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Who do I report that to...?
ABS should NEVER activate unless VSC indicates the need.
Isn't this the same company that designed the seemingly trouble prone Honda AC units?
Yep, Denso per the forum posts.
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Jeannine Fallon
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"In 20 years, odds are few people will remember that 2010 was one of the worst years for Toyota in terms of recalls, but for now, it seems like the company just can't win for losing. The company has announced that it is currently preparing to recall a total of 270,000 Toyota Crown and Lexus LS, GS and IS models worldwide. As it turns out, some of the company's 4.6-liter V8 and 3.5-liter V6 engines were built using faulty valve springs that may cause the car to stall while driving. Around 180,000 of the faulty powerplants were sold outside of Japan."
Click below for article.
http://www.autoblog.com/2010/07/01/breaking-toyota-admits-270-000-cars-have-faul- ty-engines-worldwi/2#comments
The company announced that the recall was in light of concerns including faulty brakes, sticky accelerators, and electrical fires. "
Wait, what? Oh, right. You were complaining about Toyota, not Chrysler safety problems. Aw, what's 600,000 bad Chryslers when there is Toyota to pick on.
I must have missed the Chrysler owners and salespeople making claims through the last decade about how perfect and wonder and SAFE their cars are... Claims about how their cars are worth an extra high price because, just because, they were so well engineered and designed... Salesmen acting like anything else was trash, just trash because it was a US brand. :P
My, my, how things have changed.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Or any motor. :shades:
Rock on to some vintage Foghat and enjoy watching some good TV this weekend. Or play some fun golf. Or come on to Edmunds and read the posts by Toyota fans in utter flail and frustration. :P
Did I say that? Go Mitsubishi and Kia Motors! Whoo-hoo!
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
I think it has more to do with greed than anything else. Ordering your suppliers to lower their price by 30%? What kind of idiot would do that? How that bean counter ever got into such a position at Toyota is unbelievable. Hopefully not ever again.
...right. I have way too much automotive design integrity to even get near a Toyota product ta buy. Way, way too much. Toyota's are appliances, strictly. The Celica, xA, tC, perhaps even the more mundane Yaris, the under-development FA-86 Coupe, those Toyota products have some design fungus-sh-wayy to them, and merit some more discussion...so go ahead and put another Foghat album on and let it enable you to think by virtue of their unrivalled boogie-blues prowess.
You see, the minute a Toyota Prius, Frankie Avalon, Clamry or Adam Caa-roollllll-aaa start looking like tasty purchase morsels to me, the entire state of Arizona might as well morph right back in ta Mexico again. I...mean for the first time. And live in peace with the drug-gunnists there.
I see no future in dull appliance rigs like Toyota's...have some design fungus-schway. Dig in ta that big backyard hamburger and turn up Uncle Ted playing 'Stranglehold' and get yer minds thinking design and integrity. Toyota, Honda and here's another one...Sue-barr-uuu...yukk!
They send their youngins down ta the basement with their etch-a-sketchs and demand that they come up with another bland or ugly vehicle. Are they rewarding their little brats with free new Subaru's when they turn 16 for coming up with some of these ugly rigs? Have you purused a modern Subaru lately? Sheesh! Come on! Get some glasses and get some serious body design-flow integrity flowing smoothly. Like a GP jump shot over Michael Jordan.
Mitsubishi has it down well and Peter Schreyer (former Audi Design Chief now working for Kia Motors) has it down well. Study their cars and get back ta class and we'll chat ourselves up silly about it.
Heck, even VW is on the up body design wise. If they could just build rigs that don't turn in to electrical jell-O and cost owner/operators hundreds and thousands of dollars in electrical repair bills I might take a longer look at those German-built vehicles.
Design study-up though before coming back ta class or you'll just be talking out yer...ummm....pie holes in glorious unison.
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
I know the article to which you're referring but whatever you read you misunderstood what was printed. You might want to reread it for more detailed context and deeper understanding. It says nothing about demaning that suppliers lower prices by 30% ( that may only be your interpretation ). It also says nothing about the US nor N America.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2001567,00.html#ixzz0sr6gYjjr
this problem went unnoticed for over 3 years?
Probably only rose to the surface due to all the other adverse publicity.
The pedal re-shape and floor mat redo's and all are having an impact in reducing repeat SUA incidents. But it's those blasted other ones where pedal and mat have been absolved of blame that get to me a bit.
What's causing those other SUA incidents? ECU bugs of some flavor...the off duty CHP Officer and his family had a horrible surprise one day on the freeway in San Diego that will never be forgotten. I know all carmakers make miskakes and have recalls and such.
