Just saw the president of Toyota interviewed on TV. He stated that the problem first came to their attention in October 2009, not 2004 as speculated by one over-enthusiastic Toyota basher.
Toyota first had to verify what was actually happening and it was a combination of some wear and moisture causing the trouble (no electronics here, just mechanical). The fix is starting this week and within a month he feels all cars will be fixed.
You might want to read this New York Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/01/business/01toyota.html?ref=us
The 911 call came at 6:35 p.m. on Aug. 28 from a car that was speeding out of control on Highway 125 near San Diego.
The caller, a male voice, was panic-stricken: ?We?re in a Lexus … we?re going north on 125 and our accelerator is stuck … we?re in trouble … there?s no brakes … we?re approaching the intersection … hold on … hold on and pray … pray …?
The call ended with the sound of a crash.
The Lexus ES 350 sedan, made by Toyota, had hit a sport utility vehicle, careened through a fence, rolled over and burst into flames. All four people inside were killed: the driver, Mark Saylor, an off-duty California Highway Patrol officer, and his wife, daughter and brother-in-law.
How come you used a ford to talk about the Toyota recall???
also wasn’t this recall forced by the gov.
We, my wife and I, own an 07 RAV4 and a 09 Camry XLE 4 cylinder. We love the RAV and the Camry. These are the first non big 3 cars we ever owned. We bought them because we got tired of the annoying problems we had with our Fords and GM cars. Some costly and some just downright annoying. We had heard a lot of praise about Toyota vehicles from our friends who had cars with over 100,000 miles on them with little or no problems other than routine maintenance. Now we do not know what to think. I am concerned because I think the problem goes deeper than floor mats and peddles. My daughter had a Mercury Cougar that ran away with her and I was there when it happened, it was scary. My bro-in-law had a Buick Le Sabre that did it in a grocery store parking lot and wiped out 10 shopping carts before he got the engine shut down. Neither garages could explain why it happened. I hope Toyota knows what they are doing.I personally think they need to look deeper into the problem.
You guys keep pushing non-american company cars like toyota & when they have a big recall you put a picture of a Ford in the article!!! How unamerican are you guys!! Then you go on to say this problem could happen to any auto maker!! You are actually trying to take the focus off of Toyota. Would you have said that if the problem had been with a GM car or a Ford?? I think not. You have totally lost me as a listener and I will not longer donate to a station that carries your program.
Homer; this forum has nothing to do with the radio program. We have posters who own US car and like them, as well as Euro fans and Asian fans. We try to give objective answers to problems.
In the case of the Toyota gas pedals, Toyota was very responsive once the problem was clearly identified (some wear plus moisture) and the fix kits are being shipped this week. Dealers will put all available skilled personnel on this and if all
goes according to plan, it will take about a month to get all the refits done.
Some posters, including myself have made comparisons with Detroit 3 problems and the refusal to fix it (Ford Pintos and other) or providing a partial jerry-rigged fixes (GM motor mounts). We did this in response to a barrage of hysteria(we want our money back) and Toyota bashing from owners who felt a Toyota should not ANY problems.
By the way, the Camry is the most American car made in terms of components and jobs generated in the US. The Ford F-150 truck comes second.
Toyota has had very few recalls in its 50-year history compared to other American car companies. This gas pedal thing is not as serious as everyone makes it out to be. If you sense friction as the pedal goes down or it returns more slowly than normal, don’t ignore it. Immediately take the car in to get it fixed. Judging from the number of reported accidents (a small handful) compared to the millions of cars that could “potentially” have the problem, I’d say your odds of having a problem are better than winning the lottery, but still not very likely. I suggest that everyone practice putting the car in neutral and turning off the engine, especially if you are in an unfamiliar car. The family of four that perished in California last August was in an unfamiliar courtesy car. They panicked and were unable to to do the most obvious thing, slide the gear shift into neutral. They called 911 …why? I rent unfamiliar cars all the time and it never occurred to me to study the locations of the controls and prepare for a problem before leaving the rental car lot. I will now.
Doc, check out the reference at the top of the page by rustynutsgarage. That’s unsettling.
lenjack.
IMO you should not drive your Toyota until your dealer makes the needed repair, and from then on- forget about it.
We do not live in a perfect world, and it is unreasonable to expect everything to be perfect. There was a design flaw- true. Consider Toyota’s long history of making the world’s most trouble-free cars, and forgive them this mistake.
