Toyota’s ad campaign following the recall makes sense. They’re admitting fault and letting everyone know that, rather than trying to sweep it under the carpet (not that they really could). It’s interesting, though, as the Toyota name has long been so closely associated with reliability and safety. I would still buy a new Toyota (if I could afford one). I heard on NPR from someone that I can’t remember because I was only half-awake that the chances of falling victim to one of those sticky gas pedals is statistically less likely than being hit by lightning. Or maybe I heard it wrong. Anyway:
Would you still buy a Toyota?
This is like a CNN poll.
According to this NYT article at least, trying to sweep it under the rug is exactly what Toyota had been doing until it finally blew up in their faces.
@1: You are like a CNN poll.
Last night, during the third or fourth run of Toyota’s apology commercial during LOST, I turned to my husband and started whining “I’m sorry! I’m so, so soooooorrrrrrry! Please don’t hate me! I’m a worthless piece of sssssshhhhhiiiitttt!”
That was the moment I decided my life-long INFORMAL boycott of Toyota products (I’ve simply never owned a Toyota) would become a FORMAL boycott of Toyota products for the remainder of my life. I just can’t see myself buying one of their cars after all that embarrassing groveling.
Maybe you can get your new labor beat writer Jake to do a story about Toyota. To me that commercial screams, “We made great cars for decades … until we started building them in the US.” Great job union workers!
Sure, why not?
In fact, I’m about to sell my Ford stock (bought at $1.50 a share, somewhere around $11.25) and buy Toyota stock with it.
Before, Toyota stock was up too high on excessive over-valuation, now it’s below share value.
Never had one; not any more inclined to get one now.
I’ve never bought a Toyota in my life (only Fords, I’m afraid), and am not about to start now.
I’d like to say it’s a “buy American” thing, which I staunchly believe in, but the American cars are just as foreign as the Toyotas at this point. Maybe more so.
Still, I’ve been happy with Ford for a long, long time, so why change now?
As I recall, the problem that led to the Ford Explorer/Firestone tire recall resulted in 200 deaths, and the Toyota one has resulted in 20?
Neither figure is going to factor in to what I’ll buy next time.
I have had the same Toyota for twenty four years. It has never required any repairs. It drives like a dream. Granted, I have always taken very good care of it. I would never buy anything else.
@5, Toyota’s problems are failures of management and design, not assembly workers.
My ’97 Toyota behaves flawlessly aside from a few issues with operator malfunction (amazing how fast a dome light will drain a battery, and how hard those curbs are).
Despite its anti-union activity over the years Toyota has always gotten a free pass from a lot of younger Americans, simply because it made good cars. Even after all this it’s still not getting the criticism it deserves.
Its beyond me how getting your gas pedal stuck down can result in death… put the fucking car in neutral!! but i guess it is natural selection at work
Bought a 2005 Prius on Saturday – love it
Uh, no way. Toyota and other cars are still by far the #1 cause of death for people under 45, and accelerator/brake problems have nothing to do with it.
Cars kill more people under 45 than smoking, drugs, guns, cancer, and heart disease combined.
I’d rather take up smoking, coke, and gun collecting. It’d be cheaper, way more fun, and safer.
Smoking is never safer. It increases your risk of dying in a car crash, getting shot by drunks, and is a known gateway drug to harder drugs.
Honda > Toyota
There was an article in the Weekly probably a year ago highlighting some of these same mysterious problems with the Prius. Malfunctioning throttle, other malfunctioning electronics, and Toyota wouldn’t acknowledge the problem.
You know Honda’s going to have a recall here any day now, don’t you?
hey, why is there an ad for NorthwestMini where my poll should be?
and what are you implying?
Honda had a recall today.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100210/ts_n…
My grandparents always had Toyotas (aside from the Grand Torino they had before the first Toyota) and they always seemed to think they were good and reliable. That seemed to be true, they seemed to last for like, 20 years at least.
That said, they were cars my GRANDPARENTS drove.
I probably could have gotten over the “granny mobile” factor if Toyota had ever put out a vehicle that was exciting enough to buy. I have yet to see one that has anything about it more interesting enough than any other car out there to make me want to buy it.
