Update on Toyotas Recall

[lookinforwalleye]

This is completely the supplier not a design issue the bushing in the pedal is causeing it to release slowly I looked at one today and let's face it they have to much to loose with this they have no choice but to fix the problem to protect their good name and yes I am a employee and believe I build quality vehicles.

 

 

Phil Edmonston was on the radio yesterday and I believe he said that Toyota has know about this for six years and did nothing.

[JohnF]

Phil Edmonston was on the radio yesterday and I believe he said that Toyota has know about this for six years and did nothing.

 

Yet they're only recalling the last two years?

 

JF

[Dara]

Yet they're only recalling the last two years?

 

JF

 

 

If you don't hear a good rumour by noon...Start one!

[John]

Hmmm.. 4 million parts.. say goodbye to CTS, they can't absorb the cost of remakes let alone the labour bills.

 

A lot of auto parts makers carry insurance against potentially terminal recalls.

[lookinforwalleye]

Yet they're only recalling the last two years?

 

JF

 

?? I don`t no perhaps they will work back in model years if they need too.

[jediangler]

I'm a Toyota guy and have been for a long time, this doesn't change the way I think about them as a manufacturer. I don't care about all these recalls because my Toyotas are considerably older models and were made in Japan not North America. Say what you will but my 1994 and 1997 are still going strong. How many Fords, Chryslers and Chevs can you say that about?

[SRT8 smoker craft]

Phil Edmonston was on the radio yesterday and I believe he said that Toyota has know about this for six years and did nothing.

 

 

Well there ya have cause the media is always right EH!!! These suspect accelorators were only put into production in 2007 so this Phil Edmonston is full of Bull if ya ask me speculation helps no one not to sure why you dislike toyota so much but they are one of southwestern ontarios largest employer and claims like that should not be put out without absolute proof.

[Joey]

I bet you that there is more 94 Caravans still on the road then all 94 imports.

I also doubt your 94 was built in Japan.When it comes to steel, you can't beat

made in Canada and US steel is not far behind.

There is a reason they call Japaniase steel .Pig steel.

It is from the high content of recycled steel they use in there smelting.

 

I know one thing is they have know about it for 3 years.

[SRT8 smoker craft]

I never said they new about it I said that they started using them in 2007 when we started building 08 model year .

[jediangler]

My 1994 is a Lexus GS300 so I know it was built in Japan and my 1997 is a Tercel that was also built in Japan. These models were never built in North America.

As far as the caravans go, they must all still be on the road because autotrader only found one 1995 caravan for sale and no 1994's.

[Tybo]

Most of the time the Built in Japan cars don't hold up to the

Ontario winters as well as the imports built in North America.

One of the main reasons for imports lasting longer then they ever have, Is they use steel

that is made in north America. So most of the older imports that are still on the road where

built here..Not knowing it's a Lexus.

 

My self don't care what you drive. I just find it really fun that how people will defend thier

There cars. I'm just saying that steel made here is the best.

[Jonny]

That Phil Edmundston rumour sounds pretty far-fetched.

 

I took my Matrix in to the dealer this afternoon. I was in and out in half an hour. My accelerator linkage is the kind that will have to be replaced. I'll be notified when they have the part in so they can do the replacement.

 

The service manager told me, "We checked, and you're good to go til we get the replacement."

 

I said, "So the car is safe to drive?"

 

He said, "If it weren't, you wouldn't be leaving here. What I mean is you wouldn't be leaving here in your own car."

 

(The dealership would provide one.)

[lookinforwalleye]

Well there ya have cause the media is always right EH!!! These suspect accelorators were only put into production in 2007 so this Phil Edmonston is full of Bull if ya ask me speculation helps no one not to sure why you dislike toyota so much but they are one of southwestern ontarios largest employer and claims like that should not be put out without absolute proof.

 

 

Look I just said what I heard I may have heard wrong but I do know that Edmonston is in tune with the automotive business.

 

And for the record I do not dislike Toyota or any other product from Japan in fact I drive a Subaru.

Toyota around world the happens to be a very good customer of the company I work for and in fact I supplied the shelving for the central stores in Woodstock and also for the Honda plant in Alliston.

 

It seems to me that fans of Japanesse vehicles will take each and every opportunity to slam a North American product but don`t like it too much when the shoe is on the other foot.

[Spiel]

I'm just saying that steel made here is the best.

 

Hey I work on a mill that's reputed to be one of the best cold rolled automotive steel producers in North America and hopefully I'll be back to work there soon.

[craigdritchie]

This is a pretty damning article from today's Torstar wire service. I'd be willing to bet Torstar ran this through their legal department before publishing it, because if the author can't prove he is 100 percent dead-on with his facts, both he and Torstar will be in court with Toyota for years to come.

