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Toyota Venza Maintenance and Repair

71 messages,  Last post on Feb 16, 2013 at 10:04 PM

You are in the Toyota Venza Forum.

What is this discussion about? Toyota Venza, Toyota, SUV

    
 
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Messages Page 5 of 8

#40 of 71 New York Times articel Feb 23. by texan8899

Feb 23, 2010 (8:20 am)

Toyota said Monday night that it was expanding the number of vehicles that will receive a brake override system, meant to reduce engine power when the accelerator pedal and brake pedal are pressed simultaneously. It will add the feature on 2005 to 2010 model Tacomas, 2009 to 2010 Venzas and the 2008 to 2010 model Sequoia. It already announced plans to install the system on five other models. In a statement, Toyota said it had received a Securities and Exchange Commission request and a federal grand jury subpoena for documents related to the sudden unintended acceleration.
 
Any one hear anything about this? I have an 09 Venza. What exactly will this overide system entail?

#41 of 71 Re: New York Times articel Feb 23. [texan8899] by johnk12

Mar 10, 2010 (5:29 pm)

Replying to: texan8899 (Feb 23, 2010 8:20 am)
I have a 2010 Venza with 1,600 miles on it. I was pulling into my driveway, put on the brake and pushed my built-in garage door opener. The garage door was about one foot off the ground, when the car suddenly accelerated at a great speed at over 5,000 rpms. I was headed straight to crash into the garage door and through the back of my garage into my family room. I immediately put both feet on the brake, then jammed the car into neutral, then reverse, then park. The engine was still racing at over 5,000 rpms. I then shut it off. I sat there for 5 minutes, heart pounding. Called the dealer and had it towed to the dealership.
 
A few days later, I received a call from the dealership that my car is ready for pick-up and I could view a video they sent me via e-mail I viewed the staged, phony video where they had purposely placed a light plastic floor mat on top of the gas pedal and said that was the problem. No pedal fix, no brake override, even though I read them over the phone Toyota's Feb. 22 press release that 2009 and 2010 Venza's were added to the brake override system list. By the way, as soon as I shut off the engine, I immediately looked down and no floor mat was anywhere near the gas pedal. To achieve those rpms, two bricks would have had to have been sitting on the gas pedal.
 
I let the car sit for 6 days while exploring lawyers and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. None were of help. I picked the car up yesterday and held my breath driving home. This weekend I will try to trade it in for another make, I'm sure at a significant loss.
 
Clearly, there is something wrong with the electronic control system.

#42 of 71 Re: New York Times articel Feb 23. [johnk12] by houset

Mar 10, 2010 (5:57 pm)

Replying to: johnk12 (Mar 10, 2010 5:29 pm)
Thanks for sharing your story. This is extremely unsettling. Although the Venza is exactly the car i want to buy for it's style and price, I will not risk my family's safety until Toyota wakes up and starts working toward a real solution.

#43 of 71 Re: New York Times articel Feb 23. [texan8899] by wwest

Mar 10, 2010 (7:21 pm)

Replying to: texan8899 (Feb 23, 2010 8:20 am)
"...What exactly will this overide entail..."
 
Basically a whole bunch of SHEER IDIOCY...!!!
 
The indications, at this moment, is that the engine control ECU is "out to lunch", stuck in an illegal instruction execution sequence, when UA occurs. So it is shear idiocy to add more firmware, BTO firmware, to the engine ECU with the expectation it will work.
 
But that's what the idiots at Toyota/etc (NipponDenso and Denso US, in reality) appear to be proposing.

#44 of 71 venza braking by jkl01

Mar 12, 2010 (8:47 pm)

the news that your Venza reacted with UA during the braking process has reinforced my first reactions to my car's brakes. My Venza brakes are behaving like they will accelerate as I apply the brakes and only after a momentary delay and surge does the brakes kick in.Its somewhat reminescent of a clutch that is held too long and the engine continues and no braking occurs, or sometimes the cars lurges faster. At some point, following your article I wonder if my brakes will not kick in before the surge gets out of control. Its like I have to be very very careful when children are on my street that the car will brake or even slow down when I want it to. My car doesnt have 1000 miles on it yet. I've had it in the shop and the report was that they could not find anything wrong at this time.

