Toyota: The Company Everyone Wants to Sue

lol, im not a buy american, but its times like this I feel good driving a ford

I've bought 2 F150's in the past 5 years and they've been rock solid. My friend bragged about how little he spends on his Prius for gas...at least I know when I press the brake peddle my truck is going to stop. I will always buy American as it pertains to cars. Unless I hit the lottery then I'm getting a car with a little prancing horse on the hood.

Um ya cause ford, gm, chevy.. *damn near every other car manufacter*. Has never had these problems amirite?

Seriously Toyota fucked up, and now their gonna pay for it. But I'd still would go buy a toyota any day of the week just not one of these two models.

Although really only people who shouldn't be on the road anyways would get in a wreck because an accelater got stuck, or a slight delay in breaks *how about not riding peoples ass give yourself some time.. o that's right your one of those dumbass offensive drivers*.

Parents this is why your kids first car should be a pos borderline unsafe. This way they know learn to drive, and learn to deal with problems. Instead of being some idiot that freaks out when something unforeseen happens.

This is really ridiculous, we Americans sue for everything nowadays, and we should be ashamed for it. The chances that the accelerator issue or the brake issue will actually happen to you are really, really, really small. Chances are if you had an accident, it's because either you or the other person was being an idiot, not because of a mechanical problem with the car. The fact that Toyota is giving out this recall is a sign that it is a good company, and that they are trying to fix the problem. I figure if they are willing to admit it, then they should be allowed to go free. Especially since they aren't the ones actually MAKING the pedals. Here's to hoping Toyota will stay around a lot longer...I would hate to loose the Toyota and Lexus name here, especially after being satisfied with their products for so long...

My Toyota radio died so I couldn't hear the news on the Toyota recall. I'm suing Toyota! But yeah, I agree with kingnoobe and sequoiaboya.

v\If anything, Toyota is now a defenseless, wounded animal out in the wild, waiting with watchful eyes as the meat-eating bests circle their prey

If anything, Toyota is now a defenseless, wounded animal out in the wild, waiting with watchful eyes as the meat-eating "bests" circle their spellcheck.

This is a great excuse for when is pulled over by a cops for speeding or running a red light after all those sticky peddles have gotten people killed.

How serious is the breaking/accel issue, really?

I know for sure the american brands would pay to see Toyota downed to the bottom so they can sell more cars with poor manufacturing, that's for sure.

I'm saying "leave Toyota alone", but it's kinda weird that the issues are so spread out with the recalls... I remember the line of Escorts, Ford had to recall because of some engine issue i don't remember that it actually made it burn, lol. Or the electrical problems the cheap FIATs have over the world, lol.

Anyway, let's see how this turns out at the end... USA and the World wouldn't want Toyota to disappear from the car business (maybe competing brands would, lol).

Cheers!

Ford Pinto ring any bells?

Seen an interview today with a lady that had this problem. The car, a prius, must have had the engine pegged. She kept her brakes for a lawsuit because the had them fully pressed and it still didnt stop the car. The brakes finally seized up and caught fire which finally brought her to a stop.

And lets face it here. Toyota currently has no idea what the real problem is here. Floor mats, stick accelerators, bad brakes, or faulty computers? They really don't know but feel its ok to make commercials saying they do!

Who voted Kingnoobe down, he speaketh teh truth. Obviously, the Toyota problems have diminished their brand, but American brands have had just as bad (or worse) problems, with cars so utterly shite that nobody buys them. I have no problem supporting the American worker(like the ones who work for Toyota), it's the retarded American engineer and the even more retarded American executive that I can't support...

Yeah, I was wondering that. They said they fixed the problem, but which one was it? They got four problems and fixed something or other, just trust them and keep on driving, lol.

The media is so dam biased. If toyota had the quality of GM or Ford(Fords Vehicles catching on fire, Police getting burned to Death in the Crown Victorias etc) they would be out of business.

I see the same thing for every recall. You only see differently because you own one or are a fanboy.

The added attention for this one is because the details are so shady. They won't say what is really going on. Some of these cars have already been recalled for the floor mat. Now its something else? Do they really know whats going on here?

I don't buy into the "sue all" approach, but in this case, Toyota deserves to be brought to its knees by all the lawsuits coming its way. Any car manufacturer that puts the seal of approval on their product only to later admit that it has critical design flaws deserves to beg for its survival. Yes, statistically it's almost insignificant, but even one death resulting from a systematic design and production failure is one too many, especially if that one happens to be your mom, dad, sister, brother, son, daughter, etc. Anyone who stays loyal to Toyota is a silly sheep.

no fanboy here its objective i own a chevy. i dont like toyotas.... i like their better quality.

omnimodis78 stop being a troll, this happens every other year regardless of the brand, you are acting like this is the first time in history that a car manufacturer has admited to having a design flaw...

yeah, ok... and I uhm own Toyotas too, lol. But I really like the Ford quality better, sigh...

lol i'd bet ford gets there crappy parts from the same place toyota does. you want a money pit for a car go American

man thats the first time a heard the words chevy and better quality in the same sentence you must really be a US patriot supporting GM like that

its all rather odd. news today says they are recalling Prius in Japan for faulty breaks. They have recalled multiple brands in US and EU for floor mats and stuck accelerators. What the hell is actually going on with these cars????