I think everyone should practice the “shift to Neutral” manuever. No matter what kind of car you drive.
I remember the Audi unintended acceleration “issue” and was skeptical at the time that it was anything but driver error. Hire a lawyer on the way to the hospital and try to skirt personal responsibility–that was my take. And I was right–nothing was wrong with the Audi. Millions of dollars wasted and the scumbag lawyers succeeded in annoying us everytime we shift a car out of “Park”–meaning you have to put your foot on the brake. Legislated Stupidity!
The floormat issue is not new and is in the realm of “common sense”. My 99 Jetta came with a big alligator clip thingy designed to hold the floormat stationary. As you drive, the motion of your foot on the pedals can displace the mat. Solution? Simply adjust the mat back to its original position.
Good luck getting your money back if in fact there is ANYTHING wrong with your accelerator. With the Florida Lemon Law for example, the dealer has several attempts to fix a problem before the car is deemed a “lemon”. Your state may have similar requirements, if any. Hiring a lawyer is only lining the lawyer’s pockets and you may end up having to keep your car anyway. Tell your wife to take a chill pill and stop being swayed by the media. Have her practice putting the car in neutral while the car is moving.
I’m not sure if the affected Toyota gas pedal is “drive by wire”, but a Lemon Law case I arbitrated had one man claiming the car he was trying to get his money back for had an acceleration problem and would accelerate even with the brake applied. The manufacturer engineer then began to explain that it was IMPOSSIBLE for this to happen because the car had drive-by-wire. In other words, you could not “powerbrake” this car and cause the wheels to spin–the powertrain computer wouldn’t allow it. The car owner ended up losing his case.
Back in the good ol’ days, I had a truck with a mechanical rod throttle linkage and one of the motor mounts was a little too loose. When the engine torqued under acceleration it would pull on the rod and cause “unintended acceleration” until I put a chain from the engine to the frame and it stopped this. 
My dad had an old Buick that the carburetor secondaries would stick open if he accelerated too briskly–always good for a little excitement! ;-D
The photo of a Ford in the Toyota story was a total goof on our part. It should have been a Toyota. Our designer (not a car expert) swapped out the photo of a Toyota that was in there, and replaced it with smaller photo for design reasons. I didn’t catch that it was a Ford. We were rushing to get the information out today, and we got the graphic wrong. It was not in any way a commentary on American or Japanese cars. It was just a screw up, and I apologize.
Best,
Doug Mayer
Car Talk
Yeah, recalls can happen to any car manufacturer.But Toyota didn’t do it of their own accord. I have to wonder what else they know and aren’t owning up to or what they’ll do with the next poorly engineered component. We’re getting rid of this POC and never buyig another. Anyone want to buy our cr----y Toyota?
I have an 08 Corolla, one not affected by the recall. When the car had less than 2000 miles on it, I had the opposite experience. All power was lost while I was driving on a busy freeway. Engine kept running, but nothing I did to the gas pedal had any effect. I took the car to three different Toyota dealers, and they all claimed there was nothing wrong, though one did suggest that the problem was the floor mats. I didn’t believe it then, and I don’t believe it now. I, too am afraid to drive the car. At least those models that Toyota has agreed have this problem are going to eventually get a fix.
The problem could happen to ANY manufacturer. If you look at the past 30 years…you’ll see that it happens a LOT less to Toyota, Honda and Nissan then the Big-3. When you’re talking about Recalls…the Ford Focus is the Poster-Child. When it was introduced it had more safety recalls then then Toyota, Honda and Nissan COMBINED.
This is a HUGE recall for Toyota. I don’t think anyone here knows if Toyota knew about the problem and tried to hide it or not. Sorry…it’s all guess work. It’s a big corporation. That’s a far far different story then when Ford KNEW about the Pinto BEFORE the car went into production. They knew their gas tanks COULD blow up…and did a risk-reward analysis and decided that it would cost less in liability lawsuits due to deaths and injury then to FIX the problem. If that’s the way American businesses are suppose to do business…then I’ll buy from a Japanese company any day of the week.
There is fundamentally little or nothing wrong with these cars. Toyota is conservtive and therefore is being extremely pro-active. The oproblem has only occurred on a few high mileage vehicles. The defect occurs after quite a bit of wear in the Thrittle Pedal mechanism. If an owner is truly afraid then Toyota will provide a rental car until the repair has been performed. Parts are being shipped to dealers Tuedsay Feb. 2, 2010.
