Do you trust Toyota's fix?

[cityboy-stl]

I don't. Supposedly they stick this little thing on your gas pedal and it somehow fixes the problem. Yeah right. If it's that easy, WTF took them so long?

I had to rent a car today and they wanted to give me a "fixed" Corolla. I refused and have a Nissan Sentra for a day instead.

http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2010/02/toyota-fix-one-small-part-for-one-big-problem.html

 

[rick262]

Ummmm, no, I don't trust the Toyota fix.

I have persisted in buying American cars since 1983 (prior to then I had 2 Volkswagon Rabbits...a 1977--built in Germany--that was fine and a 1979--built in America--that was awful). Starting in 1983: A 1983 Chevy Cavalier station wagon--excellent car--wrecked it; a 1985 Buick Sommerset Reagal--170,000 miles before it rusted away from where it had been wrecked/hit in the back and became unsafe to drive; a 1991 Saturn SL2 that went to 260,000 miles before the brake lines became so rusted that it was unsafe to drive (still ran like a top...original engine/transmission/suspension/etc.)...gave it away...guy drove it till the brake lines started to break on a weekly basis; 1994 GMC Sonoma truck which was traded on a 1999 Ford F-350 Diesel which was sold (at a huge profit...talk about retaining resale value!!!!) to buy a 2004 Buick Rendevous which was traded on a 2008 Chevy HHR. Somewhere along the line I bought a 2005 Chevy Cobalt and then traded the HHR and the Cobalt on a 2009 Chevy Malibu LTZ. I say all of this to simply state that ALL OF MY AMERICAN CARS WERE SAFE TO DRIVE (until they had so many miles on them that the very basic parts--brake lines for example--were worn out) and there were only minor repair problems along the way. The Saturn was absolutely the best car I've ever owned with minimal repairs during its useful lifetime. The 2009 Malibu is proving to be an outstanding vehicle...excellent ride/gas mileage (33+ mpg on the road)/looks/reliability/quality...I hope it will last as long and as well as the Saturn did! The dealership experience with the Malibu has been nothing short of amazingly positive...as good as what my Saturn dealer was!! American companies can do it...we need to buy American and quit believing the hype that Toyota (and others) would have us believe.

Sorry about the long post and rant!

 

[01solara]

Yes I do trust Toyota's fix. Toyota is a great company and has incredibly safe cars. I also believe things have been blown out of proportion to help Government Motors out.

Tell that to the families of the people that died from a problem known and ignored for years.

"A 2009 internal document turned over to lawmakers and made available on Sunday shows Toyota's Washington D.C. staff trumpeting savings of more than $100 million by convincing regulators to end a 2007 investigation of sudden acceleration complaints with a relatively cheap floormat recall.

The document seems certain to add to the high-stakes debate about whether Toyota missed or ignored complaints about sudden acceleration in its vehicles and whether US safety regulators were tough enough."

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Toyota-memo-raises-stakes-for-chief-s-hearings/582792/

 

[Ares]

Yes I do trust Toyota's fix. Toyota is a great company and has incredibly safe cars. I also believe things have been blown out of proportion to help Government Motors out.

^ wow, Toyota recalls millions of defective cars. Damn you GM!

 

[Blaze2010]

Let me just say this every car maker has it's fair share of problems! I myself prefer American cars. I have had Toyota's in my family before and they proved to be good until they rusted apart at an early age. Now hearing this makes me think twice about ever buying one. I mean come on a gas pedal or brake pedal should be simple to make by now hell they've only been making cars since 1937! Now just look at their revenue and stuff>
Revenue ▼ USD $263.42 billion (2009)[2]
Operating income ▼ USD $-4.56 billion (2009)[2]
Net income ▼ USD $-4.33 billion (2009)[2]
Total assets ▼ USD $324.98 billion (2009)[2]
Total equity ▼ USD $-5.54 billion (2009)[2]

 

[Slips01]

No, I dont think that what they are doing will work. But we have to look at the people who started or should I say planed how this gas padel would work. Why did it take so long for them to come up with this little item to fix the problem? I dont trust them and what they are trying to do.

 

[martin6]

American cars were uninspired hunks of metal in the 80s and 90s and still get a bad rap today even though they're (IMO) better in design, functionality, power, and reliability than most of today's Japanese cars.

 

[Under-taken]

Thats look way dodge

 

[Absolut]

As I work in an industry directly related to this on a daily basis, no, I don't believe Toyota's problems can be fixed by that little piece of metal.

More press will come out about a "cover-up" on Toyota's part, almost guaranteed.

It is either a software problem or an electrical problem. Unfortunately, as the world's most self-proclaimed "safest cars," they don't want to take the hit on their reputation. And if a vehicle has an electrical problem, people will stop driving them altogether, as cars made in the past oh roughly decade or so, all have computers in them - both tied into electrical and the software.

Toyota may come back, but never with their untarnished reputation as pretty much "perfect" (personal bias aside...)

 

[martin6]

It is either a software problem or an electrical problem. Unfortunately, as the world's most self-proclaimed "safest cars," they don't want to take the hit on their reputation.

Oh puhleeze. Everyone knows that Saabs and Volvos are the world's safest cars.

Sweden! Fuck yeah!

 

[Absolut]

Oh puhleeze. Everyone knows that Saabs and Volvos are the world's safest cars.

Sweden! Fuck yeah!

