Toyota halts US sales of 8 recalled models

[KELLYG]

RICH,

No worries bud! I work for a manufacturer that is often compared to a (Toyota) like product. I understand where you are coming from and I did not begin to take anything personal. If I accidentally led you to that conclusion my bad>

 

[Rich Parsons]

RICH,

No worries bud! I work for a manufacturer that is often compared to a (Toyota) like product. I understand where you are coming from and I did not begin to take anything personal. If I accidentally led you to that conclusion my bad>

Kelly,

If it is AW, they are partially owned by Toyota. And I have worked with tehm as a supplier in the past, although the parts I was getting were all made in Japan. From what I have seen none of the companies are worse than others. just a different face to the same internal politics of people.

 

[Rich Parsons]

per: http://media.gm.com/content/media/u...l/content/Pages/news/us/en/2010/Feb/0208_vibe


Repair Parts Shipping to Dealers in Vibe Recall

Repair parts for the sticking accelerator pedal condition in the Pontiac Vibe will begin being shipped to General Motors dealers this week (Feb. 8). Letters to Vibe customers will be mailed Feb. 16 with instructions to contact their Pontiac dealer after Feb. 22 to have a precision-cut steel reinforcement bar inserted into the accelerator pedal assembly. The installation will take about 30 minutes but customers may need to leave their vehicles with dealers for a longer period of time.



Customers will receive a second letter when a remedy is available for the recall covering floor mat interference with the accelerator pedal. For now, customers are urged to take out any removable floor mat and place it in the trunk of the Vibe and not replace it with any other mat. Customers who choose against taking out the removable floor mat are encouraged to check the operation of the accelerator, brake and, if applicable, the clutch pedals to assure the floor mat does not interfere with them.

My problem with this is that parts have already been shipped to Toyota Dealerships. if GM did it the otherway around there would have been press saying GM did it this way to harm their partner in manufacturing.

 

[Carol]

Bob, have you looked recently in the last couple of years. GM, Ford and Hyundai all have comparable vehicles that get as good or better fuel economy. Also check Consumers reports form last year on articles for fuel economy. They had a couple of articles, one stated one should use the sticker fuel economy to buy a car. The other one stated that GM then Ford was the closest to real world fuel economy to what was reported on the sticker. (* in essence they did not have a vehicle that ran great only on the federal test procedures for fuel economy *). Toyota and Honda were actually some of the biggest differences from real world to reported sticker fuel economy.

Also in Model Years 2009, there were fuel economy changes that GM lobbied for that used more tests that when weighted and averaged gave the sticker number that represented as close to possible as the real world. GM and Ford once again had the least amount of effect or changes in their product.

Note: As I tell people, if you have a great local service center or people that take care of you this is great and it makes sense to buy a vehicle from them. If you sit in a vehcile and it just fits perfectly to your body, then this is another reason to buy the vehicle. If it just looks ro comes in a color that is unique to a manufacturer then that is also a valid selection criteria. But if you start to quantify your purchasing decision with objective data and subjective data as I mentioned above, then doing some research and getting educated is a good thing.

The Chevy Equinox looks like a darn impressive car. An SUV with over 30MPG that is NOT a hybrid? :asian:

I've been mulling over whether to keep my CR-V for another year or to trade it in for something new. If I do trade it in, I'll definitely be taking taking a closer look at that one.

 

[Rich Parsons]

The Chevy Equinox looks like a darn impressive car. An SUV with over 30MPG that is NOT a hybrid? :asian:

I've been mulling over whether to keep my CR-V for another year or to trade it in for something new. If I do trade it in, I'll definitely be taking taking a closer look at that one.

Carol,

When you go looking, and if you are considering a GM product contact me and I will see if there are discounts I present to people who currently own a non GM product.


