Tell Mom to trade it on a Ford Fusion. Safety first.

 

When she was lookin for cars I was tellin her to get a Taurus or a Fusion and she kept sayin how she wanted a Yota cause they last forever. So then tonight she calls me and asks me what's wrong with it. I said "First off it's not a Ford...." Then she started goin off.

 

You do realize that under Federal law they CAN NOT sell a product that has been recalled for safety issues. Recalls are not voluntary they are mandatory in fact the Feds are pushing to widen the recall. They do not have a choice about fixing the problem. As for stopping the production, that is a no brainer. They have a problem they do not know how to fix. Why would they keep making more cars that are sure to have the same issue and will need to be repaired also?

What they have done is gone the most cost effective route and tried to put a consumer friendly spin on the mess.

 

Thanks for the information. Man, I'm glad they shut both sales and manufacturing down.

 

Great point - which explains why Ford did what it did on the cruise control recall - kept on building and selling them.

 

This same issue just about put Audi out of business in the U.S. in the 80s. Spin or not, it's going to have a huge impact going forward.

 

Toyota's new slogan: Moving Forward...even when you don't want it to.

 

You missed the part about Toyota not having a fix available. They are still working on what to do. If they knew the fix the line would not be shut down.

The Ford issue was the membrane in a switch. The part was changed over for another that was available that did not have the problem and a fused link installed as an extra measure. Also, once the recall went out all vehicles on dealer's lots had to be fixed before customer delivery.

 

Well, it is now Honda's turn.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100129/...s_honda_recall

Not near as big.

 

Gets even better:

http://www.thecarconnection.com/mart...and+Blogs%2529

Jeezzzz....



There are also a number of articles & videos portraying 'How-Tos" on dealing with unintended acceleration. Probelm is, most folks will just panic anyway, a it's not something they will train/practice. And - some of those articles admit that the brake system barely copes with containing the power of the drivetrain....

 

They have announced their recall in Europe. 1.8m.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Toyota...60561.html?x=0

They have also stated that they figured out an engineering fix, but have not stated what that is.

 

From the ^^ story:

"Elkhart, Indiana-based CTS Corp., which made the parts, is cranking out redesigned gas pedal assemblies that fix the problem, which is caused by condensation around an arm attached to the pedal and springs that send the pedal back to the idle position."

So - as was previously mentioned not an ETC problem, a mechanical one. The poor ETC is just following orders, is all.

So - I'm back to my original gripe - how long have mechanical gas pedal components been in production?

I guess they under-rated the springs for all the limp-footed Boomers ... this is beyond embarrassing. Engineering fix - throttle return spring from a Lawnboy, lol ....

 

I heard today on the radio that the prius has the same pedal issue but toyota is not wanting to add it to the recall list becuase its there most advertised/promoted vehicle.

 

Just North of Fort Worth in Southlake, there were 4 guys in a Camry that went through a "T" intersection, a fence and into a pond. All 4 drowned. The investigation just concluded that it was the throttle problem.

 

This extends beyond Toyota. From our paper this morning: "Ford Motor Co. stopped production of some full-sized commercial vehicles built by a Chinese joint venture because they have accelerators built by the same parts supplier as in the Toyota recall."

So, while it may not be a huge hit to Ford, it's going to cost them money.

- Jack