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Automotive News & Views Toyota in decline in 2009?
3647 messages, Last post on Nov 30, 2009 at 10:54 AM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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Replying to: mcdawgg (Nov 08, 2009 7:36 pm)
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Gee, I wonder if there's anything ELSE going on at Toyota besides this investigation into an event that happened two months ago? 100 posts a day and nothing new has been said for days. Hey gagrice, this has been the "cover-up decade" at Toyota. Toyota IS the new GM (which leaves me unsure what the "new GM" is...). I think that might be what you want to hear, and I think it's a safe statement. But it would be neat to talk about other Toyota news as well... In a way, it's kind of fascinating to watch these two mega-corporations gradually get themselves in more and more trouble as cost-cutting increases to the max and beyond (which was news this week at Toyota: they are projecting much smaller than expected losses this year now, due to a VERY successful, VERY aggressive cost-cutting program initiated 12 months ago; you have to wonder what costs they had left to cut after the devasatation they wreaked across the line in the 90s) while quality and design fall to the lowest common denominator in a misguided quest to remain the biggest... 
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Replying to: nippononly (Nov 08, 2009 10:25 pm) In ~7 weeks this discussion will be past its sell by date. 
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Replying to: imidazol97 (Nov 08, 2009 6:12 pm) Right, it's pushbutton, and uses mechanical connections. However, it does have some safety features built in. If you press reverse going at a forward speed of more than 10 mph, it'll just go into neutral. And if you try to press 1st or 2nd at too fast of a speed (I think 50 and 75 mph, respectively, or somewhere close) it won't downshift. That's to keep from over-revving the engine, but in an emergency situation where you need to slow the thing down, I guess that would work against you. However, you can throw it into neutral at whatever speed you want. And if you had to kill the power, it wouldn't be too hard to haul it down from a high speed. Power steering assist is negligible at highway speeds in most cars...you really only need it in tight, slow, cornering situations, parking, etc. And while you'd probably use up your vacuum reserve pretty quickly, it has beefy 12" drum brakes at all four wheels that will more than do the job. If you lose power, you're actually better off with all-drum brakes, because they require much less pedal effort from the driver. As for the parking brake, it does clamp down on the driveshaft. However, I do know, from experience, that the engine can over-ride the brake. Years ago, I drove my grandmother to the grocery store in the car. I hadn't had the car very long, wasn't quite used to its idiosyncracies, and forgot to release the parking brake. Drove it about 2 miles to the store with it on. Back in those days, you had to pay extra if you wanted a warning light to remind you that the parking brake was on, and whoever bought originally bought this car didn't spring for that! I don't think I did any permanent damage, though. That was 19 years ago, and the parking brake still works fine today (even if the real brakes don't!  )
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Replying to: gagrice (Nov 08, 2009 7:41 pm)
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Replying to: kdhspyder (Nov 09, 2009 6:10 am) Did they actually find a jammed floor mat in the crashed car? The LA Times article points to a rather potentially large number of unintended acceleration incidents on Toyota and Lexus. Seems kind of high for people just ignoring their floor mats or hitting the wrong pedal? Cars are getting very electronic, so isn't it possible there can be faults in a vehicle design? I mean it appears aircraft faults brought down the Air France Airbus. In the past two decades there have been previously undiscovered rudder faults on B737 and tail control faults on MD-80's, and aircraft are subject to much tighter design controls and maintenance and inspection than cars. Ford had incidents of cruise control igniting their vehicles into flames. At first it was poo-pooed, then it was supposed to be a minor number of vehicles and eventually it turned out to be a whole slew of vehicles potentially had the problem. What makes Toyota any less likely to have a hidden fault? So I guess I take a different perspective and remain a bit skeptical until Toyota factually proves otherwise. Its their product and they need to prove it isn't the problem and that their cars are safe! Besides, its not like Toyota is the only good vehicles out there, so why take a chance with your family until the matter is clearly resolved?
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Auto coverup Read the stories about 1/4 of way down the page to the box titled Lexus Sudden Acceleration. Notice the statements. Most don't sound up or making excuses for driver carelessness to me! Listen to the audio and fit it to the pieces the mechanic is described as earlier saying. then all of a sudden it's Mats, Mats, Mats. Odd that some think it's the cruise control taking over.
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Replying to: imidazol97 (Nov 09, 2009 5:51 pm)
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did we answer the question asked a few posts ago about whether or not people on the accident scene actually saw a floor mat pressed up underneath the accelerator on this crashed Lexus in SD? Or was everything burnt up too bad?
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