Your feelings on the recent Toyota recall about accelerator pedal?

taliahbriefs

So I heard about the recall this morning. I own a 09 corolla so it was obviously a concern for me, so I called the dealer right away. They said that because their is not solution for the problem yet, they're not actually recalling any vehicles, unless there is a suspicion of a sticky gas pedal.































So basically you have to crash or die before they'll take your car in. Thats crap!































They should recall the vehicles and supply the owners with rentals untill they can get their high paid engineers to figure out a solution.































For those of you who dont know, there's already been aprox 20 reported deaths and over 1000 crashes related to this problem with the cars.































Am I over reacting? What are your thoughts?

Mad Jack

Toyota is not the manufacturer that it used to be. Lots of problems in recent years.































There was the recent problem of engine sludge in some models. This problem even extended into their flagship Lexus brand. Toyota initially blamed the owners for not keeping up with their oil changes. However there were too many early engine failures from excessive sludge for these to be isolated incidents of owners not changing their oil. It took a class action lawsuit to finally get Toyota to admit to their design flaw. Not very good customer care here.































Then there was the problem with excessive frame rust in the Tacoma trucks. Another class action lawsuit. Toyota quietly bought up many of the effected trucks and had them crushed.































Then there is the severe frame flex problems with the Tundra trucks. I have a friend who bought one to pull his fifth wheel travel trailer. This truck should have had enough towing capacity for this trailer. He noticed that the truck would not hold an alignment. He later found that the frame of this truck was permanently tweaked (bent).































The Tundra trucks also suffer from severe frame rust. Toyota recently sent a letter to the owners of these trucks to remove the spare tire. Seems the frames are rusting so badly that the spare tire can fall off. This has caused some accidents.































So I am not surprised they have this most recent rash of problems. Not they are blaming a sub-contractor. However I would bet money that this sub-contractor is building these parts exactly to Toyota specifications. Most likely a design flaw, not a quality issue.































I am confident that Toyota will get this most recent issue with the accelerator pedal fixed very quickly. To much money involved in lost sales and image for them not to.































However, with their recent track record, you got to wonder what design flaw related recall will come next.































I feel this is a much deeper issue. You would think that a critical item like the throttle linkage would be quality inspected on each and every vehicle at some point in the assembly process. Apparently this is not happening ot Toyota would have identified this problem internally before 20 people lost their lives. Makes you wonder what other items are not being inspected by their quality control.































Toyota is not the brand they appear to be. Just good marketing. I would take my Chevy over a Toyota any day.

NANCY S

The dealer told my daughter this morning, there is no fix. My daughter has 3 small kids and wanted to see them grow up. She was too scared to drive them, so she traded in her two brand new Toyotas for a Chevrolet Equinox and Malibu. Better be safe than sorry! I would have been worried sick if she stilled owned them. Is your life worth something material?

Lola H

You most definitely are not over reacting! The acceleration issue is not caused by the floor mats and Toyota knows it. There is a lot of alarming information related to the accelerator problems on ABC's Good Morning America site (http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/) The fact that Toyota has stopped selling the models of the effected cars in the US is indicative of the magnitude of the problem. You are absolutely right, Toyota should make immediate arrangements for all Toyota owner's of the models experiencing the problems to return the car to their authorized dealership and be put in a loaner car until the problem is identified and corrected. How many people are going to have to die needlessly?































Additional comment: Do not take anyone's post seriously that starts out their reply with name calling OR who refers you to Toyota's website...like I stated above, the problem is very serious for Toyota to cease selling the vehicles.

Pete S

Don't worry about it. Such problems have occurred in only a tiny handful of cars. It is unlikely that yours will be affected. That said, you should do the following:































1. Ensure that your driver's side floor mat is properly attached to the little clips. This will keep it from sliding.































2. Your car is under warranty. Take it to the dealer for them to do the various recall-required service. They should be able to fix it for free. If a particular dealer won't service it, call a different dealer. If they don't know what the requirements for the service are yet, it's possible that Toyota is still putting the finishing touches on the procedure and they should know shortly.































3. In the event that your vehicle does behave dangerously (such as accelerating rapidly), simply put the car into neutral and then pull over safely. This disconnects the engine from the wheels, so the engine will spin and make a lot of noise, but your car will simply coast along. You can put the car in neutral by simply pushing the gear selector forward one notch. If you have a manual, just push in the clutch -- same effect.































In any event, your brakes are stronger than your engine. Pushing firmly and holding the brakes will cause the car to stop, even if the car is in gear and running at full power.































In short: don't worry too much about it, but keep up to date on the recall and take the action recommended by Toyota.































pressroom.toyota.com

Fly B

It's actually quite interesting...































I learned from my social studies and from my family who have made numerous trips to Japan (I'm the only one who hasn't been) that the Japanese have different ethical standards than us in North America and Europe.































In Japan, a worker on the line would bring dishonour to his/her family if he/she made even the slightest imperfection on whatever item is being made. For North Americans, the drudge of working the line for hours on end eventually leads to a slight lessening of standards...































Additionally, if a corporation discovered a problem with an item being manufactured, in North America what is typical to happen is that the item continues production, and is either fixed or discarded at a later time after many options are analyzed, discussed, and approved. In Japanese culture, the entire production is put on hold until a solution is found. Even if that solution costs excessive amounts of money to the company, Japanese culture would shun anyone producing a less than ideal product or a knowingly flawed product.































This recall seems to be the case and point. The Japanese corporation has decided that there is a flawed product currently being produced, and thus voluntarily halted production. I very highly doubt that any domestic automaker would halt all production in this same scenario (thinking back to the Firestone recall, where both Firestone and Ford were taking responsibility for a major recall problem but neither halted production on their own accord).































So I really think this matter has to be taken with a grain of salt. This most certainly is not the first time that a car is proving itself to be hazardous; but it may very well be the first time that a corporation has voluntarily taken the blame. This volunteering of the blame leads us in North America to believe that this is terribly serious and deadly (after all, no domestic corporation ever volunteers to take the blame!); when in fact this may just be a cultural difference. In Japan, halting production like this would be considered a rather normal thing; a small fault was located, and must be fixed until production can begin again.































With respect to the actual crashes... well, I've had a fair share of cars trying to kill me; brakes failure on a Ford Explorer, a Jeep Liberty shifting into 4-wheel low for some reason while driving, exhaust vapours leaking into the cabin of a Buick LeSabre, a cylinder explosion in the LeSabre one year later, and, although older than the recalled models, yes a stuck gas pedal on a 97 Camry.































I guess you could say I have bad luck.... but I feel it proves my point. Toyota isn't the only car that can kill you. This just looks bad on Toyota because the corporation has volunteered to take the blame.































Oh by the way, I remember when trying to buyout a lease on the car, the car had to be purchased from the manufacturer by the dealership, then the dealership transfers the ownership to me. That being the case, I would say that Toyota does not actually own the dealership... and then that being the case, I guess it's at the dealer's discretion whether or not to take back your specific car until the corporation has a solution.