Anybody affected by the Toyota recall/stop selling order?

[Walt Nicholson]

I'm sure this will generate an overwhelming amount of "the best car on the road" responses but Toyota has had a huge quality problem for the last several years that is just now starting to come to light. There are several class action suits in the works over the Tundra frames rusting through, spring hangers falling off after rusting out, etc. Another group suing over the Prius randomly losing it's brakes (tied in to the regenerative braking system on the hybrid) and then the dealer can find no problem, similar to the accelerator problem. A former Toyota executive now turned whistle blower about Toyota ignoring serious quality problems that were safety related for several years. NHTSA is currently investigating if the "floor mat problem" was just a ploy to cover up the real issue of sudden accelleration until they could find a fix. Toyota bought back thousands of Lexus models in another class action suit over engine sludge that barely ever made it to the press. When some of these other issues (that folks in the industry already know about) start to become public knowledge, the Toyota road is going to get pretty rocky. I am not a Toyota "basher", I am just against big business trying to cover up and not admit their problems until people die and they are forced to. If you own a Toyota now you better like it a lot because the resale value just went in the toilet because the company did not do their job. Some of us are old enough to remember what the acceleration issues did to Audi several years ago. Just my opinion. Now I will wait for all the rocks to come my way.

[Matt Meiser]

Toyota has had a huge quality problem for the last several years that is just now starting to come to light.

About a year and a half ago I sat next to a Toyota quality engineer on a plane who indicated the same to me. The basic gist was that they grew so fast they lost control.

[Jeff Monson]

I'm sure this will generate an overwhelming amount of "the best car on the road" responses but Toyota has had a huge quality problem for the last several years that is just now starting to come to light. There are several class action suits in the works over the Tundra frames rusting through, spring hangers falling off after rusting out, etc. Another group suing over the Prius randomly losing it's brakes (tied in to the regenerative braking system on the hybrid) and then the dealer can find no problem, similar to the accelerator problem. A former Toyota executive now turned whistle blower about Toyota ignoring serious quality problems that were safety related for several years. NHTSA is currently investigating if the "floor mat problem" was just a ploy to cover up the real issue of sudden accelleration until they could find a fix. Toyota bought back thousands of Lexus models in another class action suit over engine sludge that barely ever made it to the press. When some of these other issues (that folks in the industry already know about) start to become public knowledge, the Toyota road is going to get pretty rocky. I am not a Toyota "basher", I am just against big business trying to cover up and not admit their problems until people die and they are forced to. If you own a Toyota now you better like it a lot because the resale value just went in the toilet because the company did not do their job. Some of us are old enough to remember what the acceleration issues did to Audi several years ago. Just my opinion. Now I will wait for all the rocks to come my way.

Walt, I certainly wont cast any stones at ya, I thought right from the start of this that a "floormat issue" would be an easy recall, IMO its a coverup to buy some more time to find the real issue. As I stated before I'm pretty sure there will be some closet doors opened in a short amount of time for Toyota.

I do remember the Audi problem from a few years back, it was costly for Audi's reputation, but I think they have rebounded nicely.

[Mike Henderson]

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.

Okay, sorry. I read it you saying he should have thought to put it in neutral. Just my misreading.

Mike

[Pat Germain]

I'm sure this will generate an overwhelming amount of "the best car on the road" responses but Toyota has had a huge quality problem for the last several years that is just now starting to come to light...

I'm a Toyota fan, but I agree there have been some serious quality issues. I think Toyota will pull out of this OK, just like Audi did.

[Paul Ryan]

Personally I am not a toyota fan. I have been in the car industry my whole life and I am still involved. I have owned and worked on toyotas. I have been preaching for a couple of years now about the quality issues of their products. I have experience to back up my claims. Bottom line is toyota is suffering from the same things that have plaged GM, Chrysler, and Ford for years. They have lost the quality control over their suppliers, in favor of cheap quick parts. It will really be interesting to see how toyota is perceived after this. If this a software issue it would have been fixed by now. My feeling it is something more mechanical. I haven't looked into if all of these models run the "fly by wire" throttle bodies. If that is the case they more than likely have purchased all of the devices from the same company. And from the way it sounds they arn't sure the exact problem.

