ent72olds

This was near me. Sad that the woman didn't survive....was it just coincidence that it was a Toyota again, or was it something to do with her being elderly?

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?se...and&id=9459135

There is video of the whole crash from a gas station camera....kind of disturbing, if I can find it, I will post it. It was shown here on the local news.

Killian_Mörder

It's likely she confused the gas pedal for the brakes. In any event, look to see ambulance-chasing lawyers turn it into a technical event, since Toyota has this sort of track record

joe_padavano

That was the problem when Audi was subjected to the witch hunt in the 1980s and continues to be a problem today. "Ejected from the car" also implies not wearing seatbelts.

Lady72nRob71

toyo owners are very fond of doing that, at least from the company's perspective....
Several instances of sua from these cars has happened around my area, none could really be pinpointed to a certain cause. One wreck claimed the life of someone I knew 5 years ago. It is a nasty ghost problem that is very hard to prove and cure so I see it as being swept and kept under the rug. Even the NHTSA gave up on it as the tech stuff was over their heads. No drive by wire for me.
lots of good reading about this issue here, including many other news stories similar to the one posted above: http://www.safetyresearch.net

coppercutlass

Didn't they de bunk the whole unwanted acceleration stuff.

joe_padavano

Both times (Audi and Toyota). And that's NHTSA claiming driver error, not the manufacturers.

coppercutlass

This is all I have to say . Gm's are catching fire and fords tires where blowing out and suv's where rolling over etc etc. It seems when it's a domestic car the "media" just informs and drops it. When it's Toyota they go out of their way to blow it up and hype it that they are "bad" or insinuating that. Im sorry but domestic cars are pure junk nowadays. I have worked on all kinds of cars and I when a domestic car such as gm or ford or dodge come in I cringe because although I know very well the cars up and down I know that what can go wrong will go wrong. Working on Japanese cars like lexus/Toyota or Honda/acura or even kia's and Hyundai's is like working on our old cars. Very easy On a technician level. Not only are they easy to work on but they are very well put together. Remember whatever you see on the news is pre decided second hand news. Call me a crazy conspiracy theorist but it seems when it's a non domestic brand it gets blown out of proportion .

ent72olds

I do remember the Audi thing. So, just coincidental that this seems most common in Toyotas....?

Gary M

I had a 2007 Camry that the pedal stuck multiple times on. Every time I just reached down and yanked the mat to release it. They had a recall on the mats and I had no more problems.

ent72olds

Obviously, you don't remember the '70's with the Pintos and Chevy pickups. They had more press and negative coverage than Toyota ever got IMO. Even the Firestone tires you mentioned blowing out on Explorers was huge news.....and Ford didn't make the tires.....I agree with you about foreign quality.....10 yrs ago....domestics have caught back up!

Gary M

Well quality is directly affected by profit. In Japan they make much less $ and they don't care as much about pollution so more money can be spent on Quality, IMO. I can no longer afford a new American car so I will ride my 2000 Buick till it drops, buy another used car and baby my 72 cutlass as long as I can.

OLD SKL 69

I agree. If anything today, foreign car companies usually get a pass and coverage is not very big on their quality issues. Case in point, Toyotas and Hondas generally get good reviews and are recommended buys in many categories. However, the amount of recalls they have both had are mind boggling.

If GM, Ford, or Chrysler had as many recalls, the headlines would have been "Quality Woes Still Plague The Big Three".

coppercutlass

The difference between now and even maybe 10 years ago is social media. It blows things up about 20 times. Politically speaking specially with the bail outs and looking to re vamp the American car makers . It seems there seems to be a big emphasis on beating the foreign cars/toyota to a pulp lately and it falls on that whole social media and everyone pushing American made which is great we need that good ol US of A quality . The ford deal with the tires was huge and I remember that very well even though ford didn't even make the tires.


I love this one. When the Toyota tacomas had that big frame issue recall everyone joked should have bought American but it is my understanding dana spicer made those frames here in the usa !

ThePackRat

This is always the way I saw it.

I've owned a couple of Toyota's in the past & they had their share of issues just like any other vehicle.

And go figure ...

The people that were supposed to be the best at working on them (dealer techs) weren't without issue later.
(so much for their dealers being better too)

Nothing like having an issue correctly diagnosed by an independent shop owner/tech within the 1st minute of a casual conversation .....
(he never even laid eyes on the car)

That a dealer couldn't find after 3-4 visits for the SAME thing.

Koda

Dana still makes the frames, at least for the Sequoia.

Not sure about foreign car companies getting a pass. Ever since the bailouts, the foreign car companies are the bad guys for "putting the big 3 in that position."

The recalls were for floor mats and a hanging up "resistance simulator" to make the pedal not have hysteresis. The ECU problems were proven false by NASA and NHTSA, and Toyota was acquitted in court cases.

