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Toyota Halts Sales of Popular Models - Accelerator Stuck Problem Recall

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Messages Page 22 of 360

#209 of 3593 Re: Where did this come from? [revit] by imidazol97

Jan 30, 2010 (5:04 pm)

Replying to: revit (Jan 30, 2010 3:17 pm)
>This is where toyota slapped the LAT down for fabricatin gfacts and misrepresenting...
 
Must not have slapped them down very hard. Yup. toyota sure shut up the TIMES.
 
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-toyota-pedal30-2010jan30,0,4401302.story?t- rack=rss
 
Doubt cast on Toyota's decision to blame sudden acceleration on gas pedal defect
 
Federal vehicle safety records reviewed by The Times also cast doubt on Toyota's claims that sticky gas pedals were a significant factor in the growing reports of runaway vehicles. Of more than 2,000 motorist complaints of sudden acceleration in Toyota and Lexus vehicles over the last decade, just 5% blamed a sticking gas pedal, the analysis found.
 
What's more, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has conducted eight investigations into sudden-acceleration problems in Toyota vehicles over the last seven years, none of which identified a sticking pedal as a potential cause.
 
"The way the sudden-acceleration problems are occurring in reported incidents doesn't comport with how this sticky pedal is described," said Sean Kane, president of Safety Research & Strategies, a Rehoboth, Mass., auto safety consulting firm. "We know this recall is a red herring."
 
Sudden-acceleration events in Toyota and Lexus vehicles have been blamed for at least 19 fatalities and 815 vehicle crashes since 1999.
 
Toyota last fall blamed the episodes on floor mats that entrapped the gas pedals, leading to a massive recall. Then last week Toyota said sticking gas pedals were also causing sudden acceleration by not springing back into idle position, triggering another recall.
 
On Tuesday, the automaker stopped sales and production of eight models until it could remedy the problem.
 
Independent auto safety experts have been skeptical of Toyota's explanations, saying floor mats and sticky gas pedals can't fully explain the large number of complaints that have been mounting for the last decade, covering some of the most popular models in the company's lineup, including the Camry.
 
That argument was given more weight Friday when the manufacturer of the suspect pedals insisted its products had been unfairly blamed.
 
CTS Corp. of Elkhart, Ind., said in a statement that it had "deep concern that there is widespread confusion and incorrect information" about its products linked to the sudden-acceleration issue.
 
"The problem of sudden unintended acceleration has been reported to have existed in some Lexus vehicles and Toyota vehicles going back to 1999, when CTS did not even make this product for any customer," the company said.
 
Toyota began using CTS-made pedals in the 2005 model year.
 
On Jan. 21, Toyota told federal regulators that CTS pedals were susceptible to moisture and could stick, forcing the recall of 2.3 million cars and trucks. CTS acknowledged that a tiny number of pedals had a rare condition that could cause a slow return to idle position, but it denied that this condition could cause unintended acceleration and said that it knew of no accidents or injuries caused by the issue.
 
Toyota spokesman Brian Lyons said the company had no comment on CTS' statement.
 
Another Toyota spokesman, Mike Michels, said in an e-mail that the company had identified the pedal problem as "abnormal friction in the pedal pivot mechanism" and that the automaker hoped to announce a remedy soon.
 
Toyota has honored CTS three times since 2005 for the quality and efficiency of its work, citing the fact that the supplier "exceeded quality expectations" and achieved "100 percent on-time delivery and for shipping accelerator pedal modules with zero defects."
 
The automaker also uses pedals supplied by Denso Corp., a Japanese company with North American headquarters in suburban Detroit, but has said those do not appear to be defective.
 
However, the Times review of federal safety records shows several instances of complaints of stuck pedals on vehicles built in Japan, which Toyota has said are not subject to the recall. For example, one complaint, filed two years ago, told of a 2007 Japanese-built Camry in Maryland with a pedal that "stuck to the floor."
 
