Funny! Many knew it wasn't the mat or pedal. Guess Toyota will have to learn the hard way. The saga continues...

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/03/03/r...den-accelerat/

http://www.leftlanenews.com/report-t...ecall-fix.html

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...,2270669.story

And love this one: "The contact also states that they lifted the accelerator up and then watched it immediately go back down on its own"

http://www.safetyresearch.net/2010/0...showing-again/

 

Sent this to the NY Times, CNN, NPR, etc etc.


Today in Japan Toyota VP stated "we do not have a single claim concerning the electronics causing this". They are very wrong.
Approximately 4 months ago I brought my 2007 Corolla into Toyota due to the car surging when I had my foot on the brake, not the gas. It also happened in park, you could just see the revolutions surge and then back down. I told the service mngr. and they drove with me and it did not occur. They then stated to leave the vehicle due to this happening at mostly at start up and initial driving. They then called me the next day to pick it up and stated that it only happened 4 times to them and could not locate the problem. I stated that I almost slammed a lady in the butt when it surged, I went over 1 curb, and almost into a home at our complex.I was told to drive it and if it happens to immediately come in with it to show them. He also kept stating it was the mats until I showed him I did not have the mat in the vehicle. He then changed his tune. I told them I was leaving for Norway for 3 weeks and that the service mngr himself could drive it as much as needed. I also told them that through my own research, there were NUMEROUS 2007 Corollas with this same problem. One technician from a CA dealership stated his name and stated the reason he found causing this. He stated he swapped out the computer and it solved the problem. They stated at the dealership that they could not find any TSBs and no other information. I showed them on my laptop only to have them state it was not a "trusted" site and could not use the information. I stated that the name, address, and tech number was listed there. they again stated it could not be used. They agreed to take the car while I was away. I came back to find out that this had happened to the mngr himself numerous times and that they ended up looking for the cause for over 5 hours and found it to be ............ The computer. . After the computer was changed it did not do it at all, but is now starting but too intermittent to bring in as I was told. There is some kind of an electrical problem with this vehicle. For Toyota to have replaced the battery 3 times in less than 3 years and replacing the computer due to "erratic operation" as stated on my repair ticket after they drove it for 3 weeks, they need to do more research. I am also not the only one, look up this problem on the internet and see how many "un-recalled" Corollas are having the same issues without Toyota admitting a problem. What now Mr. Lentz?

Sincerely,


No response from anyone on this. That is my everyday car, the FX4 comes out for play and work!

 

sml175: this would be very damaging and costly to Toyota if it was determined that this is the true problem. Do you know if they replaced the ECM or PCM?

 

Wow... IMHO this is what needs to happen.

I vote to completely ban the sale of Toyota products in the US for 10 years or until the company is audited and their safety implimentations in everything from their bathrooms to their assembly lines, office chairs to vehicles are systematically examined and critiqued... wichever comes first. Then of course, there should be NHTSA personnel appointed to oversee all Toyota operations and tests (quality and crash) for the NEXT 10 years (if they are allowed to continue importing vehicles to the US.).

It would suck either way for the American workforce that make Toyota's, but as I said earlier, if this were to come to light with Hyundai or Kia, they would be forced to shut down all US stateside operations without batting an eyelash... but since ths is the "almighty" Toyota.... ugh.

 

i wonder how the people working for toyota would feel about getting shut down?? how many jobs would be lost. gotta be a better answer to that. maybe fine toyota and compinsate the people that got hurt or injured. but then again if the goverment fines them, there gonna stick the money in there own pockets.

 

So what is the fine for the loss of life (52 deaths) that have been attributed to this SUA? I'm sorry, but if I lost my mother, child, wife or any of my loved ones, no amount of $ will bring them back or pay for the life lost. I don't think shutting them down is the right path, but there really needs to be some oversight.

How about this quote from the admin of a Tundra site I frequent. This was his reply after I posted this information there.