This whole recall thing is not really hurting Toyota’s “image” for me. Their lack of imagination in car creation is.
the troll has had 5 Toyotas and put 150-200K trouble free miles on each of them and will keep buying them.
If only more aspects of life were as easy and hassle free as owning Toyotas…
bella @21, Christ, you make me feel old. My grandfather drove a Model T (for real). I never even heard of Toyota until sometime in the mid 1970s.
@19 – they already do.
Check out the front page of the Washington Post. … scroll down, follow link for Honda recall (airbags).
If I ever feel like buying a car, it’ll be a Toyota. Of course, my dear old dad has worked for them since the 1970s.
Toyota builds appliances for people who don’t like to drive. Horrid.
No SUV looked cooler than the 1994 4runner. That is a fact. Mine had a giant decal of a sexy lady on the hood. purrr.
The Prius is easily one of the ugliest cars ever. Discuss.
They’re only admitting as much fault as they’ve been caught red handed at and nailed to the wall for. They were dragged kicking and screaming this far, and will not admit any further problems without being confronted by damning proof by the authorities.
If you think they have handled this with any class, it only shows Toyota’s PR flacks have you snowed.
I don’t know all the details, so mebbe I should shut up, but whoever was driving the Toy with the stuck accelerator and crashed, killing 4, but HAD TIME to make a CELL CALL for help, probably had zero clue what to do when your accelerator sticks. Neutral, pull over, press on brakes. Turn off engine. Duh.
“I’m about to sell my Ford stock (bought at $1.50 a share, somewhere around $11.25) and buy Toyota stock with it.”
I guess Will in Seattle likes capitalism when he profits from it.
@5 There is only one Toyota plant that is union and only the Corolla is made there. You are a typical anti-union troll who eschews facts and logic.
Oh, and @5, the Japanese Toyota workers are unionized. Fucknuts.
@ Party Chief/ 30: Can you link to that story? I’ve tried googling with no success. Still, I can understand how panic renders you either genius or retarded. When I was 20 years old I was driving my dad’s newish Chevy pickup down a busy suburban collector road when the accelerator got stuck under the floormat. Instead of putting it in neutral, even as friends in the car screamed “PUT IT IN NEUTRAL!”, I got under the steering wheel and freed the accelerator manually, weaving all around at 65 miles per hour. You’d have to meet me to believe this, but I am not an idiot. It was a sudden, unexpected panic situation and the biggest part of my brain thought “But what if shifting the gears while you’re driving makes the truck explode and I kill myself and all my friends?”. I had rebuilt two volkswagen engines at that point in my life. Still, your crazy situation brain either goes into genius McGuyver problem-solving mode, or into “WHATTHEFUUUUUUUUUCK” mode. I’m not proud, but mine apparently does the latter.
I won’t buy a Toyota, but I will buy a Lexus…’cause that’s how I roll.
Ok, 30/Party Chief: I think I found the story you’re talking about, and it begs more questions than it answers. I can’t link to it since I’m not registered, but google “Mark Saylor” if you’re interested.
1) They were driving a Toyota-manufactured Lexus. The blame was placed on floormats (which, like I said, have been an issue for me in the past).
but 2) It’s interesting that he was a California Highway Patrolman and was extremely calm during his 911 call and didn’t inspect the accelerator. Is the problem more widespread and responsible for more than we know?
Whatever the case, the story you mention now isn’ necessarily being attributed to the current recall, but wonder if it should be?
At the very least, Toyota makes generally good cars and this unfortunate situation has alerted many drivers to the right way to handle this situation. Not even the 911 driver knew to tell him to put it in neutral before it was too late.
911 *OPERATOR*. I suck big dicks, sor.
@23 – That’s funny, usually I am the one who feels old! For the record, my grandparents probably started getting the Toyotas in the mid-seventies.
They had that Gran Torino – it was probably their only car up til then – and added the first Toyota as a second car. I guess I should have made it more of a point that the Toyotas and the Torino were the only cars I have a clear memory of. I’m sure there were other cars before that!
It’s not like they weren’t around for Model Ts! And I’m not THAT young, I’m closing in on 40 fast!