Bottom line is, cars today have data recorders. You can't claim the brakes didn't work when you never hit them.

Oh, Packrat, dealers are usually independent companies. The car is designed by one company, fabrication designed by another, built by a third, shipped by a fourth, to a dealer who is part of a network of a fifth company, and the dealer is the sixth.

coppercutlass

There is no such thing as a bad shop just bad workers and management.

ent72olds

I never heard of the Tacoma frame issue.....guess I was living in a cave then....was it blown out of proportion? If you are going to use the logic that Spicer made the frames for Toyota, therefore, not Toyota's fault....Firestone made Ford's tires for the Explorer, therefore......

ThePackRat

Fair enough, but my point was .....

A dealer should know their own product better than any independent shop.

And that goes for any make/model car whether it be a Toyota - Honda - Ford - Chevy etc etc.

When one finds out an issue was common to the vehicle via a 3rd party ..... yet a dealer could not identify said issue after 3-4 visits - something isn't right.

The manner in which an issue is handled can have just as much a negative effect on "would they buy another" than the actual issue(s) with the product itself.

brddg

Does anyone remember the staged post crash fires that NBC used against GMC and chevy pickups? I don't trust the media or the lawyers.

coppercutlass

The frame recalls I belive where not as bad as the unintended acceleration because no one was in danger. But toyota was buying the trucks back which worked out even better for the customer. Not sure if that was a recall or service campaign there's technicalities there the companies can use to avoid a recall I'm not entirely 100 percent sure. Gm recently had a recall about their trucks catching fire I may have seen it on the news twice at best. Toyota had a recall not too long ago and they mentioned it for 4 days. Just an observation. Also its understood that firestone made the tires but the accidents where pretty focused on the explorer . Now when it was spicer making the frames very little do folks know about that because its just put out there toyotas are falling apart due to crap frames. Must be toyotas fault.

Stevec

My buddy received a check for $8500 from Toyota because his frame was rotted. He was told to bring it to a dealer for inspection and they made the decision to buy the truck back.

The truck was almost 9 years old! He took the money and bought another Toyota truck.

Not a bad deal!

Killian_Mörder

I never heard about the Chevy pickups having problems. The Pintos had vulnerable gas tanks which would blow up, when rear ended, much like the VW Beetles blowing up, when front ended. I hated Pintos. Not only were they Hellish ugly. They were cramped, extremely hot in August and that Mt. Everest-high hump housing the trannie made you feel sardine canned in a death trap

OLD SKL 69

At the time, I don't really remember that getting a lot of press. But then again, you never really hear of there being any issues with the Tundra either. If you go to automd's website, you'll find 11 pages of recalls for the Tundra. Some serious and some not so serious but you would have thought the broken tailgates and snapped in half camshafts would have wrecked their sales.

ent72olds

You would have thought for sure Darrell. But, they weren't blown out of proportion I guess.......social media not paying attention....??

ent72olds

I did hear about the new GM truck issue.....don't know about the Toyota recall you are talking about. I would have to look it up.

coppercutlass

Clearly all those customers had no issues with the Toyota making good and fixing the issue. Also Toyota probably nipped it in the bud asap to resolve the issues. The whole unintended acceleration completely blown out of proportion. What is the purpose of this thread then. When gm had that recall for the fire issue I didn't see a ton of coverage like the Toyota issue with the unintended acceleration. Im not saying they are better but they don't need a bail out and somehow they still sell and it don't look like its gonna stop and that's what probably bugs people even more . Why is there a need to bring it to peoples attention that another idiot driver moment behind the wheel of a Toyota happened but mention it in tounge and cheek that if its a coincidence it was in a Toyota. All I can conclude is Toyota drivers are idiots that's about it.


Edit Toyota just recalled on hybrids about software I belive.

ent72olds

The fact several deaths were involved probably was the reason the Toyota "unintended accelerations" issue was huge news, and the GM fire issue didn't involve any deaths would make it so minor.....to call the people who died idiots.....

coppercutlass

Yep but if the cases have been ruled driver error then in short drivers need to be a little more on top of their driving. When the firestone tire issue happened people died aswell but that was ruled faulty equipment. Lots of people die over questionable decisions or foolish mistakes. Im sure I have made a few myself and I had dodged a few bullets But I will call a spade a spade.

coppercutlass

here is an old article from car and drive they have many good articles on this issue. There is a graph supporting what media hype will do. Now im not mad or trying to be right but this whole thread serves no good purpose it does the same thing the media frenzy does and bash the brand even though it has been cleared that it was driver error., Now im not saying we single handedly make a difference im just tired of hearing about this pointless issue that has been cleared so posing the question if it was coincidence because she was old or because it was a Toyota is completely pointless when good old American testing and investigating layed that to rest. I Just wish the media gave the same amount of time into clearing the name as they did practically bashing it and warning people and essentially scaring the masses. I don't own a Toyota nor do I want one to be honest. Im talented enough to own a cheap domestic. Lexus does pay the bills though .

http://www.caranddriver.com/features...-scare-feature

Koda

Actually, you wouldn't have thought that, seeing as how the camshaft in question was on a very, very few early runs of the 3UR v8, and the tailgate had issues with extremely big 4wheelers.

