Topic: Toyota recall: 2.3 million cars......

[Zombie]

They really are the new GM aren't they.

[dougjp]

" Toyota spokesman John Hanson said.....pedals that “prematurely wear” because of a supplier's faulty pedal design "

Who's design? What kind of car are people actually buying? I thought Toyota made the designs, specified the specs for production AND followed up to ensure they happened. If anything destroys the reliability stigma/sales tool used by Toyota, this is it. 

[safristi]

....TOTAL RECALL....reminds me my Olde MGB with the twisted multi wired direct connect accelerator cable only frayed and stuck OPEN once...............but on the Chigago Thru_way...... ...switched her off and coasted to the curb...then unwound the nasty broken thread.....and on my way..............Ohh Mats Ooh computer conrtolled accelerators  why fore art thou............

[initial_D]

At least it is not a total recall. Toyota should not build cars that can travel over 100Km/h. 

Why?  I don't think most Toyota drivers even drive that fast in the left lane or right lane.  Maybe that's why Toyota are so reliable, their owners don't stress their cars, driving so ever gently.   It would be nice they could move over to the right to let me pass every now and then.  Or provide a remote for me to help them accelerate...

You do have good intentions ... 

[Juke1]

" Toyota spokesman John Hanson said.....pedals that “prematurely wear” because of a supplier's faulty pedal design "

Who's design? What kind of car are people actually buying? I thought Toyota made the designs, specified the specs for production AND followed up to ensure they happened. If anything destroys the reliability stigma/sales tool used by Toyota, this is it. 

When something happens to Toyota:
1- Lack of maintenance
2- Customer fault
3- Suppliers fault

Time to swallow the pill Toyota

[safristi]

..GULP...........Artic's psych Rx..............

[onearmed]

A false claim like this

Sorry, slip on words. I was mentioning a false claim for audi almost sent Audi under and now we have a proven case in front of us.  Just wondering if there will be a small slide in the sales department for toyota.

[Juke1]

" Toyota spokesman John Hanson said.....pedals that “prematurely wear” because of a supplier's faulty pedal design "

Who's design? What kind of car are people actually buying? I thought Toyota made the designs, specified the specs for production AND followed up to ensure they happened. If anything destroys the reliability stigma/sales tool used by Toyota, this is it. 

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2010/01/toyota-still-selling-recalled-vehicles-government-to-ask-supplier-cts-who-else-bought-same-pedals/1

Toyota says it's still selling cars involved in Thursday's recall of 2.3 million vehicles with throttles that could stick open.

Toyota's  U.S. safety spokesman John Hanson said Friday that new vehicles with the potentially faulty accelerator pedal assemblies should be risk-free for awhile because the problem is caused by wear.

"It is something that happens over the use of the vehicle. Out of the box, the new vehicle works perfectly fine," he says.


Unidentified accelerator pedal photo from CTS Automotive Products website shows how mechanical arm mates to electronic components. CAPTIONBy CTS Automotive ProductsThe suspect pedal assemblies from CTS Automotive Products, based at Elkhart, Ind.,  appear to have worn prematurely, he says. Over time, the action of the vehicle's throttle pedal begins to feel rough, then the pedal fails to return quickly when the driver takes his or her foot off the pedal. "Worst case, it sticks open," he says.


CTS didn't reply Friday to requests for comment on whether its other auto customers bought the same design and therefore could be forced into recalls, too. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety administration said Friday it is asking CTS that very question.


When Toyota announced the recall  Thursday, it said that most of its Toyota-brand vehicles, some dating back to 2005 models, have electronic throttle pedal assemblies that could stick open. NHTSA must approve Toyota's plans to repair the cars and trucks.  Hanson said it could take weeks to determine how to fix the vehicles.


Owners who have problems should contact a Toyota dealer immediately, he says. "We don't want that vehicle on the road, and we want to keep that owner mobile. We'll do whatever we can on a case-by-case basis," Hanson says.

He wouldn't make specific promises, however, such as guaranteeing long-term loaner vehicles until the recall remedy was in place.

The accelerator pedal recall is separate from an earlier recall of 4.2 million Toyota and Lexus models to alter throttle pedals that could get stuck wide open under floor mats. However, Toyota said, 1.7 million vehicles are involved in both recalls.

Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi are among CTS'  auto customers.

Honda's U.S. spokesman Kurt Antonius said that the pedal assemblies Honda buys from CTS are a different design. He said that CTS is obliged to inform other automakers who bought pedals similar to the Toyota design, "and they haven't notified us." He added: "We have no customer complaints. We have examined the pedals. It doesn't appear to be a problem for us."

Nissan spokesman Scott Vazin said "our designs are different" for the CTS assemblies.  Throttle-pedal systems used on Nissan and Infiniti vehicles are linked to a feature than will "recognize when both the brake and accelerator are depressed and automatically reduce engine power," he says.  That makes it easier for a panicked driver to stop a runaway car.

Mitsubishi spokesman Maurice Durand said CTS builds the pedal assembly to Mitsubishi specifications, which the automaker believes is different from Toyota's. Mitsubishi has no reports of sticking throttles, he says.

Throttle systems today are electronic. When the driver pushes the pedal, it doesn't directly connect to the engine. Rather, the movement of the pedal arm acts on electronic components attached to the pedal assembly. That sends an electrical signal to the engine-control computer, telling it to add more fuel to speed up or cut back to slow down.

In the Toyota case, though, the problem appears to be with mechanical parts that return the throttle pedal to its normal position once the driver lets up on the gas.

Even though Toyota hasn't figured out how to fix the problem, it says its dealers are supposed to work with worried owners to see if a remedy can be found before the official recall procedure is announced.

Pedal assemblies from Toyota's other supplier, Denso, aren't all interchangeable with the CTS units, the automaker says, eliminating what would be an obvious and relatively easy fix.

Toyota balks at discussing suppliers, though it had to name CTS in its recall report to NHTSA Thursday.  "We consider this a genuine Toyota part, no matter who makes it," Hanson says. "It's not the supplier's responsibility. It's ours."

The vehicles being recalled would account for about two-thirds of Toyota's U.S. sales in any given year, according to calculations by edmunds.com.

[Leviathan]

Toyota's recall may spread to Europe: report

Fri Jan 22, 10:06 PM

TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's Toyota Motor may recall its vehicles in Europe due to an accelerator problem that triggered massive recalls in the United States, a newspaper reported on Saturday.

The world's largest automaker is considering recalling Corolla, RAV4 and other models produced and sold in Europe, the Mainichi Shimbun reported, adding that it was not clear how many vehicles were involved.

The models are equipped with similar accelerator pedal parts to those of 2.3 million vehicles recalled in the United States, the latest in a series of recalls by Toyota, the daily said.

The Japanese company's US division said Thursday that the recall was to correct accelerator pedals on the vehicles that become worn and then in some cases get lodged in a partially depressed position.

The action was separate to an ongoing recall of about 4.2 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles that began last year due to a risk of loose floor mats slipping forward and jamming the pedals.

An unnamed senior official of the company told the daily: "We cannot tell how much this recall will cost, but it can be handled within our reserve (for unexpected troubles)."

But Mainichi said a decline in Toyota's reputation for quality following the malfunction may trim its earnings, adding it could take time for Toyota to recover customers' confidence in its production.

Toyota, which overtook US rival GM in 2008 as the world's largest automaker, returned to profit in the three months to September and upgraded its outlook for the rest of the year thanks to demand for fuel-efficient cars.

[Wolverine]

" Toyota spokesman John Hanson said.....pedals that “prematurely wear” because of a supplier's faulty pedal design "

Who's design? What kind of car are people actually buying? I thought Toyota made the designs, specified the specs for production AND followed up to ensure they happened. If anything destroys the reliability stigma/sales tool used by Toyota, this is it. 

When something happens to Toyota:
1- Lack of maintenance
2- Customer fault
3- Suppliers fault

Time to swallow the pill Toyota

Nailed, it's always someone else's fault.

[rrocket]

They really are the new GM aren't they.

No.  GM doesn't do recalls when they should.  They just tell the customer to "suck it up".  Ask me how I know this....

[carcrazy]

They really are the new GM aren't they.
[/quote
No.  GM doesn't do recalls when they should.  They just tell the customer to "suck it up".  Ask me how I know this....

