Toyota has suspended all sales on......

[MusicalGenius]

Re: Toyota has suspended all sales on......

Buy a VW?

[Canadian Turbo]

Re: Toyota has suspended all sales on......

Well there are lots of issues to this story, with the details probably not fully known by everyone. However the biggest item will be how Toyota handles it, so far I am not sure if it is going so well and if it appears that the floor mat thing was used to cover up the real issue that might look very very bad.

In most cases Toyota's reliability has been its strongest point and that may now be gone so they could have their work cut out for them going forward.

[Mister T]

Re: Toyota has suspended all sales on......

In most cases Toyota's reliability has been its strongest point and that may now be gone so they could have their work cut out for them going forward.

I agree 100%, recalls are PR nightmares especially if injuries are involved. This is compounded in Toyota's case as there is a perception (note I say perception) that their cars are infallible. Fact is, build quality gap between Toytas and other manufacturers has decreased substantially since Toyota's QA heyday in the 80's. However Toyota is still able to charge a premium on their vehicles based on the reputation that they built during the 80's and 90's.

I've found that Toyota owners are a lot more willing to overlook flaws in their Toyotas in order to validate their perception that the car is well built and worth the premium they paid for it. This, phenomenon by the way is known as cognitive dissonance. Here's a definition that I pulled off Wikipedia (I was too lazy to write up my own)

"Cognitive dissonance is an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding two contradictory ideas simultaneously. The "ideas" or "cognitions" in question may include attitudes and beliefs, the awareness of one's behavior, and facts. The theory of cognitive dissonance proposes that people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance by changing their attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors, or by justifying or rationalizing their attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors."

In other words, whenever Toyota does a large scale recall, that means that they loose face, which erodes the perception of infallibility that many of their consumers base their purchasing decisions on. Also, it makes it harder for Toyota to charge a premium based on the same perceptions of superior quality control.

Long story short, as long as Toyota clings to the image of superior quality control, it will be difficult to coax admissions of guilt from them. Shame it had to come to fatalities to get it.

[turbomeyers]

Re: Toyota has suspended all sales on......

I smell pinto .

[vee_dubbin]

Re: Toyota has suspended all sales on......

So "slam on brakes then turn car off" instructions are to hard for people to follow? That would be my first instinct if my car took off on me, that or "It's rally time!"

The real problem with this is that most people are not to savy when it comes to emergency procedures of the unexpected, and they panic and literally freeze up. Most people will instinctively depress the brake pedal in an attempt to stop the vehicle. The only problem is, is that the vehicles engine will always out power the brakes, rendering them almost useless. The brakes will slow it down a little, but once they become overheated, they lose all affectiveness. Most people (safe to say more women then men hopefully), don't even think of shutting the car off, or more obviously putting the gear selector into neutral.
And thats not too hard to believe. I went to Young Drivers of Canada driving school when I was 16 and they never covered topics such as this. I'm a certified car guy/nut and would know what to do in this case and react quickly, but I doubt my fiance would, who is quite the opposite of a car guru. I could see her 2 footing the brake pedal attempting to over power the engine, and only being able to stop after either; a) having enough time to process whats happenning and figure out to put the car in neutral, or b) unfortunetly hit something or somebody. By the time some people even realize whats happenning and what to do, its too late.

[vee_dubbin]

Re: Toyota has suspended all sales on......

Toyota officially released the recall in december, the govt shut down the plants today, because gm lobbyists got on the govt's case and pressured them too. Toyota was already fixing the problem a few months back.

A few months back? You mean to tell me that they knew that some of their cars had uncontrolable acceleration and were the cause of 5 or more fatalities and they didn't notify the public sooner then they did? Thats ridiculous. How can you even attempt on defending Toyota for their actions? I'm not trying to belittle you or anything, you must work for Toyota I take it, but come on! That whole drivers floor mat thing was a "scape goat" fix in an attempt to keep the value of there shares up for the last quarter of the year. Either that or they had no idea what they were doing and thought it must be the floor mats causing the problem. I'm not certain on that so I can't intelligently debate that issue. But in the publics eye, they now appear incompetent.