Every company handles recalls differently. Some recalls are mandated by the government due to a saftey issue. Others are a customer satisfaction recall. From my experiences Ford has done more customer satisfaction recalls than anyone. My experiences with Ford recalls go back to about 1995. Chrysler, GM, and Toyota are more saftey based recalls. They have some customer satisfaction recalls but most are saftey based.

Toyota has alway been real "hush hush" about recalls. They usually dont generate any recall unless absolutely necessary. In this case it again looks to me like they have done everything possible to keep it under wraps. Now it has kind of "bit them in the but". It is kind of the old Richard Nixon disaster. If they would come out and tell the truth right away it wouldn't be so bad. But you cover and cover and then it all of a sudden blows up in your face.

It just goes to prove every manufacturer on the planet has issues with quality control. We can go through the list and name POS's from every company and the imports are no different. I am convinced that the imports are no better than the current domestics. That may not be the case of the previous generations of vehicles. But I believe the late model domestic machines are equal to and in some cases superior to the imports.

[Myk Rian]

I am being affected by the Toyota recall. My Ford stock is climbing.

[Donny Lawson]

It was also said this morning that it does not affect the ones made in Japan.If your serial # starts with a JT you are fine.What is it they are doing right that we are doing wrong? I've owned 22 Toyota's over the past 16 yrs. Yes, I like to trade,and I LOVE Toyota's.I currently own 4 of them.3 Trucks(Mine) 1 car (Wifes).Hopefully they will get it fixed because I'm getting the trading fever again.
Donny

[Mike Henderson]

I am being affected by the Toyota recall. My Ford stock is climbing.

Maybe this will change people's attitude about the quality of American cars. Ford and GM have come a long ways in quality but many people perceive the Japanese cars as still having higher quality. This debacle could change that perception.

Mike

[Jim O'Dell]

Mike, I am saying that he should have put it in neutral...but if someone with his training can't come up with that, how would us normal people ever think of it in the heat of battle? It's easy to come up with a solution sitting here thinking about it in my easy chair. Much tougher when your life is flashing before your eyes. I don't blame the victims of this problem that has become a tragedy to too many innocent people. I will blame the manufacturer if they knew about it and covered it up. If that turns out to be the case, I think everyone involved should be brought up on manslaughter charges for each death. But I don't for a minute think that would ever happen.
I do hope that anyone that reads this thread will think about what to do in case this happens to them. Being prepared as to what to do could save someone's life. Possibly some one you love. Jim.

[Mitchell Andrus]

The thing that strikes me the most, is they keep blaming it on floormats? .

Floor mats is a different problem, different fix. This new problem involves the sensor in the pedal mechanism itself. My wife's Lexus has the floor mat thing, but not the new problem.
.

[Mitchell Andrus]

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.

I agree. Also, most of the crashes caused by this problem happen when the Toyota rear-ends another car. Remember that taking the foot off the pedal causes the car to stay at speed (usually sticking at it's setting), not zoom to 100. In traffic, this happens faster than most people can realize what's happened and leaves zero time to understand that the car didn't slow down and that more pressure is needed on the brake pedal/shift to "N".
.

[Mitchell Andrus]

Maybe this will change people's attitude about the quality of American cars. Ford and GM have come a long ways in quality but many people perceive the Japanese cars as still having higher quality. This debacle could change that perception.

Mike

Maybe, but the cars built in Japan aren't affected. Only the US made model are. Did a US manufacturer supply the defective part?

But....I agree with the sentiment. I'm on my 4th Chrysler mini-van since 1987. I'll buy another when the time comes.
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[Dan Friedrichs]

Maybe I'm being a jerk, but I don't think that expecting people would know to put it in neutral is unreasonable. Taking time to call 911 and expecting that they can somehow magically fix the problem for you is naive. Slamming the brakes, putting it into neutral, trashing the engine by slamming it into 1st, shutting the key off, or finding somewhere good to ditch it would have all been better solutions. But I think Mitchell is right - most of these are very quick rear-ending accidents.

I really hope this ends up being a media-fulled floormat problem. It's sad that, given all the technology at our disposal, we still use a mechanical cable for such a critical application...

[Neal Clayton]

my truck is affected apparently, i got a letter about it. but since it's a manual i don't think i'll bother. not really a safety hazard when you have the clutch.