 

 

The Myth of Toyota Quality

 

Rush to growth sacrificed the product

January 29, 2010

David Olive

Torstar News Service

 

My friend Mary Lou in Michigan knows that Toyota's reputation for quality is a sham. On a recent visit, she swept her arm across the width of the dashboard of her year-old Camry, bought new. "Every piece of this trim has fallen off or warped," she said of America's best-selling car.

 

An analyst at J.D. Power and Associates, the sine qua non in rating vehicle quality, told The Canadian Press Wednesday Toyota's recall of 2.3 million vehicles in the U.S. and 270,000 in Canada "signifies that (Toyota is) not afraid of doing the right thing for the right reasons, that short-term sales and profits are less important than taking care of the consumer and making sure they're safe in Toyota vehicles.''

 

I'd argue that not one word of that is true.

 

To start with, Toyota took the extraordinary step this week of suspending production at three U.S. and its two Canadian assembly plants because it was forced to by U.S. law. "It's not a voluntary thing," Toyota spokesman Mike Michels told the Wall Street Journal Wednesday.

 

More important, Toyota's quality problems go back many years, before the latest recall and last year's massive 4.2-million vehicle recall.

 

As it embarked on a goal of becoming the world's biggest automaker, Toyota failed to insulate itself from the "big-company disease" that humbled General Motors Co. As Toyota quickly ramped up production of its vehicles, its employees strayed from the automaker's "Toyota Way" of exacting quality control and continuous improvement in manufacturing methods.

 

It almost had to turn out that way. By 2007 Toyota was adding an average of two new factories a year to its global network, including a second Canadian plant in Woodstock that opened in 2008. Toyota's annual volume growth of about 500,000 vehicles equalled the entire production of Ford Motor Co.'s Volvo brand. By that same year, some 200,000, or two-thirds, of Toyota's workforce was located outside Japan. Toyota could no longer rely on word of mouth to convey the firm's managerial and manufacturing methods.

 

From 2004 to 2007, Toyota recalled a staggering 9.3 million vehicles – a number exceeding its total annual output, and up from 2.5 million recalls in the three years previous to 2004. In 2005, Toyota's rate of recalls as a percentage of vehicles on the road hit 10.1 per cent, compared with 6.8 per cent from GM and 2.5 per cent at Chrysler Group.

 

In 2006, Tokyo censured Toyota over improper business practices for failing for eight years to disclose and act on reports of a design flaw implicated in loss-of-control incidents. Loss of control due to accelerator pedals caught under floor mats triggered last year's huge recall, and caused four deaths after a Lexus abruptly went off the road in California.

 

In the 2007 J.D. Power survey, the Toyota brand scored below that of Hyundai Motor Co., a firm better known for price than quality. And the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety withheld its "top-pick" rating from Toyota's Camry and RAV4 SUV after their substandard performance in whiplash tests.

 

Also in 2007, Toyota's U.S. division settled a class-action lawsuit brought by motorists claiming that oil-sludge buildup destroyed their engines despite compliance with Toyota's maintenance guidelines.

 

A long three years ago, then-CEO Katsuaki Watanabe acknowledged to reporters that Toyota's long run of shoddiness was jeopardizing the company. "The world-class quality that we've built is our lifeline."

 

Yet, despite opening two quality "institutes" in each of North America and Europe to inculcate the "Toyota Way," there has been no meaningful improvement in Toyota quality. Like GM, stuck with too many plants as its market share dropped in half, Toyota has been compelled to keep all its new plants running flat-out to generate the cash flow to finance their construction, even as customer complaints have mounted.

 

Unlike Honda, Toyota is not an engineering trailblazer. And no one would accuse Toyota of being a trendsetter in styling akin to, say, BMW. Quality is principally what Toyota offers the market.

 

Toyota realized its goal of eclipsing GM as the world's largest automaker last year. The goal was a dubious one, given the risks. In any case, by late last year, Toyota had been overtaken by Volkswagen.

 

The only thing saving Toyota is a decades-long reputation for quality that people who still buy its cars don't realize the firm has not lived up to for more than half a decade.

[asdve23rveavwa]

Wow, on today's article. I've owned a Honda CRV and a Nissan pick-up...as well as a Jeep Grand Cherokee, Ford and two Pontiacs...hate to say the two Japanese vehicles were the most reliable I have had thus far. Currently own a Torrent, has had a few bugs, but everything has been covered under warranty. Was considering going with Toyota down the road, all depends on what I have to tow, might reconsider if they don't regain that quality "rep."

