My Modern Metropolis

Do you feel that Toyota is less reliable because of the recent recalls?

Toyota's recall troubles continue to grow, with the total number of vehicles affected by two recalls involving gas pedals growing to at least 5.3 million.

The latest addition to the recalls was announced Wednesday, with 1.1 million vehicles added to the 4.2 million recalled in November to fix a problem in which the gas pedal can become caught on the edge of the removable floormat. That problem can cause the vehicle to accelerate uncontrollably.

A separate recall of 2.3 million vehicles announced last week -- involving accelerator pedals that can stick on their own -- is being expanded to include an undisclosed number of vehicles in Europe.

My question to you: Do you feel that Toyota is less reliable because of the recent recalls?

full cnn article

Tags: Toyotaless, feel, recalls, reliable

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Suliman Azzouni on February 2, 2010 at 10:24pm
I agree with mark on what he said about New cars as as Not changing my opinion on Toyota.

I still trust Toyota. They must have made mistakes like any other company. When you are in the business of making cars these mistakes sadly mean lives. I just don’t know what to believe from the Media. The recall may be over highlighted analyzed by the Media and government to help take market share away from Toyota. Make people buy GMC's and Chev again and help the US economy. Its a doggy god world.
Permalink Reply by Kevin on February 2, 2010 at 11:07pm
Toyota have lots of plants in America that hire US workers so I don't think that's it.
Permalink Reply by Suliman Azzouni on February 3, 2010 at 2:22am
True about the plants. Didn't even think of that.

But i would still buy a Toyota :)
Permalink Reply by christi pemberton on March 3, 2010 at 8:35am
It is true that Toyota hire a lot of U.S. workers, but there is a very strong push now to get American's to buy American made cars, a push we see from congressmen/women, media, and members of the public....that is a hot topic in the midst of the current/previous economic condition in the U.S. They are using the Toyota example to boost their message too. Whenever the economy becomes so bad, the resentment towards products not "American Made", or now homegrown becomes much more heated. So, the Toyota situation has prompted more people to sound the alarm on buying "only American made", as a way to get more money in America and also to push a certain kind of patriotism.

Christi
Permalink Reply by christi pemberton on March 3, 2010 at 8:31am
That's a good point.
Permalink Reply by Mark Huckabee on February 3, 2010 at 3:04am
**** NEW INFO ON THIS **** It seems that Toyota did not want to do the recall at all! The US Gov't had to put pressure on them to protect people. Here's the article:


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Washington (CNN) -- U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Tuesday it took pressure from the government to get Toyota to take action over its sticking gas pedals.

"Since questions were first raised about possible safety defects, we have been pushing Toyota to take measures to protect consumers," LaHood said in a statement addressing the aftermath of the automaker's massive recall.

"While Toyota is taking responsible action now, it unfortunately took an enormous effort to get to this point. DOT officials flew to Japan in December to remind Toyota management about its legal obligations and followed up with a meeting at DOT headquarters in January to insist that they address the accelerator pedal issue," LaHood said.

Toyota recalled 2.3 vehicles on January 21 because of problems with sticking gas pedals that cause the vehicles to accelerate out of control. The following week, it added another 1 million vehicles to the recall and halted the sale of the eight vehicles involved in the recall.

On Monday, company officials announced they had found a solution that involved reinforcing the pedal assembly with a part that is being rushed to dealerships.

Toyota faces more scrutiny from the U.S. government.

"We're not finished with Toyota and are continuing to review possible defects and monitor the implementation of the recalls," LaHood said.

A Transportation Department official told CNN the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) is considering a civil penalty against Toyota. A Toyota official would not comment on that.

Contacted by CNN, Toyota issued a statement saying: "Nothing is more important to us than the safety and reliability of the vehicles our customers drive. Secretary LaHood said to us that the soonest possible action would be in the best interests of our customers, and we took his advice very seriously and instituted a recall.

"We are very grateful for his advice and we feel that we have been given a chance to regain our customers' trust. We will continue to cooperate fully with NHTSA on all vehicle safety issues."

But a key supplier of the accelerator pedals is also defending its reputation.

The Indiana-based CTS Corporation says its product shouldn't be linked with unintended acceleration-- but does have a less-serious flaw.

"The pedals that are the subject of the recall have to do with a slow-return phenomenon -- which is a very rare condition -- which occurs under certain environmental conditions such as heightened humidity," said Mitch Walorski, director of planning and investor relations for CTS.

"CTS is not aware -- and Toyota has said this also -- that there's been any accidents or injuries from that condition of those pedal," Walorski added.

A Toyota official told CNN that's true, but said it's also true that some CTS pedals didn't just have slow return but also got stuck. CNN could not reach CTS officials for comment on that.

But the Toyota official was very adamant that Toyota is not blaming the supplier. He said CTS and other suppliers design these parts to Toyota's specifications. This is a Toyota part, he says, and Toyota takes responsibility for it.
Permalink Reply by sAm on February 3, 2010 at 9:43am
Good post Mark, thanks!
Permalink Reply by Kevin on February 3, 2010 at 4:51pm
Now it looks like the Prius has brake issues.
Permalink Reply by Inka Leoni on February 3, 2010 at 10:05pm
"Toyota recalled 2.3 vehicles"
I had to read this sentence twice...ugh.
Permalink Reply by JP Slater on February 3, 2010 at 8:47pm
I drive a 2004 Toyota Rav4 and my sisters [doctors] also drive them . along with my mother [bless her]. We swear [cuss !!] by them .
JPs
Permalink Reply by Jon S on February 12, 2010 at 12:45pm
Its not the recalls that make them less reliable. Its the quality control in the design phase that doesn't catch possible issues. When Millions of vehicals are manufactured, the sample size for detecting issues is much bigger than in the smal scale testing phase.

A recall is just a way to deal with that problem once it has been discovered. The time from concept through design to manufacturing and distribution of an automobile subsystem is YEARS.

I will think Toyota is less reliable if they are still having the same issues in 3 yrs. That would mean that they hadn't adjusted their Quality Control and testing protocols based on the lessons they should have learned.

I mean, does anyone really think a Toyota is less reliable than a GM or Ford vehicle?
Permalink Reply by Eugene on February 12, 2010 at 12:49pm
Great points. In comparison, the reliability between Toyota vs. GM or Ford isn't even close.

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