First the floormats...

Then the frame problems...

Now sticking throttles (2.3 million vehicles potentially affected):
http://money.cnn.com/2010/01/21/autos/toyota_recall/index.htm

ok toyota u lost me. the throttles may beome stuck when the components are "worn"?????????????? umm, all of the vehicles listed are not 1995's, 1992's, or even early 2000's. they are vehicles that have been produced well within 5 years. how does the electronically actuated throttle become that worn, to the point its sticking, in 3 short years??? toyota, just admit you used inferior parts/designs and make good on your part by fixing the vehicles. im tired of reading this "well, it could be this or it could be that... but the bottom line is we arent at fault and dont point fingers at us" bulls**t.

END RANT

yeah thats sad.....

what the hell

Yet another reason for me to never own a toyota. I used to want a tacoma, but the bloated price on a used one made me think otherwise. Then my neighbor got one with 65k miles and a week later the motor blew up...

Yet another reason for me to never own a toyota. I used to want a tacoma, but the bloated price on a used one made me think otherwise. Then my neighbor got one with 65k miles and a week later the motor blew up...


toyota would say "the reason his motor and other tacomas motor blew up was because the floor mats were too heavy, thus causing a lot of engine load which caused the motor to explode. it is not the fault of toyota motor corp that this happened however so dont blame us. to make good on our part however, we are going to replace his existing floor mats with the paper ones you get from oil change businesses with the printed shoe prints on them but we cannot in good favor replace the motor since it wasnt our fault at all that it blew up. maybe purchasing a yaris in the future would help, this vehicle has no floor mats unless you buy them!"

This is why I always stick with American lmao. Is it time for Toyota to tap out of the industry yet?

parents bought a new highlander, im fairly impressed with it

Jaw dropped when I saw that on the early news this eve. Absolutely dropped.

Charles

"Oh, what a feeling...Toyota!"

This is why I always stick with American lmao. Is it time for Toyota to tap out of the industry yet?

Its definitely another significant mistake they've made.

But to suggest they are going to suddenly fail or leave the industry, isn't going to happen.

Besides what is an "American" car really ? You drive a car whose design originated in Europe made from globally sourced parts many of which come from the same vendors Toyota uses. Most US toyotas are built in plants based in the USA...

I'm glad some of the undeserved mystique has come off Toyota. But by the same token I want them (and expect them) to be a strong competitor for Ford et al. Its only through vigorous competition that we'll get better vehicles.

^^^^^^^not as many Toyotas as you may think most of there Suv's are Imported along with the ugly yj.Pruis and Yuris and seems like more Corollas

"Oh, what a feeling...Toyota!"

I think the feeling is terror, now.[hihi]




All I want to know is, how many people have to be killed before Toyota admits there is something wrong? I sure didn't take this long with Firebomb(read:Firestone), did it?

its called population control. toyota is only trying to help stop world hunger and high gas prices by killing people.

ROFL

I think people blow themselves up enough without the need of Toyota intervening with killer cars that people have to pay for..

When it wears out, it gets stickier and tighter??
First off, what crappy stuff did they use that it wears off so quick?
Second, since when do stuff tighten or stick up when it wears out, usually it gets all floppy and loose.

Oh, what a horror! is more like it. And I am actually surprised that a lot of other car companies haven't run into similar problems due to finding "cheaper" parts to keep their vehicles competitive.

I don't even know how the whole Toyota hype even started. I've always thought they were cheap, boring, and overhyped. They're no more reliable than any other manufacturer. The interior build quality and materials in most of their models feel ridiculously cheap for their asking price. And most of the older ones I see on the road now are rusting away quite early. I honestly can't believe how they can even get away with it. It's almost like they make business off of hype only.

The funny thing is tons of people warned me against buying a Ford and VW... yet I haven't had a single major problem with either my Focus or my Rabbit at all. I can't say the same for the Maxima, Sentra, and Avalon in my family. Those three cars have been in the shop more times than I can remember. Yet almost everyone still seems to insist that all Japanese cars are perfect? I don't get it. Hopefully this exposure will get people to wake up. NO manufacturer is perfect. And any manufacturer that marks up their prices solely based on "reliability" reputation is an asshat in my book.

[nutkick]

And my brother-in-law is now talking about getting a plug-in Prius, when they become available.....at 40k.

To be fair, his 2002 (a first edition Prius), has been trouble-free all along. Still gets 45-50mpg. I drove the thing and liked it....so what it's not super fast? 50mpg.......[hihi]

Oh.....the trade-in value of the thing is only 3k less than what he paid for it. Check out your old Focus.

And my brother-in-law is now talking about getting a plug-in Prius, when they become available.....at 40k.

To be fair, his 2002 (a first edition Prius), has been trouble-free all along. Still gets 45-50mpg. I drove the thing and liked it....so what it's not super fast? 50mpg.......[hihi]

Maybe they WERE good and reliable a few years back but then they just got worse.

"Oh, what a feeling...when your Camry is accelerating with your foot on the brake...Toyota!"

I fixed it for ya. [:)]

Remember the ol' jingle?

"You Asked For It, You Got It...TOYOTA!"

BWAAHAAHAA, MUHAAHAAHAA!

Ahhh...just a minute...there!

Seriously...this could ruin the company with class-action litigation.