[Jonny]

You know, the thing we all do, I think, is that we base our opinions on very limited experience, and then we tend to give more credence to things we hear or read that affirm our opinions, and discount things that don't. That can be a bit of a trap.

 

My opinion that Toyotas are better than Big 3 cars I have owned is based on comparing relatively new Toyotas to Big 3 vehicles that I have owned going right back to the 1970's. I have little first hand experience concerning the build of Big 3 vehicles for the past 7 years or so.

 

What I do know is that I bought a second Matrix after owning my first one because in the years of ownership of the first one, not one thing went wrong - not one. Nothing broke, nothing fell off, nothing wore out, and regular maintenance at the dealership was an efficient and pleasant experience.

 

Now maybe I could have gotten that with a newer Big 3 car from a Big 3 dealer, I don't know. (By all indications the Big 3 are building better cars than they used to.) What I do know is that I'm not going to pull the plug on my opinion of Toyotas based on a recall that has received a lot of publicity and comment that is at times almost gleefully critical of Toyota.

Edited January 29, 2010 by Jocko

[dickie]

Amen Jocko. I own a second hand Matrix as well and it has been the best vehicle I have owned. Prior to that I bought a second hand Honda Civic for my daughter, And the only thing she had to do in 4 years is brakes and reoplace the power steering pump. I have had my fill of the big 3 North American cars for a while, and will not consider buying one until they earn back a good reputation. They owe us big time for bailing them out.

[camillj]

After YEARS of domestic cars I'm now on my third Camry (bought new every four years when the lease expires) ... and will probably buy this one ('07) out and pass it on to the Mrs ... and truth be told I am considering a change this time .. NOT because of all the crap but because I miss the folding back seats and am thinking its time for an AWD...but over the past 12 years I have had only EXCELLENT service from Toyota and from my Camry's ... I havent had mine in yet to see what needs to be done but I am confident they will handle it well and without ripping me off ...

Btw ... I am not convinced Toyota is the only one with the sticky accelerator issue ... but thats another story for the papparozzi to grab onto in due course

[Billy Bob]

Here's something to think about.........claims have been made that foriegn owned companies (mostly Japan) have had in recent years a decline in quality and reliability while domestic car manufacture have supposabley better quality and reliability with their products.....now here's the catch........more and more domestic manufactured vehicles are being produce outside of Canada and the US with Mexico probably being utilized the most.........However, foriegn owned car manufactures are building more and more of their cars in Canada and the US.....

[DanD]

16 known deaths are associated with this sticking throttle issue; what else has to be said?

It doesn’t matter who they are or what their past history is; there are devastated families out there; due to their product, causing these deaths.

How can anyone defend this company or any type of company for that matter; one that knew that they have a safety related issue, in their product and continued to build and sell it?

Yes the media is grabbing for headlines; but it wasn’t until the media brought this to the front pages; that this company finally began doing anything that amounted to anything. Oh and I like this; they’re pretending it’s their idea; that they weren’t forced too act.

If Toyota didn’t think that they were caught with their pants down; they’d still be back paddling; blaming floor mats and drive error.

I say criminal charges are called for; sorry doesn’t cut it; not for the families that have been affected by the deaths and injuries.

 

Dan.

[Sinker]

and truth be told I am considering a change this time .. NOT because of all the crap but because I miss the folding back seats and am thinking its time for an AWD.

 

Take a look at subaru!! I've got nothing but good to say about my forester XT. I'll never go back to domestics either. Been there, done that, not happening again. We were strictly GM for years, with nothing but regrets. Now we're driving a subaru and a VW, with nothing but good to say about both. Not an issue on my forester for 140,000km. Just brakes and tires. The wifes VW is on 90K, and same deal, not an issue whatsoever.

 

If you want folding back seats, and AWD, make sure and check out the subaru's.

 

S.

[camillj]

Will do .. thanks

[BillM]

Subaru makes a great car, with great resale. Only downside I can see is the mileage, they don't sip, they gulp.

[Sinker]

Subaru makes a great car, with great resale. Only downside I can see is the mileage, they don't sip, they gulp.

 

 

Its worth it for what i get out of it though. I can travel most ATV trails without even spinning a wheel, snowy roads are a pleasure to drive on, and once I get off the trail and hit the pavement, I can blow away most other rice burners I was sceptical at first, but so far, the forester has been unstoppable, and I've had it in some crazy places!! It tows my boat just fine too, so I can't complain at all.

 

I'm getting around 500km/60L tank of premium, so its still not bad for what you get. Comparable to most V-6 motors with similar HP, but with the best AWD technology going.

 

S.