A wide group of national automotive experts say there is strong evidence that a hidden electronic problem must account for at least some, if not most, of the Toyota sudden-acceleration events.
 
The 19 sudden-acceleration deaths involving Toyota vehicles are more than those that have occurred in vehicles from all other automakers combined, according to figures provided to The Times by NHTSA.

#210 of 3593 Re: Toyota was legally required to stop selling recalled models [explorerx4] by wwest

Jan 30, 2010 (5:13 pm)

Replying to: explorerx4 (Jan 30, 2010 5:01 pm)
Yes, in the end our goverment can do whatever the fghj it wishes to, GW proved that in spades. But in this case Toyota was asked, not "told".

#211 of 3593 Re: Toyota was legally required to stop selling recalled models [wwest] by explorerx4

Jan 30, 2010 (5:31 pm)

Replying to: wwest (Jan 30, 2010 5:13 pm)
the way I have read it, it was 'told' not 'asked'.
what have you read that leads you that conclusion?

#212 of 3593 the fix is in by steve_ HOST

Jan 30, 2010 (5:41 pm)

"Toyota Motor Corp. received clearance from federal regulators on a fix for the company's sticky gas pedals, three people briefed on the matter said on Saturday.
 
A Department of Transportation official confirmed that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration did not object to Toyota's repair plans. Technically NHTSA's approval is not required, but Toyota would be reluctant to proceed if the government raised objections."
 
Feds approve Toyota gas pedal remedy (MSNBC)
 
Toyota Gas Pedal Fix Clears Regulators (Wall St. Journal version)

#213 of 3593 Re: Toyota was legally required to stop selling recalled models [wwest] by revit

Jan 30, 2010 (5:45 pm)

Replying to: wwest (Jan 30, 2010 5:13 pm)
For those that still want to convince themself that Toyota took aggressive action for the sake of the consumer...Turns out, the decision to stop producing these vehicles wasn't made by Toyota alone. The Detroit News reports that Toyota is required by law to stop selling the vehicles since there is no fix available yet.
  
Nevertheless, Toyota spokesman Mike Michels is reported saying that the company's decision to stop selling the recalled vehicles was voluntary, but that they also had a legal requirement to do so.
 
Toyota was legally required to stop selling recalled models
 

  
How do you voluntary do something that you're obligated to do?

#214 of 3593 Re: Autoblog has a good video on this subject.. [wwest] by gagrice

Jan 30, 2010 (5:46 pm)

Replying to: wwest (Jan 30, 2010 4:58 pm)
Until the firmware source code is revealed (FAT CHANCE..!!)and analyzed by someone of appropriate knowledge there can be no balanced and knowledgeable independent explanation.
 
Toyota also closely guards the Event Data Recorder information. So no outside entity can determine what happened before an accident. There is still the Smoking Gun delivered to the dealer with WOT. And the driver says the pedal WAS NOT DEPRESSED with the car at full throttle. That does not sound like a pedal problem. Something beyond the throttle pedal was keeping the car at WOT.
 
Why doesn't the NHTSA force Toyota to reveal the firmware for outside review? Why do they allow them to hide the information in the EDR? The 2008 Avalon that ended upside down in a pond killing 4 people was NOT floor mat related. Was it a sticking pedal? Where is the EDR data from that December 26th tragedy? 2100 accidents attributed to SUA is significant.
 
The LA Times was not intimidated by the Toyota response last year.
 
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fg-japan-toyota29-2010jan29,0,3951770.story
 
The reverberations continued Friday as Toyota announced that a European recall could include up to 1.8 million cars, pushing the global total to 9 million, or nearly as many vehicles as were sold in the U.S. last year.
 
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-toyota30-2010jan30,0,5882035.story

#215 of 3593 Re: Autoblog has a good video on this subject.. [explorerx4] by kdhspyder

Jan 30, 2010 (5:59 pm)

Replying to: explorerx4 (Jan 30, 2010 4:19 pm)
They apparently use the CTS pedal.

