Topic: Toyota faces reality check

[grumburg]

For 30 years, Toyota has carefully crafted an image above the rest. And done a beautiful job. Fostering a green image with the Prius while making their profits on 13-15 MPG sport utes. Now everything has hit the fan at once. Even their tagline "Moving Forward" takes on a totally different connotation! I have had 2 Corollas (have a 1996 my wife drives) and they have been the most reliable, trouble-free cars I have ever owned.  Has the majic disappeared or will this blow over eventually? 

[razor02097]

yes

to be honest I'm suprized that drive by wire hasn't come to existance in mid and low end models of new cars.  The prius brake problem is more then likely electronic and not mechanical.  All will be well again and most likely soon

[myhondas]

They will bounce back. Just like the tylenol people did after that massive recall. People in general have short memories unless they personally were injured or hurt.

[ColinMc]

What blows my mind...is that they had to issue a statement telling people WHAT TO DO IF YOUR GAS PEDAL GETS STUCK...seriously?!

Obviously they forgot the problem chevy had with the early 90's Luminas and the throttle getting stuck open in cold weather...that was always fun lol. Or I guess most people havn't ever ridden a bike that someone routed the throttle cable wrong on.

[westondc]

I've been a Toyota fan ever since my first Taurus broke down and my brother gave me his early 90's corolla to drive for a year. best gas milage and dependability from a car that I've ever experienced. he also had a Toyota truck "the same indestructible one they had on Top Gear" that had 300,000 miles on it and pulled a BMW on a trailer from Denver to Lincoln without a problem. A new car is not in my budget and i thanks to my dad's wisdom and stinginess with money... I will always buy used. New cars are covered under warranty anyway, I'm sure the new Toyota's will still outlast any American made POS. hope i didn't offend any Ford or Chevy fans. oh by the way, anybody know what model Toyota truck they tried to destroy in Top Gear?

[ColinMc]

The Hilux...which is the same as the US T100 I think?!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Hilux

[mick7504]

I've been a Toyota tragic for years and years and I'll stick by 'em.
They're hard to bust and as long as they're given clean oil and filters, they just keep going.
Been in the automotive trade for longer than I care to remember and since the day that you couldn't start a car with a piece of wire and a screwdriver is the day that it all started going the wrong way.
Engine management systems and computerised controlled this and that is a nightmare unless it's plugged into a diagnostic unit which might give you a clue. 
Give me a carby and a set of points anyday.
Mick

[mark]

"Oh, what a feeling!!"©

A few things bother me here.

Their first reaction.... 'It wasn't the cars we built...' step one: shut down U.S. plants.

Step two: point little blamey finger at the folks who make the pedal that they designed. I'm surprised that they didn't announce the phone number of CTS Industries in Bumf@ck, Indiana. 'Nothing wrong with the pedals we made..'

Just for giggles, googled 'toyota recall'....

some stuff about the gas pedal thing, a bit about the prius brakes, and a whole mess about spare tires falling off pickups because the frame rots away.

kept that one pretty quiet haven't they.

anyhow, I'm not exactly overflowing with sympathy for the suckers who sold out their country for a couple mpg.

"You asked for it - You got it!"©

[Gordon]

In a couple of weeks you're not going to hear anything more about it on the news except maybe a quick follow-up blurb about how the recall is going.  I think it would take a lot more than something like this to permanently hurt the strong reputation that Toyota has been building over the past 40 years.   

[ColinMc]

Lol, tell us how you REALLY feel mark.

Go over the list of bullitens on any domestic car, for ALL the problems that aren't recalls but have to be fixed on cars that have that problem....you'll spend hours looking through pages for any GM or Ford car, now go look at the Toyota ones...takes about 10 minutes.

I'd still take a toyota any day (I don't own one by the way, used to have a few supras and my dad has an 01 tundra)

I think that they could've handled this better, but I also think condemming people that purchased the cars that were probably assembled in the US for buying the cars to save some MPG's is a little absurd. If the US companies had their act together Toyota wouldn't be doing as well as it has...for a LONG time.

[ev0lve]

In a couple of weeks you're not going to hear anything more about it on the news except maybe a quick follow-up blurb about how the recall is going.  I think it would take a lot more than something like this to permanently hurt the strong reputation that Toyota has been building over the past 40 years.   

Yep. My pop has a Camry with 300000 miles on it and a small pickup he's had since the early 80's. Both require as minimal maintenance as can be imagined - gas, oil, tires, the occasional CV joint basic running gear issues.

Toyota is behind the curve on this and it's surprising given the rep. My guess is Toyota, as a company, pumping out decades of reliability, was/is not in the corporate mind set to meet the issue up-front. This will probably fix that for a generation or two.

[grumburg]

In a couple of weeks you're not going to hear anything more about it on the news except maybe a quick follow-up blurb about how the recall is going.  I think it would take a lot more than something like this to permanently hurt the strong reputation that Toyota has been building over the past 40 years.   

I think you are right. 200,000 people died in Haiti, but that is yesterday's news already.

[Bob Wessner]

I did notice how Ford jumped on 'their' little brake problem. I wonder if they would have dragged their feet a bit longer had not this happened to Toyota. 

[mark]

I noticed that the Mississippi Bureau of Sweatshops seems to have quit running that ad about their 'Can-Do Pro-Business Attitude jes' ask the folks at Ty-ota'.

[grumburg]

I did notice how Ford jumped on 'their' little brake problem. I wonder if they would have dragged their feet a bit longer had not this happened to Toyota. 

Doesn't the Ford Escape and Fusion Hybrids use some of the Toyota Hybrid components?

[Bob Wessner]

Could be, don't know. The news report I heard referenced the Merc. Mariner and it's equivalent Ford model, whatever that is (not a Ford person, nothing against them at all, just not familiar with the models).

[cb350twin]

Back when I did drivers ed 8 years ago. The drivers ed car was an old 80s Buick century A-body car. All there other cars where new 90s ones. I got 80s #$%*ty car.. First thing the drivers ed teacher said when I got in was. "Be careful the the gas pedal sticks" And that thing sure did stick!  You had to double/ triple tap it to get it to unstuck! Wasn't a problem for me as I had been driving for 1000s of miles two years before that. But I cant imagine getting some kid that had no idea what there doing, like most of them.  ,

[Stev-o]

I've had 8 Toyotas over the years, including the '06 Tacoma as my daily driver, best vehicles on the road in my opinion.
I'm not about to switch now, if the accel di stick, turn the damn motor off!!
Maybe I'll go buy a Saturn...oops, they're out of business!!!!

-Steve [previous Ford UAW worker]