Anybody affected by the Toyota recall/stop selling order?

[Louis Brandt]

Hello,

I was just curious to know how many of you may be affected by the announcement that Toyota has been ordered to stop selling much of its 2010 line of vehicles. The recall also includes vehicles back to 2007.

Louis

[brian watson]

Have 2 Toyotas -- one which isimpacted. However, when i called them and said ok what do we do, their response was: well just be aware of it and if you experience any problems take it to the dealership. I got to wait on hold for 15 minutes for that wonderful information.

So no plans appear to exist for the fix right now.

[Mike Henderson]

I don't own a Toyota but I've been following the situation fairly closely. I'm amazed at how poorly Toyota has handled this situation. What they should have done in the beginning is to say, "The safety of our customers is the most important thing to us, and we want to protect our hard won reputation for quality. We don't know exactly what's causing the problem but we have identified several preventive measures and we're recalling all affected vehicles to apply those fixes."

It's fairly clear to most observers that the problem is in the "fly by wire" system of the accelerator but amazingly, Toyota has not put in the simple fix of forcing the engine to idle when the brake is depressed while the engine is above a certain RPM. Every other car manufacturer who uses the "fly by wire" accelerator system has that fail safe programmed in.

This debacle is going to be extremely expensive for Toyota, both to fix the problem and in lost sales.

Mike

[Paul Ryan]

Many times consumers/owners find out about recalls sooner than the dealers. And then the proper recall parts are usually behind that as well. They can be back ordered, all kinds of other issues. But this is the 1st time I have ever heard of a manufacturer not knowing what to do next. It appears to me Toyota is stumped if they have shut down sales and production. Shutting down production is the big thing. That tells me they dont have the proper fix yet and that is kind of scary because it could be months before cars starting getting fixed. Now at least owners know there is problem and should be aware. And it is an issue that doesn't occur very often, as with most recalls. But with the amount of cars being recalled and them being behind as it sounds, it will be months before most cars are repaired. But just relax the media always makes a bigger deal out of it. Think of it this way, there are thousands of cars that are effected that have 100k of more miles on them and haven't had a problem. Yes, it could happen and you should be aware, but dont loose any sleep over it. And do your self a favor and wait a few weeks before you call the dealer and get the same answer, "wait untill you get a notice in the mail, then give us a call and set up an apointment."

[Jim O'Dell]

The company I work for has 2 Toyota dealerships. I'm not sure how they are dealing with it. We got a memo today about the Pontiac Vibe, which is built by Toyota for GM. It gives us some of what I call basic common sense information to give to customers. It also says that the Vibe has had NO reported issues or customer complaints on the gas pedal sticking. I can only guess that if this holds true, that since the diagnostics between the 2 brands is different (my techs using a GM diagnostic computer can not completely access Toyota onboard computers for diagnostics) that there is something in the computer that is different and possibly contributing to the problem. But this is just a guess on my part.
When I heard about the family in California that called 911 and were traveling over 100 mph headed for a dead end, my first thought was, if you know you are headed for a crash, why not pop the trans into neutral? So what if it burns the engine up??? Then when I heard that that driver was a California Highway Patrol officer, I was really confused. If someone that has been trained to think under extreme stress situations can't think to do this, how is anyone else going to? If anyone had a chance of recovering in that situation, I would think someone in that position would have the second best chance, right behind fighter pilots. Jim.

[Mike Henderson]

When I heard about the family in California that called 911 and were traveling over 100 mph headed for a dead end, my first thought was, if you know you are headed for a crash, why not pop the trans into neutral? So what if it burns the engine up??? Then when I heard that that driver was a California Highway Patrol officer, I was really confused. If someone that has been trained to think under extreme stress situations can't think to do this, how is anyone else going to? If anyone had a chance of recovering in that situation, I would think someone in that position would have the second best chance, right behind fighter pilots. Jim.

Blaming the victim is not very productive. The car should have NEVER run away like that.