As for the L.A. Times article – which was quickly blasted out on AutoBlog and LeftLaneNews – did you read the basis of the argument they made? They’re re-quoting the same experts from the last few articles, and they’re using 7 unconfirmed reports to NHTSA to say that there is still a problem. Ridiculous.

Can anyone say... Got Denial?

 

This Toyota deal sucks, but things do happen with mass production anything! Should they fess up sooner than later? Sure but it happens to all companies!

Have we forgot about Ford and the firestone fiasco a while back?? How many lives were lost and Ford was saying it was due to under inflated tires and then to find defects in the tires later on.

Any fines or settlements levied against Toyota will unfortunately end up being passed onto the consumer!

 

The first thing I told my Fiance when all this stuff started coming to the surface is "Something like this could bankrupt Toyota" Well with more of this stuff coming to light and continuing problems this may be closer to becoming true than I thought....think of the immediate drop in sales once this came up, then think of the money being spent by Toyota to fix this problem (both in parts and in wages paid), also think of long time Toyota buyers who may stray away from buying in the future because of this, and think of the people who may have converted over and bought their first Toyota who will now never touch a Toyota. This seemingly could snowball into something hugely negative for Toyota FAST. They are already in panic mode. Just saw a Toyota commercial yesterday thanking people for being loyal supporting customers and offering all of their vehicles with 0% APR for 60 months.....

 

Bad example. The Explorer was cleared of being the problem. Even though Ford paid a boat load out in lawsuits, all the experts found the two problems to be:

1. Defective tires made by Firestone and their Decatur facility
2. Driver error (excessive over-reaction and over-correction).

20/20 and Car & Driver for two examples, tested the scenerio of blowing out tires on the Explorer. Not once did the vehicle come close to rolling by simply blowing out the tire, even at speeds of 70mph. It would pull one way or another, but nothing excessive. Only when the test driver made extremely erratic manuevers did it come anywhere close to tipping/rolling. Also note that the Explorer equipped with Goodyear tires experienced no rollover issues, even when inflated at low air pressure.

Part of the rollover issue was poor driver reaction to the tire blowout. When a tire blew, the driver experienced a large jerk and many drivers reacted by jerking the wheel in an attempt to regain control. This action causes a shift of the vehicle's weight, which results in the roll-over of the vehicle, especially when this occurs at higher speeds (many reports of roll-overs were of vehicles being driven at speeds of 70 mph (110 km/h) and above). Larry Webster, a test-driver for Car & Driver magazine was able, in a test simulating dozens of tire blowouts, repeatedly able to bring a 1994 Explorer to a stop without a single rollover, even at speeds of 70 mph (110 km/h). According to Forbes magazine, car experts and NHTSA claim that the vast majority of crash accidents and deaths are caused not by the vehicle, but by the driver, by road conditions or some combination of the two.

In response to Firestone's allegations of Explorer's design defects, NHTSA undertook a preliminary investigation and reported that further action was not required. Its conclusion was that Explorer was no more prone to rollover than other SUVs given their high center of gravity.

Also during the 90's, the Explorer was considered the 3rd or 4th safest SUV of the decade. I'm trying to dig up the link right now.

And I'm not trying to be a Ford fan boy, just shooting you straight. Ford was liable for putting Firestone tires on their vehicles and should be held partly at fault. But more of the fault needs to be put on Firestone for their fasulty design. Just like Ford with the Pinto, CC switch, this rollover ordeal and such, Ford went through the wringer. They found the problem in each scenerio, fixed it and paid the price. Why's it so hard not to expect Toyota to go through the same wringer? And if they don't fix the problem correctly, as the article states, go through it again, but worse?

And it'll be the Toyota consumer who is hit hardest. But a good thing to come out of this may be future enhancements to all new vehicles to further improve safety.


Yup, and are also giving people who trade in a Toyota 2yrs Free maintenence as well. Trying anything to persuade the public their way.

 

hahahahahaha it gets more intresting every day