I officially give [STRIKE]GM[/STRIKE] Saab and [STRIKE]Ford[/STRIKE] Volvo the gold medal in the 2010 Winter Olympics!

Go Sweden!

 

[martin6]

I officially give [STRIKE]GM[/STRIKE] Saab and [STRIKE]Ford[/STRIKE] Volvo the gold medal in the 2010 Winter Olympics!

Go Sweden!

Saab ceases to be GM this week!! WHORE!

 

[erobert]

"Tell that to the families of the people that died from a problem known and ignored for years. " Well said, that silly little "fix" can't fix the people who died.

Remember Ford's exploding gas tanks in the 1970's-90's and the firestone tire fiasco? It took Ford decades to finally fix the just gas tank problem. This is what Toyota has become. Too big, too many models, reduced quality and now safety has taken a back seat to profits.

Sad this is also affecting Lexus as I liked Lexus and thought of them as some of the safest cars.. until I heard about the story of that poor CHP officer and his family when they rented a new Lexus ES.

I'm still waiting for the cover up story to surface. Some even think Toyota knew about this problem and hoped nothing would happen.

 

[gmoney]

If Toyota really wants to recapture their image, they should take a look at how Tylenol did it after the Cyanide fiasco. They weren't at fault, like Toyota, but they did an amazing job in regaining the public's trust in their product. They also brought about the "tamper proof" seals that almost all products have today.

I'm not sure how Toyota can accomplish this, but it seems to me like a huge battle they now have on their hands. The recent published documents on how they "bragged" about saving money on recalls is not making them look good.

 

[Joshua_me]

The whole "drive by wire" (or whatever it's called) thingie makes me nervous...

In other words, all your gas pedal is doing is sending a message to the cars computer that you want to go faster...

And as we all know, sometimes computers crash.

Literally, apparently.

 

[looseliam]

As I work in an industry directly related to this on a daily basis, no, I don't believe Toyota's problems can be fixed by that little piece of metal.

More press will come out about a "cover-up" on Toyota's part, almost guaranteed.

It is either a software problem or an electrical problem. Unfortunately, as the world's most self-proclaimed "safest cars," they don't want to take the hit on their reputation. And if a vehicle has an electrical problem, people will stop driving them altogether, as cars made in the past oh roughly decade or so, all have computers in them - both tied into electrical and the software.

Toyota may come back, but never with their untarnished reputation as pretty much "perfect" (personal bias aside...)

Sorry Abs, but I'm going to have to disagree with you on this.

Toyota tried to replicate this problem many times. The only times they got it was when the floor mat became wedged in the throttle - it's happened to me, too.

IIRC, the problem lay with wear on the pedal assembly after a bit of driving. The shim, from my understanding, is to move two pieces further apart negating the binding effect.

The damage has already been done to it's reputation. I doubt a Japanese company would put itself further in jeopardy.

Oh puhleeze. Everyone knows that Saabs and Volvos are the world's safest cars.

Sweden! Fuck yeah!

Of, FFS

 

[Joshua_me]

Isn't Mr. Toyota due to impale himself on a machete or something ?

I think it's Wednesday morning.

I hope it doesn't preempt The View.

 

[cityboy-stl]

If Toyota really wants to recapture their image, they should take a look at how Tylenol did it after the Cyanide fiasco. They weren't at fault, like Toyota, but they did an amazing job in regaining the public's trust in their product. They also brought about the "tamper proof" seals that almost all products have today.

I'm not sure how Toyota can accomplish this, but it seems to me like a huge battle they now have on their hands. The recent published documents on how they "bragged" about saving money on recalls is not making them look good.

Did read this right? The Tylenol tampering was done by a consumer completely outside of the company and Tylenol was not at fault. But this is a Toyota manufacturing defect that Toyota knew about and covered up for years. How can you say Toyota is not at fault?

 

[Blaze2010]

The whole "drive by wire" (or whatever it's called) thingie makes me nervous...

In other words, all your gas pedal is doing is sending a message to the cars computer that you want to go faster...

And as we all know, sometimes computers crash.

Literally, apparently.

Hey i have a GM that is Drive by wire and it has almost 200,000 miles on it no problems of it running away from me yet! This has been the best car i've owned. The first car i ever owned was another GM and it was an Oldsmobile. That thing lasted forever until i blew the headgaskets which was an easy fix but i just got rid of it instead. Had about 279,000 miles on that one too! So any car maker can make good cars you just have to take care of them. As for Toyota that's just ridiculous that they can't make it work like the American car company's. Japanese are supposed to be far more advanced i guess this proves that wrong! But this is only my opinion. So NO i don't think Toyota fixed their problem with that little chip!

 

[RonR18]

As I work in an industry directly related to this on a daily basis, no, I don't believe Toyota's problems can be fixed by that little piece of metal.

More press will come out about a "cover-up" on Toyota's part, almost guaranteed.

It is either a software problem or an electrical problem. Unfortunately, as the world's most self-proclaimed "safest cars," they don't want to take the hit on their reputation. And if a vehicle has an electrical problem, people will stop driving them altogether, as cars made in the past oh roughly decade or so, all have computers in them - both tied into electrical and the software.

Toyota may come back, but never with their untarnished reputation as pretty much "perfect" (personal bias aside...)

I agree 100%, they screwed their stellar reputation to save a paltry $100 million, and now their greed is going to cost them billions. It just goes to show how the smartest people sometimes do the stupidest things.