It really sounds like GM then.
They got these reports years ago (I first read about them on RAV4 forums in 2006/2007 when I was shopping for a compact SUV) and told the customers to "suck it up" until people started to die and the Gov got serious about it.

[rrocket]

   I would have been thrilled with ANY recall on our GM, regardless of how it happened.  But nope...no recall, no help, no nothing...

At least Toyota is fixing the problem......Which is more than I can say for our experience with GM...

[carcrazy]

  I would have been thrilled with ANY recall on our GM, regardless of how it happened.  But nope...no recall, no help, no nothing...

At least Toyota is fixing the problem......Which is more than I can say for our experience with GM...

Probably Toyota owners felt the same for all these years when Toyota didn't do anything, until people died.

[rrocket]

  I would have been thrilled with ANY recall on our GM, regardless of how it happened.  But nope...no recall, no help, no nothing...

At least Toyota is fixing the problem......Which is more than I can say for our experience with GM...

Probably Toyota owners felt the same for all these years when Toyota didn't do anything, until people died.

That's because "unintended acceleration" has, forever, been a human error...something made up by bad drivers.  Toyota isn't the only manufacturer to have ever heard "I pushed the brakes and my car didn't stop".  Heck..I'm sure the police must hear this excuse at least once a week at accidents....

[carcrazy]

  I would have been thrilled with ANY recall on our GM, regardless of how it happened.  But nope...no recall, no help, no nothing...

At least Toyota is fixing the problem......Which is more than I can say for our experience with GM...

Probably Toyota owners felt the same for all these years when Toyota didn't do anything, until people died.

That's because "unintended acceleration" has, forever, been a human error...something made up by bad drivers.  Toyota isn't the only manufacturer to have ever heard "I pushed the brakes and my car didn't stop".  Heck..I'm sure the police must hear this excuse at least once a week at accidents....

How is this last story a driver error (if accurate)? It seems like the driver managed to do what he was supposed to do in such situation and the floor mats were not the cause.

[drederick]

  I would have been thrilled with ANY recall on our GM, regardless of how it happened.  But nope...no recall, no help, no nothing...

At least Toyota is fixing the problem......Which is more than I can say for our experience with GM...

Probably Toyota owners felt the same for all these years when Toyota didn't do anything, until people died.

That's because "unintended acceleration" has, forever, been a human error...something made up by bad drivers.  Toyota isn't the only manufacturer to have ever heard "I pushed the brakes and my car didn't stop".  Heck..I'm sure the police must hear this excuse at least once a week at accidents....

How many 'Toyota' owners felt the SAME way about the 'user error' sludge issue with Toyota engines?

Something bad happened to a GM vehicle you owned in the past. It isn't like Toyota and Honda didn't have MAJOR issues during that same time frame, right?

Wasn't the GM gasket issue the same time frame as the Honda transmission issue and Toyota sludge issues? Of those three issues I would take the gasket issue any day of the week as you could see it occuring and do something about it.......... hopefully in time.

(I would rather have no issues, of course)

Regardless your writing about the PAST for GM. Toyota is having this occur right now.

I know if I had an affected Toyota vehicle I'd be a little bit pissed that they know of the issue - and a safety issue at that - and don't even know how or when they will fix it.

Greatest company ever!

[Zoo]

Kudos to Toyota for doing the recall. That being said there should be some serious introspection going on at Toyota with this. As others have mentioned the marketplace is very competitive and Toyota's reputation as a manufacturer of cars which rarely break with superb design is cracking.

Maybe trying to be the number one manufacturer in volume is not such a lofty goal if quality slips.

That being said, our 2007 Yaris hatch has been an amazing vehicle. Hopefully the next Yaris design will be just as good. Otherwise there is always the Fit or other alternatives.

[bzborow1]

I bet it really is a supplier issue this time, but the question then becomes who chose the supplier and who chose the design of the pedal?  I've heard reports Toyota was asking its suppliers for a for 30% reduction in costs; perhaps it's this drive to the bottom so to speak that's hurting the quality of its vehicles. 

[safristi]

..dang    fer some reasom MY brian! hurts................. .............Y'all fix it ...right.....