Mitsubishi has had a problem with covering up a defect in one of their model's engines around ten years ago...and they made the horrible sales mistake of offering great 0-0-0 deals to mostly young men with bad credit. It came back to bite them cleanly in the hindquarters, too. But Mitsubishi is not having SUA incidents and they're not having things go on that they're running from or refusing to fix. For being so cash-rich why is Toyota being so greedy in refusing to come clean with fixes of faults and recalls and hitches in their glitches, pops?
Do you feel good being one of their customers? And you're telling me you feel safe, too?
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
I don't have an Avalon, but I do own a Camry. My only complaint has been the seat bottoms are too short on long trips. Haven't experienced all these other supposed problems. If Toyota was that bad, I'd expect their sales would be tumbling. They may have not gained as big of a percentage as some others (Toyota sales did not go down either), but their base the percentage is calculated on is often larger negating a straight sales increase percentage comparison (e.g. they sell a lot more Camry's than Malibu or Fusion). I do think many vehicles are getting closer to each other in quality though and wouldn't pay any significant premium any more for a Toyota or Honda.
As for SUA, you need to look at the base number probabilities of occurrence. The differences in rate aren't all that critical to me when the likelihood of experiencing it in any modern vehicle is out on the edge of the bell curve. You need to understand the base, and the concept of outliers, before you draw a firm conclusion on "differences" when using statistics. When probabilities are out on the edge of the curve, you can be dealing with noise more than a significant issue. Yes, the results of SUA can be scary or harmful, especially if you don't have time to react, but so is any accident and you are probably more likely to be T-boned or in a head on collision than experiencing SUA these days.
A number of posts have been removed because we seem to have veered off into 80's-90s music, Avalon emissions, miscellaneous road trips, nice Canadians and other stuff that doesn't have anything to do with the topic, which is "Toyota Halts Sales of Popular Models - Accelerator Stuck Problem Recall".
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the first thing i did when i saw all those posts were deleted, was to check my email for a nasty gram, but didn't see one.
i guess i am guilty for introducing the music angle, but i was fishing for some info.
my opinion is that the Camry and Avalon are at the very least fraternal twins.
that is why they are both included in the models covered under this discussion.
Question?? Did the dealer swap out the ECU or what? The throttle body controller was changed according to the paper work given the customer. NOT the throttle controller or pedal. This was a well documented case of UA within the engine/transmission and associated electronics. No jammed floor mats. Just a customer with an Avalon running at full throttle. Turning the engine off and restarting did not solve the problem. What did Toyota learn from that vehicle. So far I don't think they are sharing the info with the public.
I don't think we "need to know" the details of problem or the solution.
I do think this, however: If Toyota learned anything substantial, they are probably testing the solution on other cars before announcing anything.
Maybe this was an isolated case in which the solution to this car's problem does not apply to the other vehicles or even other Avalons.
Point is that I'm not a Toyota hater. Promise. But these SUA problems are reported more by Toyota than all the other manufacturers combined. That's a lingering problem that trimming floor mats and re-shaping accelerator pedals won't fix.
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
"The U.S. Dept. of Transportation has analyzed dozens of data recorders from Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles involved in accidents blamed on sudden acceleration and found that at the time of the crashes, throttles were wide open and the brakes were not engaged, people familiar with the findings said.
The results suggest that some drivers who said their Toyota and Lexus vehicles surged out of control were mistakenly flooring the accelerator when they intended to jam on the brakes. But the findings don't exonerate Toyota from two known issues blamed for sudden acceleration in it's vehicles: Sticky accelerator pedals and floor mats that can trap accelerator pedals to the floor".
I would post a link if I knew how !!
2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460
I must say I learned a lot between this thread and the Toyota on the mend in 2010 thread during the peak of the recalls and sua incidents back in height of the issue around January. Many knowledgeable posters here and good discussions went on. However, lately this has been mostly a waste of time.
2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460
NHTSA admits that is has yet to find any sign of a problem with Toyota’s electronic throttle control system, the main system targeted by Sean Kane, and congressional hearings.
These Edmunds Forums are set up to get good information and discussion on a particular vehicle. Let's get back to that.
Now that some solid evidence is available I expect the whole thing to die a quiet death.
2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460
I do believe there can be an occasional electronic gremlin, just like on a computer and that's why I'm leery of smart key ignitions. However, the worst probability I saw in the various articles was something like a 1 in 45,000 occurrence of SUA in Toyota (which was the highest incident rate of the car makers). However, realistically that represents very small fraction of a single percentage point probability. Eliminate driver error, and that fraction likely gets much smaller yet. So I'm not surprised at all about the flame out after all the hype. I own a Camry and think I'm much more likely to get T-boned or become the victim of a head-on than experiencing SUA. I did do a precautionary dry run shifting into neutral and turning the key down one notch (which incidentally even worked for that SIU professor), but I'm not going to live my life in the extreme tail of a bell curve and am not frantically considering selling my Toyota either.
Personally, I'd wait for NASA's findings.
