Faulty Hybrid Prius Brake Software Cost Toyota Big Time

Toyota's hybrid cars, the Prius, in particular, were touted as saviors of the depressed car industry. But Toyota did not count in faulty physical designs and software that made some of it's cars accident-prone. Of course, we now all know the ruckus that was created by the floor mat that snagged accelerator pedals, causing cars to speed up when they should really be slowing down. The problem became a big headache for Toyota, prompting vehicle owners to line up for repairs or submitting their cars to the massive recall.

Now, it seems that there's also a problem with the new braking system program Toyota is using. The Prius is at center stage of this drama now. Apparently, pressing the brake pedal in the Prius will not make the car stop immediately. An faulty software was blamed. You can compare the effect to what your digital camera does when you click the button to take a picture. The scene captured is almost never the one that you had intended to shoot because of the delay of the camera's software in processing the picture. In other words, if you click to take the picture of a basketball player dunking into the hoop, you will likely capture the scene after the dunk has been made. It's like that with the new Toyota brakes. You press, but you don't stop until the software tells the car to stop - and they say computers are now fast. It's incredible!

The number of vehicles recalled by Toyota worldwide has totaled 8.5 million already and it's likely to go up as more design problems are identified including a power-steering hose that could come in contact with the brake tube, creating an environment that can theoretically create a hole in the brake tube causeing brake fluid to leak.

The problems of Toyota has created a big dent on the company's image which took years to build and capture the Western market. Now, lawyers and lobbyists are hired by Toyota to try to fix the problem, which now involves congressional hearings and other tacky things that only lawyers can understand. But what the buying public to know is that it might not be a good time to buy a Toyota with all the defects in the cars it is releasing for consumption. Toyota has a proposal for a global fix, which ideally, should also address it's soiled reputation.

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Hybrid Sales - A Savior to the Slumping Auto Industry

People always like to buy something new an innovative. This has always been known by cell phone manufacturers. Even when almost everyone has a cell phone, the sales keep coming in because there will always be new models to choose from with new features that make their mouth water. Car makers and sellers should get their cue from the cell phone industry and realize that the automobile industry is being revived by new technology, like what's in this Mercury Mariner engine (left), that makes owning new cars as attractive as owning new cell phones.

While it's true that cell phones and cars aren't the same, it's hard to deny that the appeal of cool technology will never dampen in consumers. It's a fact that sales of new hybrid cars are going up even as sales of petroleum automobiles remain down. Ford has announced in December 2009 that sales were up 67% for its hybrids in spite of the dim forecast for the auto industry that has an overall slump of 11%.

Hybrids like the next generation Ford Escape (top; left) remain expensive and rare but the demand for them is increasing due to curiosity with the new engines and stricter environmental laws imposed by states like California in the US. In November 2009 alone, nearly 32,000 hybrid units were sold. Ford attributes the increase in sales to the release of the new hybrid models that are expensive, yet are practical due to rising fuel prices and the economic downturn.

It's likely other manufacturers will see the trend and follow suit in producing more hybrids. Making them almost the same price as conventional combustion engines will make them more popular and that will likely increase sales even more.

This isn't a hybrid. In fact, it's far from it! But, it's a scale replica of Eric Clapton's car - a 250 GT Berlinetta! Don't worry, it won't pollute your room. Click here or on the image to order.

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