Recalls: End of the Road for Toyota?

Toyota HQ in Toyota City.

Akio Toyoda, Totota CEO (2011)

Toyota, once a stellar example of automotive reliability, has lost considerable grip on the reputation it has enjoyed for decades. The main culprit is sudden unintended acceleration (SUA).The skid actually started in 1986, when the National Highway Traffic Safety Authority (NHTSA) recalled some Toyotas for “speed control problems.” But the issue then did not attain the major proportions it has now.

The Toyota brand explained

It reared its ugly head again in 2003, when “unwanted acceleration” occurred during production testing of their Sienna minivan. Worse, they didn’t report it to the NHTSA until five years after. The worst incidents occurred in July 2007 and August 2009: In the first, Troy Edwin Johnson, sitting in his car, was killed by a Camry speeding at around 120 mph. In the second, an off-duty highway patrolman and his family were killed when their rental Lexus crashed. “Uncontrollable acceleration” was reported to be the cause of both accidents. Since 2003, the NHTSA has conducted numerous investigations of different Toyota models, mostly with reported acceleration problems. Many of these have led to recalls.

Toyota has paid nearly 50 million dollars in recall-related fines, and the bad news does not end there. They still face numerous lawsuits, for charges ranging from lost resale value to injuries and death as a result of the reported defects. These cases could drag on for many years, resulting in steadily increasing losses.

The most damage may be to their reputation. Can they rebound from such a major financial and legal disaster, or will they go down the drain? Only time will tell. This is probably the greatest challenge ever faced by an automaker, or any company, and how they handle it will be their biggest test ever. Will the company that dethroned GM as the world’s number one carmaker fall?

Should hot rodding be illegal?

If only these hot rods were real! But nevertheless, you'd still have a lot of fun with these fine, detailed models! One of them's a coffin on wheels! Cool! Get these super hot rods by clicking here or on the image.

Repaired Toyotas Reportedly Accelerate on Their Own - Emergency Remedy

After thousands of recalls and repairs made by Toyota dealers beginning with the floor mat issue and the delay in tye braking system, it now appears that some of the Toyotas which have been repaired now have a more serious problem - owners have reported that they accelerate on their own without any warning and it's not easy to stop.

One Camry owner, John Moscicki, who is also a professional racer, reported to the Associated Press (AP) how his 2007 model had accelerated five times before he had the floor mat problem repaired. In one instance, the car went off from a full stop to 50mph before he stopped it by shifting to neutral and then hitting the brake with his left foot while pulling on the gas pedal with his right. He said it was like his car was controlled by some other system (like in one of those Die Hard movies). His dealer checked the car for a week but found nothing wrong with it. It's been generally assumed that the problem is electronic, but as of this writing, the source is still unidentified.

Toyota owners who have complained of sudden acceleration of their vehicles are now being interviewed to determine if the problem was caused by the repairs done or if it is a time bomb waiting to explode. Moscicki said he had planned on giving his Camry to his college daughter but thought against it after he discovered the problem. "I wouldn't let her anywhere near this car," he said. 

Got a business online that needs customers? Cheap Visitors can help you. Find out how.

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.

Be an advertiser with Cheap Visitors and see how it can help your online business. Read more.

Hybrid-Only Sai Car Unvelied by Toyota for Japan Market

After the Prius, there's Sai, another hybrid-only model from Toyota. It's recently unveiled for the Japanese market. It's costlier and bigger than the Prius. Government incentives are making hybrids extremely popular in Japan and a monthly sales average of 30,000 per month is expected beginning Dec 7, 2009, when the Sai sales will begin.

Like other automobile companies, the global economic crisis and stricter environmental laws has led to slumps in sales of regular combustion engine cars. The age of hybrids appears to have arrived and consumers are switching, opting for new technology automobiles that switch between a fuel-burning engine and an electric motor.

Compared to the Prius which gets 38 kilometers per liter, the Sai delivers a bit less at 23 kilometers per liter. That's still twice the mileage of a regular gas guzzler. One reason why the Sai is less efficient is the 2.4 liter engine. The Prius only has a 1.8 liter engine. The Sai is also bigger and roomier than the Prius - using an unorthodox dashboard design. However, the instrument panel that divides the dashboard in the middle looks dangerous in a collision, especially if a kid is seated in the passenger side.

Toyota hopes that with the release of the Sai, hybrids will become more popular and boost company sales even more.


Own a Dodge Challenger SRT8 1:25 model kit. With this scale kit, you do the assembly, and it's quick and easy! The parts look real with chrome-plated detail ready to dazzle your eyes. Only from AMT. Click here or on the image to place your order.

Toyota Recalls Cars on Floormat Issue - Are There Other Dangers?

Toyota never anticipated that the holding mechanism of the floormat of some of its cars (left) like the Camry and Prius could cause the accelerator pedal to get snagged (top) and stuck (the secured floormat would keep pushing on it). After accidents have happened attributed to the design, the recall was initiated on specific car models, although more could be added to the list. Toyota has recommended that the floormat of the drivers side of affected car owners be removed and not replaced.

Interestingly, although there seems to be no accidents reported relating to this. There had been some concerns about the seat slider handle that were used in old Corolla models. You know that handle that you pull at the near the bottom of your seat to slide it forward and backward? Yes, that's the one. Well, it turned out that shoes can sometimes get snagged on this. The picture on th eleft shows a knob that's diagonally placed. It's those with a horizontal design that can be a problem.

The shoes prone to this are rubber or hiking shoes that have those extensions at the heel end that you can use to hang them up to dry with (left; encircled). Yes, it's happened and it can come as a surprise when the driver suddenly realizes that he or she can't move his foot forward to press on the clutch! It can take several seconds to realize what has happened and at high speeds, it can be a very distressing situation.

While the concern is easily solved by wearing shoes ideal for driving, the problem is that that the knob handle design for the seat slider could still cause accidents. The good news for Toyota is that other brands of cars may also have knobs that can snag some shoes. Designers should take a close look at this for the safety of consumers.

Toyota has had recall issues in the past.


Feel secure on the road with this replica original Star Trek communicator key chain. It can talk! Click here or on the image to place your order.