Media hype and runaway Toyotas

[trekgeezer]

You've all probably heard about the runaway Toyota's. I'm here to say that I've never seen such a load of hype and downright lack of common sense.

First off I have to state that I just bought a new Toyota Tacoma pickup last month. I know the conspiracy theorists on both sides are running amuck. On one side it's the big bad evil Japanese corporation that doesn't care about it's customer's lives and on the other side it's a government ploy to boost sales for the baled out and partially government owned US manufacturers by beating down the rep of their number one competitor.

I'm not buying any of it, except the fact that the media and a bunch of camera happy politicians are playing it for all it's worth for ratings and votes.  Oh and let's not forget the trial lawyers.

My 25 year old daughter bought a new Corolla shortly before all this recall business.  Neither of us is afraid of our cars.  She is taking her's in for the gas pedal fix.  My vehicle is on the floor mat recall list and they are supposed to flash to software to give me that brake override feature.

I think Toyota has some problems to fix, but things are getting blown way out of proportion.


It sounds a lot like what happened in the 80's with Audi

[Skull]

Remember the attacking government also owns GM... It like watching a sport and the officals on the field is owner of one if the teams.

As for the Media... I have two words: Fatty Arbuckle

[3mnkids]

IMO they deserve every bit of criticism.. People have died, dozens of them. What is the death toll? almost 40? This is not some conspiracy at all. If any company had this many deaths related to a malfunction it would be the same way. Remember the roll overs at ford? They were crucified in the media.

The problem with Toyota and all car companies is that they know of problems but people need to die or there needs to be so many accidents before they do something. Recalls are expensive so they wait until they no longer have a choice. when the media gets a hold of it, when the government forces a recall..etc.

[Criswell]

[joejoeherron]

the thing about toyota reminds me of the old tv show Hard Copy. The show said (with crash footage) that a chevy truck would explode if hit in the side. The media always blows thing out of proportions.

[Jack]

It wouldn't surprise me if the final verdict is that people are hitting the accelerator pedal instead of the brake pedal.  They had the exact same thing happen with some other brand of car a while back. 

I used to have a Buick where the anti-lock brakes would occasionally decide to turn the brakes off, so you (panic stricken)  had to jam the pedal to the floor.  I was pulling into a parking spot and damned near rammed the car parked in front of me.  Cost my around $500 to get it fixed, and then a year later, it started to do the same damned thing again.  I traded that piece of s*** in.  No recall on that model of car of course.  No media coverage at all.

[trekgeezer]

That would be Audi with the brake too close to the gas pedal.   Read the article link in my post.

[Trevor]

The Tacoma's a nice looking pick-up, Trek: very similar to the Toyota Hilux we have here. 

[Derf]

I drive a Toyota RAV4 that I bought new in 1998. I will continue to drive it until it falls apart, which, if my first 12 years of ownership are any indication, will be sometime after I'm dead. It has about 210,000 miles on it so far and runs pretty much as well as it did when it was new. It has some wonky electronic problems, but nothing I can't live with.

I would agree that much of the problem is media hype, not so much attacking the evil foreign competitors, but attacking the company that has had such a good reliability record up 'til now. Even now, Toyotas have fewer complaints against them than most other car companies and more satisfied owners.