be a not return to idle position," Westercamp says.

The fix is quick and simple. Westercamp says technicians remove the gas pedal and place a small metal plate near the faulty spring to increase the tension. The whole job takes about an hour and there is no charge...

Probably because they can do the bolded to fix the problem

 

[testifyoncruises]

Sigh...a whole bunch of hype over something in the grand scheme of things has affected .00044% of the recalled vehicles.

 

[cosine4]

I'll keep my Toyota, it's still better built than a Cobalt or a Focus.

That is a matter of opinion. Ford/GM have come a long way in the last 10 years. Plus the Cobalt is cheaper, more efficient and has more power.

 

[tinatark]

I'm shocked at how people's opinions of this recall vary - it is a major recall - I don't remember a previous recall when vehicle sales were stopped.

Does Toyota make a great product? Yes, but they dropped the ball on this.

For the people saying the affected cars were built in the U.S. with parts also built in the U.S. - again, yes, but still built to Toyota specifications using Toyota parts. Is the problem that the part wasn't built to Toyota's specifications? Were the parts installed incorrectly at the factory? It seems that Toyota would be all over it if either of those were true, to deflect fault from the manufacturer.

Do people seriously think this is something over hyped by US carmakers to bolster their sales? Talk to the families who have already been affected by the faulty part and maybe you'll understand the seriousness of the situation.

We do have a Toyota, but it's not under the recall. If it were, and I had a choice, I would not drive it until the repair. We had a Navigator a few years ago - there was a recall connected to the fuel pump - SUV's were catching on fire in garages. I parked my Navigator outside the garage until the repairs were made.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I'm shocked at how people's opinions of this recall vary - it is a major recall - I don't remember a previous recall when vehicle sales were stopped.

I agree. The emotions on this thread, though, are a good reflection, from what I read, of emotions globally about this recall.

Does Toyota make a great product? Yes, but they dropped the ball on this.

Opinions are beginning to filter in on how badly this was handled. It might wind up being an example for years to come on how not to handle a crisis.

Toyota's no-show leadership
By Alex Taylor III, senior editorFebruary 4, 2010: 12:26 PM ET

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- The last time anyone looked, Toyota was a Japanese company controlled by a Japanese family. But during the entire accelerator recall crisis -- now complicated by brake problems with the Prius -- they have been all but invisible.

These are no absentee owners. The Toyoda family built Toyota Motor (TM) into the largest auto company in the world and the leader of its third generation, Akio Toyoda, is president. His father, Dr. Shoichiro Toyoda, who turns 85 on February 17th, is the company's honorary chairman and, according to associates, he remains deeply involved in the company's operations.

So with this rich history behind them, who did Toyota send out this week to answer questions about the accelerator recall? An American sales executive named Jim Lentz.

Now Lentz is one of the smartest and most capable executives in the auto industry, but he isn't even Toyota's number one executive in the U.S. Nor is he an engineer, which makes him less then perfectly qualified to answer technical questions about how an automobile starts and stops.

But what's really worse is that he is not a member of the Toyoda family. Akio Toyoda has strongly held views about the importance of quality and reliability in Toyota's history, and the role of his family in the company's success. But neither he nor his father has confronted the recall problem head on in public. The younger Toyoda has even gotten the nickname "no-show Akio."

It is frankly surprising and hard to explain. In a good year, North America provides the bulk of the profits for Toyota and is a major contributor behind Toyota's enormous market capitalization. But now, at a time of its biggest crisis, when the flow of those profits is threatened, Toyota has allowed America to fend for itself.

One senses a deep debate going on inside the company. On one side is the American operation arguing for Japan to get significantly involved in the recall in a way that the public can see. But America has always had a difficult time making its opinions heard on the other side of the Pacific. That difficulty has been exacerbated because of the retirement at year's end of a senior California-based public relations operative.

Back in Japan, executives are struggling to come up with an answer to public doubts about Toyota cars and trucks. But they are traditionally slow to act and their sense of how to communicate with American audiences is not well-developed.