Charles

ok toyota u lost me. the throttles may beome stuck when the components are "worn"?????????????? umm, all of the vehicles listed are not 1995's, 1992's, or even early 2000's. they are vehicles that have been produced well within 5 years. how does the electronically actuated throttle become that worn, to the point its sticking, in 3 short years??? toyota, just admit you used inferior parts/designs and make good on your part by fixing the vehicles. im tired of reading this "well, it could be this or it could be that... but the bottom line is we arent at fault and dont point fingers at us" bulls**t.

END RANT


he is partically right i work at a toyota dealership so i would know
the frame problem came first and it started early last year..the 1995-2000 tacoma were getting bought back and scraped, 2001-2004 tacoma frames are getting replaced and the good ones are getting undercoated satrting next month.
as for the floor mats and the throttle.its on camry corolla prius tacoma tundra and im pretty sure on the yaris as well all years for 2005-2010. they thought the floor mats were the problem but the majority of the accidents happend when there werent even floor mats in the car at all so now they want to cut gas pedals and redo the throttles becuz i dont think they really know what they are doing.

I have also heard that there is something with the drive-by-wire computer...but I haven't heard anything else.

I think this is just a little problem that Toyota could easily address by just saying what they know, instead of giving BS like floormat issues to people. I would much rather them say that they have faulty computers and replace them, rather than dance around like this.

My Mom heard on the tv news this morning that another family has been killed. Toyota lost control, 4 dead. Mats in the trunk were found in the trunk were toyota said they were supposed to go. I assume the crash is under investigation but supposedly the car kept accelerating, went through a fence and rolled over into a lake.

Um, doesn't anyone use common sense anymore? If the car started to throttle out of control like that what is the first thing that pops into my head? Turn the key and shut the damn car off. I have had a sticky throttle before due to cable being siezed inside it's casing. I was on the back roads of all places for this to happen and all I did was just turn the key to the off position...problem taken care of without having to drive the car into a ditch causing injury or death to anyone.

I don't even know how the whole Toyota hype even started. I've always thought they were cheap, boring, and overhyped. They're no more reliable than any other manufacturer.

These days the reliability gap has really shrunk. But go back a few years and it was a different story. Try reading
"The machine that changed the world" (http://www.amazon.com/Machine-That-Changed-World-Production/dp/0060974176) to see how truely awful the reliability was for most US and European cars.

Take this passage from the book about Mercedes factory they visited:

"At the end of the assembly line was an enormous rework and rectification area where armies of technicians in white laboratory jackets labored to bring finished vehicles up to the company's fabled quality standard. We found that a third of the total effort involved in assembly occurred in this area. In other words, the German plant was expending more effort to fix the problems it had just created than a Japanese plant required to make a nearly perfect car the first time..."

We have Toyota to thank for forcing those manufacturers to improve.

Of course now they did improve and Toyota got too lazy and from what I've read too ambitious. I hope Toyota does the right thing and fixes their lapses and compensates those killed and injured.

Um, doesn't anyone use common sense anymore? If the car started to throttle out of control like that what is the first thing that pops into my head? Turn the key and shut the damn car off. I have had a sticky throttle before due to cable being siezed inside it's casing. I was on the back roads of all places for this to happen and all I did was just turn the key to the off position...problem taken care of without having to drive the car into a ditch causing injury or death to anyone.

Thats not always the first best thing to do. One you lose all power steering and your brakes will have a few good pumps left thats it. So if your going at any kind of high speed its not always a good idea b/c it might make you go into a ditch too.

Um, doesn't anyone use common sense anymore? If the car started to throttle out of control like that what is the first thing that pops into my head? Turn the key and shut the damn car off. I have had a sticky throttle before due to cable being siezed inside it's casing. I was on the back roads of all places for this to happen and all I did was just turn the key to the off position...problem taken care of without having to drive the car into a ditch causing injury or death to anyone.

Considering most Toyota drivers use automatic transmissions, you can't turn the key in the ignition without changing the gear to Park (not possible when the car is in motion). Although the Focus gives us an override option for that, most newer cars don't allow you to mess with that lock for safety reasons. And either way as DrkKnight614 already pointed out, turning the engine off is not good idea since you're cutting power to the steering/brakes.

In the absolute worst case scenario, changing the gear to Neutral and slamming on the brakes would be better. And if the brakes don't work, the parking brake would be next best thing while the car is coasting in Neutral.

In all fairness, in a panic situation like that I can see how there might be a lapse in common sense judgment. Most casual drivers would probably freeze up and panic for a while if their car were to rapidly accelerate for no reason at all. It's one of those "Don't think, just ACT!!!" situations you'd never truly understand until you've been in it yourself. So I wouldn't be quick to blame the victim in that sort of situation.

^ remember toyota's are currently impossible to get shut off if out of control, due to the fact is HAS to be in park for you to turn the key off. but in order to get inot park the car cant be moving, or so i've heard.

Um, doesn't anyone use common sense anymore? If the car started to throttle out of control like that what is the first thing that pops into my head? Turn the key and shut the damn car off. I have had a sticky throttle before due to cable being siezed inside it's casing. I was on the back roads of all places for this to happen and all I did was just turn the key to the off position...problem taken care of without having to drive the car into a ditch causing injury or death to anyone.

plus, as i like to point out, some of the cars that lost control due to unintended acceleration had a push button ignition system and those owners werent exactly told that you have to hold the engine stop/start button for 3 or more seconds to shut the engine off in an emergency. i think the sailors rental car had a keyless go system if i remember correctly.