And what happens when you put the car in neutral, brake with both feet (which is the recommendation), and you’re driving 60 MPH on the freeway in the middle lane with everyone else behind you going at least that fast? Yes, that’s what happens; not a pretty sight.
Bella and others who deride “grandparent” cars: do other things for excitement. Cars aren’t meant to be exciting, they’re meant to be reliable and safe. Neither of which Toyotas are lately, but just sayin…
I have a Toyota. I was told when I bought it two years ago, “It was made in the US; that’s what makes it so great.” I’m told now, “Don’t worry, there are no recalls on your model/year.” I’ve also read that Toyota has said, “If your SN starts with a J (built in Japan), you’re fine.” Mine doesn’t. Which means cars built in the US aren’t so great. Which means we can’t believe anything. So I’m staying off the freeway.
I wouldn’t buy a Toyota for several reasons–least of which is safety. Those of us that follow the industry knew Toyota quality has been dropping for years, and that they’ve had tons of secret recalls and ignored issues.
Nope, for me, Toyotas are just simply too boring and their cars are ugly. Honda has this problem too. I’d rather have a Subaru, Mazda or Nissan. At least they make cars with some soul in them.
@39 Saying cars shouldn’t be exciting is like saying food shouldn’t taste good. You go ahead and eat your powdered protein and vitamin tablets. I’ll keep my curries, phad thais and chocolate cakes.
It would depend on a lot of factors. Right now? No, later? Probably. I think they call it statistically less likely than lightning because of all the factors involved. Chances are though, if you fall into the category of people who bought one of these models it’s unlikely, but it’s more likely than not at all. I think back to the fight club scene where he describes his job, statistically calculating if the problem is small enough to sweep under the rug. This has been a “known issue” for a while, and only because more people get killed by it do they say anything. Their response now is good, but I feel like many more lives could have been saved had they admitted their mistake early on. It probably wasn’t “easy” for toyota to do this, but it was necessary, and it scares me that they’re being this open because I feel like it makes the problem that much more serial.
Hey, check out my new Toyota keyboaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Total US population: ~650M (including non-drivers, drivers is probably closer to 400M)
Odds of being struck by lightning: 1/750,000
http://www.weather.gov/om/lightning/medi…
Percentage of cars on the road that are Toyotas (regardless of problems or not): 08.x%: 35M.
Number of Toyota drivers that will be struck by lightning this year: 45.
Chances of running into an asshole on Slog: 100% (sometimes higher).
Math is hard, Barbie.
@44- Your post is fairly incomprehensible considering the fact that there’s math in it, which should render it very easy to parse. But the main problem is: Where the hell did you get the stat of 650 million people in the United States? That’s not even close!
You’d think someone who calls everyone on Slog an asshole would at least make sure he gets the numbers right. Yep, that’s off by a factor of more than two.
@44 is 127% full of shit
More people die from runaway Toyotas than die every year from terrorist attacks worldwide.
Think about that.
Are we going to ride in our Toyotas after they make us strip down to our swimsuits?
@39 By “exciting” I don’t necessarily mean “fast” which is what it sounds like you think I mean. I’ve had plenty of fast cars, but I don’t have one anymore. There are lots of things that could be construed as exciting, including reliable and safe. All I meant by that was that to me, Toyotas have always been pretty bland and generic. In other words, nothing to get excited about.
And I’m sorry, but getting a car SHOULD be exciting. You spend thousands of dollars on it. It’s one of the coolest, most awesome gifts you can give yourself, so I’m not about to bother with one which makes me go “meh”.
Simply put – they kept sweeping it under the rug for the better part of year, before they finally came out and admitted it.
So far, this unintended acceleration fiasco in the span of only a couple years has killed just over 1/2 as many people as the Pinto rear-end firebomb ever did, through the whole lives of the vehicles. 16 to 27.
And in that case, Ford admitted there was a design flaw very early on, just argued that it was statistically inconsequential. Toyota spent a very long time here arguing that absolutely nothing was wrong, fuddling about with floormats and whatnot, when it’s pretty obvious that THEY KNEW.