#216 of 3593 NYT article on the subject today.. by kdhspyder

Jan 30, 2010 (6:01 pm)

Toyota to Issue a Fix for Recalled Cars
By MICHELINE MAYNARD
Published: January 30, 2010
DETROIT — Toyota Motor has come up with a remedy to fix the millions of cars it recalled because their accelerator pedals could become stuck, federal officials and dealers said Saturday.
 
Word of the remedy came as the French automaker Peugeot said it was recalling cars it builds with Toyota at a plant the companies operate together in the Czech Republic, widening a recall that has already affected cars in the United States, Canada, China and throughout Europe.
 
Toyota presented a plan for repairing the potentially sticky pedals to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a senior official at the Transportation Department said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.
 
The safety agency is not required to approve remedies but can reject them if it thinks they will not sufficiently address defects. The agency did not reject the remedy, the Transportation official said.
 
Toyota officials phoned dealers Saturday to say that a remedy was ready.
 
“We got the call this morning,” said Peter Blackstock, the owner of Victory Toyota and Lexus Monterey Peninsula in Seaside, Calif. “The parts are on their way.”
 
A Toyota spokesman, Mike Michels, said the company planned an announcement next week and would send letters to owners, but he cautioned it could take several weeks for notices to arrive. Toyota wants owners to wait for the letters before they take their cars to dealerships for repairs, he said.
 
Mr. Blackstock said he expected that dealers would be sent replacement accelerator pedals, which are produced for Toyota by CTS, a parts supplier based in Elkhart, Ind.
 
Separately on Saturday, the traffic safety agency said it had opened an investigation into the manufacture of the accelerator pedals.
 
Last week, Toyota said it would temporary stop production and sales of eight models — as well as sales of the Pontiac Vibe, which Toyota makes on behalf of General Motors — at plants throughout the United States and Canada. The plants are scheduled to be closed for a week beginning on Monday.
 
Toyota did not stop production or sales at plants in Europe because it said it had already devised and implemented a remedy there.
 
The recall for accelerator pedals involves 4.1 million cars in the United States, Europe and elsewhere. Toyota has also recalled another 5.4 million cars in the United States whose accelerator pedals could get stuck on floor mats. Worldwide, the recalls affect more than 9.5 million vehicles.
 
The recalls have given a black eye to Toyota, which grew to become the world’s largest automaker, and the second largest in the United States, based on a reputation for building high-quality vehicles.
 
On Friday, Toyota’s chief executive, Akio Toyoda, apologized for the problem but said consumers should feel confident driving the company’s cars.
 
Toyota’s competitors have tried to capitalize on the company’s troubles by offering trade-in deals to Toyota owners. But it is still unclear what effect the recalls might have on Toyota’s sales in the United States.
 
Edmunds.com, a Web site that provides car-buying advice, forecast that Toyota’s market share for January would fall to a four-year low. But AutoTrader.com, which tracks consumers’ shopping habits, said consideration of Toyota brands had actually risen over the last few days.
 
Mr. Blackstock, the California dealer, said he hoped repairs could be completed quickly. He said he did not think the recalls would have a lasting effect on his business, or that of Toyota.
 
“If this is the worst thing that happens to us this year, it should be a pretty good year,” Mr. Blackstock said.
 
Life goes on. Fixes will be installed, new pedals will be installed and sales will go on. The long view.

#217 of 3593 Re: Is it just the gas pedal ? [deltheking] by houdini1

Jan 30, 2010 (6:15 pm)

Replying to: deltheking (Jan 30, 2010 3:15 pm)
Sounds like 'ol revit is wanting to get some of them "reparations" to me. Maybe a free 2009 Camry. Not gonna happen revit.

#218 of 3593 Re: Is it just the gas pedal ? [houdini1] by revit

Jan 30, 2010 (6:20 pm)

Replying to: houdini1 (Jan 30, 2010 6:15 pm)
The problem is not the pedals so once again, Toyota does not have a fix for the problem; yet another Toyota cover up.

Messages Page 22 of 360

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