Consumers Losing Faith in Toyota
Toyota Motor Sales recalled over 3.5 million vehicles in November 2009 to fix gasoline pedals, carpeting as well as software to treat what was reported as sudden speedup problems. Dealers were doing adjustments to the petrol pedals by taking off inches from the bottom so the throttle pedal wouldnt be constricted by the floor mats.
Toyota has succeeded that recall with another one surrounding sudden and unbeatable acceleration on Jan. 21, 2010. On that day Toyota declared a recall of approximately 2.3 million cars that involved
2005-2010 Avalon
‘07-’10 Camry
2009-2010 Corolla
2010 Highlander
2009-2010 Matrix
2009-2010 RAV4
‘08-’10 Sequoia
‘07-’10 Tundra
Reported by a USA article headlined with “100 Toyota drivers filed complaints before recall”, “she would become one of more than 100 drivers, according to a USA TODAY search of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration complaints database, who over the past few years have had their Toyota vehicles take off when they weren’t expected to.”
If people believe this accleration problem is distinct to Toyota, they are wrong. According to the USA piece, “Jake Fisher, senior engineer at Consumer Reports’ Auto Test Center, says unintended acceleration is not a problem unique to Toyota. He pored through NHTSA’s database of complaints for 2008 and noted that every manufacturer faced similar complaints. Sometimes, the issue is driver error, he says. But sometimes, there are defects. Toyota accounted for about 40% of the 2008 unintended acceleration complaints, Fisher says. “This could happen to anybody, but Toyota was over-represented,” he says. “But the underlying message of this whole thing is that, while there are instances of this in Toyotas, it’s still very rare.” The sudden acceleration problems are not entirely a Toyota issue, but Toyota Motor Sales does have the largest parcel.
Toyota has published the following issuance, “Our investigation indicates that there is a possibility that certain accelerator pedal mechanisms may, in rare instances, mechanically stick in a partially depressed position or return slowly to the idle position. They also provided instructions on how to handle the situation if the acceleration issue occurs If your car begins to accelerate uncontrollably, immediately move the shift lever to neutral and firmly apply the brakes. Do not pump the brakes. And dont worry about the engine on modern vehicles, they have rev limiters to prevent damage. Once you have brought the car to a safe stop, turn off the engine.”
Toyota doesnt have a fix to deploy, and more notifications are awaited. Toyota has reported that it and the manufacturer of the gas pedal, CTS, have been working on a solution, but nothing of significance has been released yet.
To read details on this series of events an in-depth work on this state of affairs by a 3rd agency see Consumer Reports notice on the Toyota recall.
You can also remain advised on Toyota Motor Sales declarations at Toyotas recall page.
For finding new cars use CarLocate.com.
Comments Off