The CR-V you have is not a bad product, and the newer ones have made improvements as all manufacturers do over time. But, the Equinox is something of a lessons learned case. The Global Chief Engineer for the vehicle took the learnings we had on a Saturn VUE Hybrid pacakge (* Not released to public with the proposed sale and then closing of Saturn *) as well as learnings from other programs. We were able to place a lot of things together in a realtive quick and nice pacakge to launch that product. It kind of reminds of the late 90's when GM pretty much didnot offer a 4 cylinder in their small cars like Grand Am as the V6 was as good or better fuel economy. They had optimized the power to weight ratio and do some good work. Of course within a year or two the 4 cylinder was back beating the V6 for fuel economy with learnings from all programs and development of that program.

 

[Carol]

Carol,

When you go looking, and if you are considering a GM product contact me and I will see if there are discounts I present to people who currently own a non GM product.


The CR-V you have is not a bad product, and the newer ones have made improvements as all manufacturers do over time. But, the Equinox is something of a lessons learned case. The Global Chief Engineer for the vehicle took the learnings we had on a Saturn VUE Hybrid pacakge (* Not released to public with the proposed sale and then closing of Saturn *) as well as learnings from other programs. We were able to place a lot of things together in a realtive quick and nice pacakge to launch that product. It kind of reminds of the late 90's when GM pretty much didnot offer a 4 cylinder in their small cars like Grand Am as the V6 was as good or better fuel economy. They had optimized the power to weight ratio and do some good work. Of course within a year or two the 4 cylinder was back beating the V6 for fuel economy with learnings from all programs and development of that program.

Thank you for the info!

Rich, I would appreciate that very much if you would take a look. As of now, I am officially in the market...I'd like to consider the Equinox and/or the GMC Terrain. :asian:

 

[Rich Parsons]

Back to topic

Per: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/toyota_recall

By YURI KAGEYAMA, AP Business Writer Yuri Kageyama, Ap Business Writer – 30 mins ago
TOKYO – Toyota says it is recalling about 437,000 Prius and other hybrid vehicles worldwide to fix brake problems — the latest in a string of embarrassing safety lapses at the world's largest automaker.

It is good to see Japanese Press printing articles like this.

"I don't see Toyota as an infallible company that never makes mistakes," President Akio Toyoda said at a press conference Tuesday in Tokyo. "We will face up to the facts and correct the problem, putting customers' safety and convenience first."

This is very important. Toyota could not move forward as in the Japanese business Culture if the superiors did not accept the responsibility. Otherwise everyone would be looking to follow the existing process and spending time showing they followed the process. This is very important for them to be able to get the solution be it Mechanical or Electrical totally resolved and to the public in the shortest amount of time.

With the Prius announcement, the number of vehicles recalled globally by Toyota Motor Corp. has ballooned to 8.5 million, including for floor mats which can trap gas pedals and faulty gas pedals that are slow to return to the idle position. The 2010 Prius wasn't part of the earlier recalls.

8.5 million vehicles effected recently. This is not unique as other OEM's of the same volumes in the US have had large recalls before as well. No one likes them. No one wants them.

 

[Rich Parsons]

Per: http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/02/08/toyota.recalls/index.html?hpt=T2

Toyota recalls may not solve problem, experts say

By Drew Griffin, David Fitzpatrick and Steve Turnham, CNN
February 8, 2010 9:32 p.m. EST

College Park, Maryland (CNN) -- In his hectic, noisy laboratory at the University of Maryland, Michael Pecht is wary when it comes to assessing whether Toyota's suggested repair of sticky gas pedals will have any real impact.

"They are in a bit of a quandary," said Pecht, a professor at Maryland's Clark School of Engineering. "If they announce that electronics is a problem, they are probably going to be in a lot of trouble, because nobody's going to drive the car. So at this stage, they don't want to announce there is any electronic problem."

Safety experts in the field are not convinced it is Mechanical only or the major portion.

 

[Carol]

The Mass. Insurance Commissioner has temporarily expanded the appeals process for drivers that have been found at-fault, or appealed with a decision of fault, due to a recalled Toyota. Massachusetts-insured cars only.


http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=ocaterm...alcontent&f=advisories_Toyota_Alert&csid=Eoca