Pray-Tell…what car manufacturer will you buy from then?? Please show me the manufacturer that you think will do-the-right-thing. History proves that it surely isn’t GM, Ford or Chryco.
Everyone here is GUESSING as to what Toyota knew or didn’t know. If you have PROOF that Toyota knew that the part was faulty and refused to do anything about it…Please share that info with us. I really want to know.
So far the only proven cover up were defects in Mitsubishi cars for which several executives went to jail in Japan.
North American manufacturers (Big 3) have a history of cutting corners on design (called “value engineering”), which backfires when extreme conditions or extended use occurs. Corvair rear suspension, Vega engine blocks and bio-degradable bodies, Pinto gas tanks, GM fragile engine mounts, GM exposed gas tanks on trucks, GM manifold gaskets, Chrysler automatic, and the list goes on. All these were conciously done to cut cost. In all cases, expensive lawyers were engaged initially to deny any allegations.
I’ve been a Toyota owner all my life. My parents have owned them for more than 25 years. We’ve had hardly any problems with them. My 96’ Tacoma has 230,000 miles. My Brother’s 98’Avalon has 260,000 miles. That said… I think Toyota is slowly going down the road that GM and Ford did until recently. The gas pedal problem isn’t the only problem. The Tacoma and FJ Cruiser suffer from serious frame rust issues. Toyota quietly sent out letters ( to me as well) about bringing our trucks in for inspection. The rust issue has been going on for years. I’ve seen pictures of 2 and 3 year old Tacomas with holes rusted through the frames. The Camry has had a few problems too, most notably with the V6 automatic models.
More troubling to me are two general larger problems. When we owned our 80’s and 90’s Toyotas when you flipped open the hood, looked under the frame, changed the brake pads, or whatever ( I do all the work on our cars) The attention to the details was amazing. Simple things like nuts, bolts, headlight brackets, brake lines, valve cover and various internal engine part machining were impeccable and unnecessarily good considering most people would never see these things. I’ve looked at a few new Toyotas on dealer lots for the past several years and they are definitely cutting corners here and there. The hardware has gotten cheaper. The paint is not as even. Interior panels are not as tight, and so on. In other words, GM style bean counting.
Lastly they are also slipping in the same way GM and Ford did in regards to who buys their products. It seems to me that the Camry is becoming an old people car. Typically Boomers who discovered Toyota in the 70’s. Of course for now they are the largest car buying group out there. But unless Toyota does more to adapt their cars to younger buyers they will have the same problems GM and Ford did with their Lincoln, Buick, and Cadillac brands. Their styling is frankly unbelievably bland and emotionless. I find that I am not at all attracted to anything they currently make. They all have that same sort of plastic, toaster oven/appliance styling that leaves little to remember.
So for me, I hope this is a wakeup call for Toyota. I still believe in them but that trust is starting to slip and I only hope they are going to do more to reverse their course of action.
I’m a little like rustynutsgarage: when I was buying Chryslers and GMs, it seemed like the most reliable car in my stable was my '68 Triumph TR250. I’ve bought a Scion tC, two Priuses, and a Camry hybrid for the family in the past five years. Luckily they are all fitted with the Denso throttle linkage, and I have the ability to read floormat installation instructions.
Initially I would have been a little leery of having to ram the transmission into neutral if an automatic-transmissioned car ever went into unintended acceleration, but I imagine the rev limiter will keep the engine in one piece until the driver can pull off the road and turn off the ignition.
Anyone with a question with their vehicle can take it to a good Toyota dealer and have as full inspection of the vehicle (always good to check brakes, tranny, etc.) These will usually be free, especially now. As far as lawsuits, I wouldn’t be supprised if Toyota aims a big one at CTS, the American supplier of the gas pedal systems (the Japanese made Denso pedal systems are not having these problems). Toyota sugar coated their feelings on the situation (http://pressroom.toyota.com/pr/tms/manufacturing/statement-from-toyota-on-supplier-153203.aspx) but having spent almost half my life actually living in Japan, I know that’s the “calm before the storm” for CTS…
I’ve been driving Toyotas for 20+ years and my wife won’t give up her Highlander (unless it’s for another Toyota).