Keep in mind that Toyota is a company run by engineers who like definitive answers to even the most complex problems. They are uncomfortable with softer subjects -- especially in different cultures -- that aren't easily understood through a root-cause analysis.

It is likely that Japan is all too mindful of the drubbing that Ford CEO Jac Nasser took a decade ago when he become the automaker's spokesman in the Explorer rollover crisis. Nasser became something of a laughingstock because of his thick Australian accent, and there were predictable references to Crocodile Dundee.
Most Toyota executives speak excellent English, though they often prefer to have interpreters translate for them. They are doubtless concerned about the impact of their accents on Toyota's image. Still, they would likely win points for sincerity and conviction were they to speak for themselves when appearing before the American public.

Prolonged media appearances in times of crisis by top executives may not be not the Japanese way. But it is the American way and, increasingly, the global way.

Toyota has struggled for years to shed its conservative habits and to become more of a global company. But the slow progress it had been making in this direction has been reversed by its handling of the current crisis.

There is a Japanese expression: genchi genbutso, meaning "go see for yourself." It is an integral part of the renowned Toyota Production System. For any problem to be solved, it has to be inspected first at the place where it has occurred.

It is time for the Toyoda family and their associates to go and be seen at a place where Toyota cars are designed and built so they can face the public, explain what has gone wrong and lay out how it plans to fix them. Such a simple act will go a long way toward defusing the current crisis -- and enabling Toyota to keep growing as a global company.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/04/autos/toyota.fortune/

Realizing there are lots of brand loyalists here, I'm also not getting the undertone of this "not being a big deal". It sure is a big deal, with millions of cars affected worldwide, billions of dollars, a top company's stellar reputation, and public safety at stake.

 

[jodifla]

There was a big outcry only after many people died. The outcry wasn't immediate, just like the Toyota outcry wasn't immediate. Ford and Firestone knew about the problem long before the media got ahold of it. That recall was issued in Aug 2000, ironically days after the Firestone CEO denied that there was any problem with their tires. The NHTSA came to Firestone in May of 2000 with concerns about the tires on the Explorer. Ford had brought the issue up to Firestone in 1995 and again in 1997. Ford began issuing free replacement tires on the same exact same Explorers in Venezuela 3 months before the US recall. No, Ford and Firestone knew nothing about it and issued the recall immediately with no delay.

Do you actually believe that? The US companies are some how more honorable than foreign companies? These are ALL money making businesses their entire purpose is to make money and everything the do is with that in mind. ALL businesses operate this way.

Point me to a news story about people dying with floor mats in the trunk. This is a separate different recall on a different issue than the floor mat recall anyway. Toyota has made is clear that these are 2 different things. And the only death we are hearing about is the Lexus in California. And yes I understand that Lexus is a Toyota division.

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local-be...in-Fatal-Southlake-Crash-Police-80761142.html

Floor Mats Ruled Out in Fatal Southlake Crash: Police

Recalled Toyota floor mats had nothing to do with a car crash that killed four people in Southlake the day after Christmas, police said Tuesday.

Four people in a Toyota Avalon drowned when the car went off the road, through a fence and landed upside down in a pond.

The four, all Jehovah's Witnesses, were doing religious work at the time.

The car was one of more than four million recalled by Toyota, after federal safety regulators found a problem with the car suddenly accelerating.

The automaker said the problem is caused by the floor mat pushing against the gas pedal.

Southlake police said the floor mat in the car that crashed was found in the trunk and was not inside the vehicle.

It's the same issue. The people were told it was a floor mat issue, so they took out the floormats and put them in the trunk. And yet their car still accelerated, killing all four of them.

And you are right, Ford and Firestone did drag it out...pointing endless fingers at each other.

 

[S. C.]

Every Dodge and Ford vehicle I have ever owned has had hard to use gas pedals. Hard to get started, slow to release. Every one. But, they are American. The big bad foreigners came in here and out-sold the Americans. Even cash for clunkers was better for Toyota than Dodge.

Next recall hype from Detroit: Toyota seat belts could lock up on you while you are trying to put them on. It must be a defect in the way the belt unrolls. Goverment officials will recommend you burn your Toyotas immediately.