Mike

[Jeff Monson]

The thing that strikes me the most, is they keep blaming it on floormats? And now there are cases where the mats were in the trunk. I would think a gas pedal could have modified to eliminate this kind of issue. I think there is going to be alot on Toyota's plate before this is over, maybe a few closet doors opened.

I cant imagine the chaos at Toyota's engineering dept. right now, trying to develop new software that most likely took them years to develop. I wish them the best, as no auto mfg. can afford less revenue nowdays.

On the other side I wonder what this will cost Toyota in the long run?
14 deaths and millions of cars to update.

[Belinda Barfield]

Blaming the victim is not very productive. The car should have NEVER run away like that.

Mike

Mike,

I may be wrong but I don't think Jim was attempting to blame the victim. I believe he was trying to make the point that if someone with extensive training in how to handle a situation like that can't think what to do, your average driver doesn't stand a chance if it happens to them.

[Robert Parrish]

I have 2 Toyota. My 2007 Tacoma received a warning letter in November but does not seem to be affected by the current mess. My wife has a 1999 Camry that just had its first repair this week. We had to replace the timing belt and water pump for a total of $670, not bad for a 12 year old car and 76000 miles. If they could build them right then why not now?

[Matt Meiser]

Blaming the victim is not very productive. The car should have NEVER run away like that.

Mike

Where did he blame the guy? He said if he didn't have a chance, then who else would?

There's an article in the Detroit News today where its says that Toyota legally should have stopped selling the cars 5 days ago when the recall was issued. I suspect that will put them in a bigger bind, legally and in the court of public opinion.

http://detnews.com/article/20100127/...selling-models

I've also already seen a claim (by an individual, not by Toyota) that the federal government is forcing the recall and stop sale order to help GM, since they now basically own GM. I'm sure the conspiracy theorists are all over that one.

[Pat Germain]

Blaming the victim is not very productive. The car should have NEVER run away like that.

Mike

Well, I'm wondering if we have a situation similar to that of Audi years ago. One person crashed her Audi into her garage wall and claimed the car just ran away on her. Once the media got ahold of it, it seemed every time someone crashed an Audi, the driver claimed the car ran away on them.

Audi examined every inch of their cars. They spent countless hours trying to come with a situation, any situation, which could have caused the car to run away. They could not. In the end, they modified their cars requiring the driver to press on the brake before it could be put into gear. All manufacturers now do the same thing and it's because of Audi's experience.

So, this is why I'm wondering if the problem is much smaller, or much less severe, than it seems. It could be a few people had a problem. Then, every time someone crashed a Toyota they claimed they had the same problem. Or, it could indeed be a genuine throttle problem.

My son and daughter each drive a Corolla; 2008 and 2009. Apparently, the 2009 has been recalled. But I'm not sure about the 2008. I told my kids to be sure to look into it and, in the very unlikely event the engine runs away, put it in nuetral. The engine won't blow up because it is equipped with a rev-limiter.

[Ben Martin]

On the radio this morning on my way in to work they were talking about Toyota cancelling 8 vehicle lines, did anyone else hear this? I had to get out before they finished the story...

[Jim O'Dell]

Blaming the victim is not very productive. The car should have NEVER run away like that.

Mike

I agree Mike! Go back and reread what I said. I never blamed the "victim". As I said, that was my first thought, why they didn't just do X. And I also said if someone as highly trained to think in stress situations, as a Highway Patrolman, can't react quickly to get out of this situation, how can anyone else? Jim.

[Matt Meiser]

Ben, that's what everyone is talking about. They are stopping production temporarily and have stopped the sale of 8 models.

[Pat Germain]

Ben, that's what everyone is talking about. They are stopping production temporarily and have stopped the sale of 8 models.

Yes, to be clear, Toyota isn't cancelling the vehicle lines. Rather, they have temporary suspended producing and selling many of their vehicles. But that's still a pretty drastic move.