And you may also put all your trust in a foreign government (my case, at least) when the manufacturer you've chosen is part of owned by it. Also, the fact that that same government, who wants me to strip naked to get a plane, faced a giant money crisis makes everything better.

Get me Ford, GM, and Chrysler's portfolios 'cause I'm buying one!

Next time, try going for German cars. Germany may be a little screwed up, too, but at least they manage to be alive without government help. And they have kick-ass records in Brasil.

American vs Asian auto markets lets get ready to rumble! Whats the new joke?

"I'd rather push a Chevy up a hill than a Toyota's breaks fail going down one"

Lets begin everyone!

Even it they shut Toyota down, they had a good run. All of us Americans who have bought Toyota's over the years can rejoice knowing we have made many, many foreign people filthy rich. Don't worry, there are many other foreign brands left for you to spend your money on.

Just for people who think going American is a good idea. This acceleration problem has a limited amount of cars it affects. It also occurs in nearly all car manufacturers including all the big American ones. Pretty much the only ones unaffected by the problem are small custom manufacturers like Caterham and Ferrari.

This is making news predominantly because Toyota was strong armed into doing it by the US administration. If you don't know the reason why its simple. Its the reason why GM got a bailout. Our politicians are bought by the United Autoworkers Union and Toyota's US plants don't utilize this union. I don't support communist unions who are too lazy to make a good quality car and too greedy to sell the cars they make in the green.

The cause of the issue is faulty software in the accelerator of 2007~2008 cars. Toyota buys the accelerator from another company that many car companies utilize.

Toyota's President gave a heartfelt apology to car owners around the world. Poor guy...
After all the criticism by the media and government, I think its time for all of us to--"Give him a Brake"... ba dum dum

Actually, the situation for Toyota is quite a bit worse than this article would lead you to believe.

I read an article online a couple of days ago that was skeptical of Toyota's accelerator pedal fix. In the article, a group of safety engineers who analyzed the data found that only 5% of the reports of unintended acceleration mentioned sticky gas pedals. That's only one in 20. What caused the acceleration in the other 95%? Furthermore, many of the reports were related to Toyota vehicles that did not use the accelerator pedal type or manufacturer noted in the recall.

This group of engineers was certain that would be an additional recall after this one... a recall that fixed problems with Toyota's drive-by-wire system.

Then, last week Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak reported that his Prius unintentionally accelerated to 97 mph while he was using his cruise control. He publically stated that he believes that Toyota has software problems in their vehicles.

Finally, the local CBS news radio station reported this morning that Toyota vehicles have software that is missing a fundamental safety feature that is present in the vehicles produced by nearly all other manufacturers. According to the news report, vehicles with Toyota's drive-by-wire systems do NOT ignore the accelerator input when the driver is applying the brake. As an engineer, I was personally shocked when I heard this! When someone is literally standing on the brake pedal, there is no reason why the throttle shouldn't be at idle, regardless of the accelerator pedal input. This is a HUGE safety blunder by Toyota. Anyone with any experience in safety or engineering will tell you that this is more than a simple mistake... it is pure negligence. I'm sure that the lawyers will have a field day with this.

And that's not to mention the loss of consumer confidence caused by Toyota's failure to identify the root cause without going through multiple false starts:

1. Blame operator error - even though statistics show that there are FAR more operator errors on Toyota vehicles vs. other manufacturers.

2. Blame the floor mats.

3. Blame the accelerator pedals produced in a non-Japanese factory.

4. Oops! Sorry... It was a Japanese software problem.

Anyone who says that GM and Ford quality is lagging Toyota hasn't driven any of their cars from the last 3 years and hasn't done any serious research. The last 3 to 5 years has been a huge shift in manufacturing quality among the Brands towards GM, Ford, and even former "value" brands like Hyundai. Toyota has been plummeting in quality and longevity for their recent models and is becoming what GM was at the turn of the Millennium.

Also, 2010 Ford Fusion is Motor Trend Car of the Year and GM now has a more fuel efficient fleet than Toyota.

Perception lags reality, and Toyota has been riding the lag for to long now.

this is as bad as "brand loyalty"
buy the product that suits you, that is the best.

there are principles like not buying if its made by slaves, or bad for the planet, but this is just stupid.

I suppose you think toyota is the reason Ford, GM ect were on the brink during the GFC?
maybe it was people that would blindly buy their cars with reasoning like this, despite them not perhaps being the best, causing them to get big headed and not see a reason to compete on the points that mattered?

and do you think that Ford or GM would be as big if there weren't people all around the world buying cars from them "Foreign" brands?