As for the government shutting down plants and suspending the sales of the affected models, they are doing what they are suppossed to do. It is their job to keep us safe and thats what they did. Why keep making unsafe vehicles, when you haven't sourced the solution yet. Sure you say that some gas pedals need replacing, but are they made by the same vendor? or have they had another manufacturer produce better and updated versions? Is it a manufacturing flaw or is it a design flaw? What do you inspect when these affected models come in to let you know if its good or not? Until Toyota figures out a solution and satisfys the government that they have fixed the problem, they'll open the plants again with the publics safety a number 1 priority. Whether it was GM lobbyists forcing the govt or not, it was the right thing to do. Toyota should have had the peoples safety in mind and did this on their own without having to have the government make them.

[Triple G]

Re: Toyota has suspended all sales on......

[vee_dubbin]

Re: Toyota has suspended all sales on......

"I just love the left lane".....bwhahahahaha! Thats funny 5hit.
Hey Graham....do you live in MacEwan or where you just visiting Dom the other day?

[EXP]

Re: Toyota has suspended all sales on......

Remember Audi, In the mid 1980 had a very similar problem.

[Triple G]

Re: Toyota has suspended all sales on......

"I just love the left lane".....bwhahahahaha! Thats funny 5hit.
Hey Graham....do you live in MacEwan or where you just visiting Dom the other day?

Seeing what Dom was up to with the GTI.

[popp]

Re: Toyota has suspended all sales on......

A few months back? You mean to tell me that they knew that some of their cars had uncontrolable acceleration and were the cause of 5 or more fatalities and they didn't notify the public sooner then they did? Thats ridiculous.

Again, Media ignorance..........

Do you own a Toyota?

TOYOTA OWNERS were notified of the recall in Oct........

THE MEDIA told all you non-Toyota owners Yesterday.

That whole drivers floor mat thing was a "scape goat" fix

Two totally separate issues, someone in the states put his rubber mats on top of his factory carpet mats and the rubber mat slid forward and jammed the gas peddle down. Everyone knows you take the carpet mats out when putting the rubber mats in as they use the same anchors to hold them down and cannot be anchored by the same clip at the same time..... you should read more factual info before spouting off what you read in the news, cause If we all believe 100% what we read in the news, we would all believe that 911 was 10 fold a more devastating event then that of the Haiti earthquake and 100 fold that of the Tsunami a few years back.

[vee_dubbin]

Re: Toyota has suspended all sales on......

Ford is now having the same issues but on a smaller scale. Apparently a company out of Missisauga called CTS was responsible for making all of these defective pedals for Toyota and also made 1600 or so for some Ford vehicles. This is according to what was stated on 660 news this morning.

[Stonewall]

Re: Toyota has suspended all sales on......

Most people (safe to say more women then men hopefully), don't even think of shutting the car off, or more obviously putting the gear selector into neutral.

I honestly don't expect everyone to react in the same way as most of us would but I do think maybe it is something the media should be pushing as car mats etc can stick the gas pedal in any vehicle. I do think toyota needed to be brought down a peg since they quality is no where near what is was 10-15 years ago but all I can picture in my head now is tumbleweeds blowing through all toyota car lots which is likely hitting the dealership and the people who work on commission the hardest by no fault of their own.

[R-Audi]

Re: Toyota has suspended all sales on......

Hey Alex,
havent been paying attention, but are Yaris' included on the recall?

[vee_dubbin]

Re: Toyota has suspended all sales on......

hitting the dealership and the people who work on commission the hardest by no fault of their own.

I feel sorry for those individuals. I know a couple of sales people that went to Toyota not to long ago. I can just imagine what they are going through not being able to sell certain good selling models and now the brand name is getting dragged through the mud too. I wonder once Toyota gets this resolved, if prices and quality become a more even ratio.