Me thinks someone works for Toyota.

 

[jodifla]

Me thinks someone works for Toyota.

I think the point that Toyota has made a lot of really reliable cars in the past is certainly true.

But they are botching this is a big, big way. When you have a public 911 tape chronicling the last moment's of a family's life because of YOUR product and your arrogance, you are in serious trouble.

 

[S. C.]

I think the point that Toyota has made a lot of really reliable cars in the past is certainly true.

But they are botching this is a big, big way. When you have a public 911 tape chronicling the last moment's of a family's life because of YOUR product and your arrogance, you are in serious trouble.

I agree!

 

[Colston69]

I think the point that Toyota has made a lot of really reliable cars in the past is certainly true.

But they are botching this is a big, big way. When you have a public 911 tape chronicling the last moment's of a family's life because of YOUR product and your arrogance, you are in serious trouble.

I don't work for Toyota, I just drive one. As for more power, I'd like to compare somone's Fusion to my truck and compare power. Ford and Dodge may have come a long way, that just means that they had a long, long way to come- just to get even.

As far as Toyota "botching" it, most of the hype on this issue is coming from the U.S. 3. They can easily blow it way out of proportion. And they have. They are good at gathering the emotions on this and running with it. They would have more respect if they competed with their product, not their PR machine.

 

[cosine4]

As for more power, I'd like to compare somone's Fusion to my truck and compare power.

Why would you compare a compact car with a truck? Compare like models and you will see that they DO compete with their product. As for your truck, Toyota doesn't have anything that can compete with the Duramax/Powerstroke/Cummins. You are blinded by your hatred for American cars that you can't admit anything good about them. In fact you are trying to blame the "Big 3 Hype Machine" for this issue with Toyota. The facts are:
-The blame lies completely on Toyota and it is their responsibility to fix it.
-American cars on the same level as foreign cars, different companies are better at different things which gives people the option to choose one based on their preference (comfort, performance, aesthetics, public opinion, etc)

 

[S. C.]

I don't work for Toyota, I just drive one. As for more power, I'd like to compare somone's Fusion to my truck and compare power. Ford and Dodge may have come a long way, that just means that they had a long, long way to come- just to get even.

As far as Toyota "botching" it, most of the hype on this issue is coming from the U.S. 3. They can easily blow it way out of proportion. And they have. They are good at gathering the emotions on this and running with it. They would have more respect if they competed with their product, not their PR machine.

Correct me if I am wrong I have not read all of the responses on this thread. What I have read I have not seen anyone say that Toyota does/has not made good products.
And even though you will never believe it. The American car companies has and does make good products.


You keep pointing out the recalls the American car companies have had. I don't think anyone is denying that ALL of the car companies have had recalls and some of them major, and yes not all of the companies have handled it like they should.

I have seen the news reports that Toyota should of done something about this earlier and news reports that Toyota handled this wrong.

You keep pointing fingers at the American car companies and the UAW for what the NEWS is reporting.
I don't see how what the NEWS reports is the American car companies fault. Again correct me if I have missed something!

 

[daughtersrus]

I As for more power, I'd like to compare somone's Fusion to my truck and compare power.

 

[Colston69]

Why would you compare a compact car with a truck? Compare like models and you will see that they DO compete with their product. As for your truck, Toyota doesn't have anything that can compete with the Duramax/Powerstroke/Cummins. You are blinded by your hatred for American cars that you can't admit anything good about them. In fact you are trying to blame the "Big 3 Hype Machine" for this issue with Toyota. The facts are:
-The blame lies completely on Toyota and it is their responsibility to fix it.
-American cars on the same level as foreign cars, different companies are better at different things which gives people the option to choose one based on their preference (comfort, performance, aesthetics, public opinion, etc)

 

[jodifla]

Hmmm. I'm thinking about that ignore button now.

 

[minniecarousel]

Just checked the Toyota website and found out that the Hybrids are not included in the sticky accelerator recall.....whew - so glad to know that I'm not driving a deathtrap!