Neither were big news.

I really think social media has made everyone think they are instant experts on everything and made the country a virtual group. You know what they say about the stupidity of people in large groups.

ent72olds

Don't forget copper and Koda.....obviously, you guys make it clear who you work for! Copper, I need to ask, are you on Facebook, twitter or any other social media interfaces? You are "one of the sheep". I asked a simple question on a social forum. You go into defense mode. That's what we do here, have discussions......I think your point would hold more water had you not have even gotten involved. Not exactly an unbiased contributor. Lastly, the woman who died last week, may have been saved had she been wearing her safety belt. For you to assume the cause of the crash was driver error, is a little reckless. I did not assume either way, just asked a question. That's why we are here.

Lastly, don't forget, the same "social media" that "bashes" Toyota car brand also helps it to be one of the top sellers in the world, just look it up......Lexus is positively rated everywhere you go on the interweb. You live by the sword, you are injured by the sword...you can't just have it your way....

coppercutlass

I am on facebook. But If big brother is already keeping tabs on us and all of the media companies are owned by 6 major companies whether you are on facebook or not you are a sheep if you watch tv. How can my opinion be biased if its been proven all these accidents are purely human error ? I guess the millions spent on testing not to mention hours are just not enough to prove it I guess.

Killian_Mörder

Good idiots, maybe?

Miles71

Honda Brake pedal disables gas pedal.

I have a 2014 Honda Accord V6. The Break peddle sends a single to the computer to “Force Engine to Idle”, when the brake is touched.
This feature may be a great safety feature, but I do find it troublesome.
As long as you all ways 100% of the time just use 1 foot, you are all set.

However, if you use your left foot the hold the car still and try to accelerate, the computer will force engine Idle until you remove your foot from the Brake and then you must wait a Second or two more .
Once the Force-Engine-Idle command is issued, the gas pedal is disabled until you take your foot off the brake and keep it off.
The Gas pedal does not re-engage for a full second or two after you remove your foot from the brake.
The computer completely prevents you from Power-Braking or trying increase RPM over Idle setting while foot is on the Brake/Drive.

joe_padavano

The social media problem disseminating bad information is a big problem that goes far beyond cars. Witness the bad info that went viral right after the Boston marathon bombing, for example. The military has a saying that the first reports from the front are usually wrong. Social media amplifies this because as a rule, the general public are idiots.

Koda

Your post is offensive, sir. I'm surprised you have the gall to criticize someone's professional integrity and suggest that HE shouldn't be the one posting at the same time. The only thing I am biased towards is the accurate truth of the matter, and I resent that you imply that the integrity of my profession is something to be bought and sold.

coppercutlass

I also find it ironic that he mentions we are sheep if we are on social media yet he seems to be saying we have a biased opinion but essentially what he wants is for us to agree and follow the crowd essentially being sheep. We actually are doin the opposite instead of bashing the brand for the incidents we used facts to back our "biased". Opinions which the test weren't even done by the companies that we work for. So we are using actual facts to prove that this incident you posted about is driver error and how questioning the car and the product is slandering the name much like the media has so in turn you are . I'm not saying you should love the brand but the facts are there but the media and purist refuse to belive it. I guess we are brainwashed but that theory can go two ways. I just refuse to belive bs.

66-3X2 442

We drive Toyota and Lexus brand and have since GM shut Olds down. We have driven thousands of miles and never a sudden acceleration problem. If I remember correctly,the first instance of death involving a Toyota happened when it supposedly suddenly accelerated. The driver was a law enforcement officer and when it supposedly did this,they had time to call somebody and tell them what was happening. I'm sorry but if a car,any car suddenly accelerates and you have time to call somebody,well you know where I'm going with this. I'm betting the sudden acceleration problem with the Toyotas are driver error for the most part. If I thought for one second there was a possibility that one of our cars had a problem with sudden acceleration,I'd trade them quickly. The hate for the import cars is unjustified. Our Avalon was built in Kentucky and my Chevy truck in Mexico.

Octania

Turning OFF the ignition switch makes any kind of acceleration stop immediately.
Failing to shut off the key when the car is running away is Driver Error.

joe_padavano

CHP, actually. I was under the impression that the CHP had a very rigorous driver training program. What part of shift into neutral and kill the engine were not clear???