#45 of 71 Venza Recall by ab18

Mar 20, 2010 (10:32 am)

I purchased our 2009 Venza on February 6th of this year and just discovered that the recall notice for this vehicle was issued by Toyota on January 27th - some 10 days earlier. More than one of the salespeople helping us at the time made a point of declaring that the Venza was not on the recall list and so we went ahead with our purchase. Now, my wife does not want to drive the car and my kids don't want their kids in the car either. I am curious to know if we have any recourse, either with Toyota or the dealership. Even if Toyota had not noticed the dealership by Feb. 6th, I would think that they (the dealership) had a duty to know and an obligation to advise us prior to the purchase.
 
I wonder if this has happened to anyone else?

#46 of 71 Re: Venza Recall [ab18] by robfile

Mar 20, 2010 (3:08 pm)

Replying to: ab18 (Mar 20, 2010 10:32 am)
I believe the Venza recall is limited to the all-weather floormats and not the supposed unintended acceleration

#47 of 71 Re: Venza Recall [robfile] by ab18

Mar 21, 2010 (10:31 am)

Replying to: robfile (Mar 20, 2010 3:08 pm)
Yes, the Venza recall is for the mats, but after reading Johnk12's message, I am not convinced that it is just that. Especially after all of the issues with the Prius.
 
My question was more along the lines of receiving advice on how best to approach Toyota and the dealership regarding the sale of a vehicle that is known to be on any recall list - wether it is mats, software or whatever. I seriously doubt that we would have purchased the Venza knowing that it was on the recall list. We would have continued our search for a low mileage used Highlander to replace the one that was totaled recently. We did not have a lot of time to research different vehicles and were dependent on a dealership (and brand) that we have come to rely on and feel it was their obligation to be forthright with any information - especially involving recalled cars that they were selling.
 
Any thoughts on how to deal with this situation would be appreciated.

#48 of 71 Re: Venza Recall [ab18] by robfile

Mar 21, 2010 (12:51 pm)

Replying to: ab18 (Mar 21, 2010 10:31 am)
The Venza has the Denso pedal which is not part of the recall and isn't the same as the Prius. .
 
Reference: http://blogs.insideline.com/straightline/2010/01/toyota-recall-update-3-how-to-t- ell-which-pedal-you-have.html
 
FYI the Venza recall is the same recall that is on the Highlander.
 
While I'm not calling into question Johnk12's issue, I certainly would have left an email address on this forum and would want to talk to anyone who had a similar problem.
 
However, I do believe that Toyota needs to get to the bottom of whatever is going on. Some of these UA's are legitimate and others are outright scams such as is Prius in California.
 
After talking to several people with Toyota as well as those in the industry I have no concerns of UA with the Venza.
 
No matter what type of car you own, one needs to be aware of how to stop the vehicle if the worst case scenario.

#49 of 71 Venza Recall by ab18

Mar 25, 2010 (7:06 pm)

Thanks for the response, Robfile, your comments are appreciated. I understand that the possibility of an acceleration problem with the Venza's are remote and that we should be able to respond to those situations rationally, but my point was not so much with the physical problems with the vehicle as much as the responsibility of the manufacturer and/or the dealership to notify a prospective owner that there is a recall pending on the vehicle that they may be purchasing.
 
I would like to think that when I go to a Toyota dealership (or any dealership for that matter) that I have been provided with all of the information needed to make a reasonably informed purchase decision - especially if it has to do with safety and specifically a product defect that has already been noticed to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as this was 9 to 10 days prior to us buying our Venza.
 
I just got off the phone with a representative from Toyota and had a most dizzying conversation with a poor gentlemen that was doing his best to support the party line, but just could not make a rational statement when pressed for details. For example, when I asked him if he could tell me when Toyota noticed the dealerships about the January 27th floor mat related recall of the Venza, he put me on hold for 15 minutes and came back with a comment to the effect that the dealerships have not been noticed as there is not a full remedy for the problem yet. Even though he admitted that the "partial" remedy was to remove the driver's side mat, there was no obligation on their part to notify customers of this and that it was up to us to find this information on their website. He stated that they don't have a responsibility to notify their customers until a full remedy has been determined at which time we will get a formal notice in the mail. (Needles to say, this was not an acceptable response and his supervisor will be calling me in the morning.)
 
The bottom line is this - a customer shopping for a car should be told by a representative of a factory sponsored dealership of any recalls - whether pending or fully completed - so that they can make a fully informed decision when deciding on which vehicle to buy. I have been a loyal Toyota fan for over 25 years, but I think they have some serious issues and this situation seems to be further proof of that.

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