2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460
Looks like all those fancy theories about faulty electronics have just been knocked into a cocked hat !! :P
2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460
Sort of interesting to see who broke the story, if you can believe the stories:
Did Toyota Plant DOT Driver Error Story? (Inside Line)
And may I add, it's what I suspected for the second time about toyota trying to twist the grain of sand and get their version out before the NHSTA or other source actually gives the "rest of the story."
Quote:
A reporter with Just-auto spoke with a representative from the NHTSA who claims that Toyota was the sole source of information asserting driver-error as the cause of all sudden acceleration claims.
"That story was planted by Toyota," an NHTSA spokeswoman in Washington told just-auto. "Toyota is the source - yes we know that for definite.
"It is [the] Toyota PR machine. We knew they were going to put it out."
If the official word is driver error, we aren't likely to know about it any time soon. The NHTSA and DOT are still working with NASA amongst other groups, and have yet to announce final conclusions. Official updates can be found on the NHTSA special Toyota Recall and Investigation page.
End quote.
Doesn't sound like weasel words in their comment. They are CLEAR that toyota planted the story.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
If it was Toyota who broke the story, they must have felt that this information was newsworthy, and I would agree with that assessment.
2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460
Don't count me in that list.
Yes, the majority of SUA, especially short term SUA incidents, are more likely than otherwise the result of driver confusion, faulty floor mats, or even sticking gas pedals. But that does not account for Saylor, Sikes, or the Smith lady. And then there is the incident wherein the car was driven to the dealer with the engine ROARING at full throttle.
Go to House Commerce governemnt site and actually read what. Oversight Committee had documented as to what is actually going on. Click on hearing tab - click on oversight. Check the Academy of Sciences Website also. They are conducting an investigation also, but I can't find any online documentation. Sean Kane Safety Research & Strategies wrote a summary of that meeting. At least can give some insight what discussed. Yes, I do know many do not like him. But have found many of articles are true, but does blast away. Wish Academy of Scientist would have online documents, but I have not found.
NASA scientists have investigation going on also.
Go to Edmunds Toyota on Mend - I posted links to info.
wwest you will find government documents long, but quite interesting for what they reveal about Dr Gilberts study and Toyota's debunking Dr Gilbert's study at televised press broadcast. See for yourself what Washington hired independent engineers/professors thought of Dr Gilbert's study. As Dr Gilbert always said and introduced as only a preliminary study and felt was just beginning - appears several independent experts feel his SUA study was good and was good place to start. Note Dr Gerdes from Standford that Toyota asked to review Dr Gilbert's work finally admitted to oversight committee study was logical, & good place to start. See what government heard from their expert independent engineers about the Toyota televised broadcast. I think alot of this is in Stupak document.
See documents - the debunking of Sean Kane and Dr Gilbert poll set up for Toyota, plus same debunking credibility of same individuals approach methods formulated by a consulting firm.
Also Toyota pressured University of Southern Illinois and successfully shut down Dr Gilbert. Attempted to get him fired. AP posted news report this past weekend. AP requested all information from school under the Freedom of Public Inofrmation Act, and finally got - so story could be written. This is why Dr Gilbert is quiet. I had already seen a report earlier, but this one was most recent. All is quiet now, so no other news agencies jumping on story. Smile - is old news now.
Recently towards end of June Washington hired engineers claimed to have found existing brake overrride being present on older Toyota models. End of June Oversight Committee sent letter to Toyota. Documents show Washington upset at Toyota, after Toyota did not reveal this information during all the testimony and/or individual discussions/interviews. I posted links to review document letter yesterday.
Documents reveal Toyota's hired expert engineering Exponent has multiple shenanigans that have been uncovered. As you are aware I had no respect for Exponent from my professional medical work and resulting research I did on firm long time ago.. Not surprised, just didn't know if lawmakers and experts presently would catch. Just know you gotta watch Exponent - they play dirty, but are very good at what they do.
Refer to government docuemnts of billing costs paid to Exponent for this SUA defense since Dec, 2009. Exponent received $3+ million. Somhow I have difficulty seeing how they can make claim debunking Sean Kane and Dr Gilbert claiming Dr Gilbert hired by attorneys - Gilbert was only paid total hours worked - $1800 + $4000 paid for equipment to complete study with agreement equipment left for auto technology school. University approved Dr Gilbert's research study and they do have high guidelines/standards that must be followed to avoid biased research studies. .
SUA Verdict is still out. Could be at least another year. We shall see. I am still in pending mode.
The US government is not known for their speed except at tax collecting time.
gagrice, how else are they supposed to keep building huge warships and fast jet aeroplane man-o-wars for all of us? The U.S. Federal Guv-Mint is ever-so-proficient at collecting taxes from us, at a high percentage-per-dollar earned. Always have and dare I say they always....gulp...will?
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick