[recshenoy]

All major automakers experience some complaints of unintended acceleration. It is unclear how the rate of complaints and crashes in Toyota vehicle compares to that of other major automakers.

I am interested in this number! any one here has experienced the unintended acceleration in their car?

Originally Posted by svsantosh

Lets Get TECHNICAL


------------------------------------------------------------------------

Any electronic fix can wipe out nearly all of Toyota's cash reserves!! Me thinks!

AFAIK, electronic fix would be to reload the S/W to ECU. This will not cost much!

[teamveevee]

News paper reports say "Parts to repair cars in Dealership lots are on its way"...Any body willing to buy a brand new "repaired" car. I won't...Many wont. Most likely this will end up in some rental car fleet, further reducing the resale value of Toyota cars. Sorry Toyota owners...

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by teamveevee

News paper reports say "Parts to repair cars in Dealership lots are on its way"...Any body willing to buy a brand new "repaired" car. I won't...Many wont. Most likely this will end up in some rental car fleet, further reducing the resale value of Toyota cars. Sorry Toyota owners...

Rental car fleets owners arent concerned about safety of their drivers/passengers? Even Mercs and BMWs form a part of rental car fleets and that has done nothing to dent their image in any manner. You ought to feel sorry for Honda owners too what with the recall of 650K cars worldwide. How about Peugeot owners? These car giants arent stupid. They'll recover but it will take time.

I've been unpleasantly shocked too by this recall story and Toyota's efforts to ignore it in the beginning and winding up, as some say, with an ostrich egg on their till now spotless corporate image. Fortunately India and Asia except China have not been affected because they use Denso parts in this region. And that came as a big relief. This has been physically verified by me of course only in my car.

But will my next car be a Honda or possibly one of the German engineered white elephants like a VW or, heavens forbid, a Skoda. Time will tell.

Cheers!

[JVH]

Could this be the root cause for the accelerator pedal problem?

Toyota: Computer-Addled Design? - Forbes.com

[arin_12]

Another hit in toyota.
Toyota reports dozens of complaints about Prius brakes- International Business-News-The Economic Times

[sanjayc]

Ford January 2010 Sales Climb 25 Percent, Buoyed By Toyota Recall
Ford January 2010 Sales Climb 25 Percent, Buoyed By Toyota Recall

Man, others are making hay on Toyota's misfortune!

This reinforces my belief that too much of automatic controls in a vehicle are never a good thing. There is this famous debate over ABS-vs-nonABS wherein in certain situations, if ABS takes over control, it is more dangerous than a nonABS equipped vehicle. Not related to this particular issue, but is it fair to say all these electronic controls dependence makes the driver somewhat vulnerable in specific crunch situations, when he/she cannot be in full control of the car?

Thoroughly knowing the limits of one's vehicle should be a priority, I guess.

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by sanjayc

Man, others are making hay on Toyota's misfortune!

This reinforces my belief that too much of automatic controls in a vehicle are never a good thing.

Thoroughly knowing the limits of one's vehicle should be a priority, I guess.

There is a bunch of people who believe the entire recall business in the US is politically motivated to drive people to buy American cars primarily GM (now US govt controlled) or Ford. Maybe or may not be. As a Toyota car owner I am pissed off at Toyota's inertia and ostrich like behavior in tackling this issue. It tells me that the company has been resting on its laurels, becoming complacent and cutting costs whilst compromising (unwittingly) on safety.

For me, the best computer is the human brain. Electronics should take over only if the human is exhibiting symptoms of lapses in driving or certain other abnormal behaviours. There is a distinct corelation between electronic failures and plane crashes specially Airbuses. Nowadays it is not the mechanical parts that let you down but the electronic ones.

Classic German cars like the Mercedes Benzes, Audis and BMWs have lost their reliability ratings mainly due to the preponderance of electrical and electronic controls/gadgetry present in current generation of cars.

Rgds,

[iTNerd]

more troubles seem to be ahead for Toyota..

* 6% fall in shares
* US government looking at the possibility of fining Toyota

To further tarnish the image and create panick, the US transport secretary has appealed to Toyota owners not to drive the car as to avoid risk of accident, and take it to the nearest toyota dealer for fix.. seems, a perfect recipe for getting back lost ground for US motors companies...

[R2D2]

Hi,

I had emailed TKM last week with a not so polite message regarding my concerns about the accelerator pedal issue.

After some phone calls from Bangalore to allay my concerns, they responded by email today (4th Feb). I'm sure this response was sent after a raft of internal discussions.

Thought I'd share it with you guys.

Cheers!

=====================Begin Message=====================

Dear ____________,

We acknowledge with thanks for the receipt of your mail and we have noted the content carefully

With regard to your query, we would like to inform you that the recall of Toyota vehicle is only applicable to North America and Europe market, none of the Toyota cars in India are affected by accelerator pedal concern. The cars we sell in India are safe.

We reiterate that the Toyota Corolla & Camry is an excellent product designed to provide you with superior motoring experience. We request you not to have any further apprehensions about the product. We wish to re-emphasis that we are committed to your complete satisfaction and are always readily available to address any other concerns that you may have.

With Regards,
Babitha R
************************************************** *******
Customer Relations Division
TOYOTA KIRLOSKAR MOTOR PVT. LTD
Tel.No.: - +91 80 - 6629 3001
Toll Free No.: 1800 425 0001
Fax No.: - +91 80 - 6637 1401
email:- voc@tkm.co.in
website:- Toyota - Welcome to the world of Toyota in India
************************************************** ********

[amit]

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak talks about the problems in his Prius. Apparently, he has 4 Prius's.

Another Steve Wozniak article.

Faulty brakes in the Prius.

Uptil now the Prius was unaffected by the recall but from these news it seems like Prius has two problems - the sticky gas pedal and faulty brakes. Seems like US has recieved 'dozen's' of complaints on the brakes issue while Japan reports 14 complaints so far.

[Amartya]

Originally Posted by R2D2

As a Toyota car owner I am pissed off at Toyota's inertia and ostrich like behavior in tackling this issue. It tells me that the company has been resting on its laurels, becoming complacent and cutting costs whilst compromising (unwittingly) on safety.

For me, the best computer is the human brain. Electronics should take over only if the human is exhibiting symptoms of lapses in driving or certain other abnormal behaviours. There is a distinct corelation between electronic failures and plane crashes specially Airbuses. Nowadays it is not the mechanical parts that let you down but the electronic ones.

Classic German cars like the Mercedes Benzes, Audis and BMWs have lost their reliability ratings mainly due to the preponderance of electrical and electronic controls/gadgetry present in current generation of cars.

Rgds,

Absolutely right and logical observation, another thing that I was thinking about is the majority of auto-transmission equipped cars. Now, the thing that everybody is recommending is to put the car in Neutral, and that's absolutely right, however in a panic situation this might to occur to a person simply because he/she might be gripping the steering wheel with both hands.

Had these been manual tranny cars, simply depressing the clutch would have cut off power.

[RX135]

Originally Posted by R2D2

For me, the best computer is the human brain. Electronics should take over only if the human is exhibiting symptoms of lapses in driving or certain other abnormal behaviours. There is a distinct corelation between electronic failures and plane crashes specially Airbuses. Nowadays it is not the mechanical parts that let you down but the electronic ones.

Classic German cars like the Mercedes Benzes, Audis and BMWs have lost their reliability ratings mainly due to the preponderance of electrical and electronic controls/gadgetry present in current generation of cars.

Originally Posted by sanjayc

This reinforces my belief that too much of automatic controls in a vehicle are never a good thing. There is this famous debate over ABS-vs-nonABS wherein in certain situations, if ABS takes over control, it is more dangerous than a nonABS equipped vehicle. Not related to this particular issue, but is it fair to say all these electronic controls dependence makes the driver somewhat vulnerable in specific crunch situations, when he/she cannot be in full control of the car?

Well yes, electronics will fail in some situations, but it will save in several other situations. Any technology in its early stage will be unreliable. However, if you dump the technology, there will be no progress. Imagine if there is no ABS /ESP /TCS. In all probability, you are more vulnerable without them than with them.

A human brain is certainly better, but it can't do everything as fast as a computer and certainly not in pressure situation (that's why you end up standing on brakes even though knowing well that they would lock up).

German cars faced electronic gremlins a decade back since they were first ones to incorporate all these gizmos in their luxury cars. Now Japanese cars seem to follow the suit.

But, I am sure that Toyota would bounce back soon enough.

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by RX135

A human brain is certainly better, but it can't do everything as fast as a computer and certainly not in pressure situation (that's why you end up standing on brakes even though knowing well that they would lock up).

German cars faced electronic gremlins a decade back since they were first ones to incorporate all these gizmos in their luxury cars. Now Japanese cars seem to follow the suit.

But, I am sure that Toyota would bounce back soon enough.

I have experienced 2 worlds; as a part of my hobby and as a part of my profession; the mechanical (cars and bikes i.e. hobby and DIY repairs) and electronics (computer software and hardware plus networking equipment, professional). Straddling both gives me a perspective that tells me a couple of things:

a) Electronics, specially computers, operate on the boolean principle. When they operate well, they work well but they can FAIL and that too completely. The danger comes in trusting high tech electronics with your life and to perform critical operations based on algorithms programmed into the chip. Remember, a computer programme burned into your car's EPROM ECU is only as good as the programmer(s) that wrote it.

b) Machines have reached a level of maturity and quality which exceeds that found in programming and electronics. You will rarely find serious mechanical failures. Most mechanical failures nowadays are due to the gremlins or failures in the electronic systems that control and operate them.

Originally Posted by Amartya

Had these been manual tranny cars, simply depressing the clutch would have cut off power.

Absolutely. The problem is exacerbated in the US as due to the choice being automatic transmissions by far. Most Americans cant drive a stick shift.

Cheers!

[sanjayc]

Toyota Prius Software Problem - ABC News

Disclaimer: I am software guy - software development has been bread & butter for laat 18 yrs.

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by sanjayc

Toyota Prius Software Problem - ABC News

Disclaimer: I am software guy - software development has been bread & butter for laat 18 yrs.

After reading that link, I say QED.

Cheers!