Toyota in the middle of a massive recall
Mikey 8 comments
How's this for a royal pain in the backside - if you're Toyota anyway. The car manufacturer has voluntarily recalled 2.3 million vehicles out of fear that a sticky accelerator pedal issue might, you know, cause some serious harm.
But that's not all. If this wasn't bad enough, Toyota are currently in the middle of an existing 4.2 million Lexus recall for a similar problem they're calling 'pedal entrapment' which occurs when floor mats don't go where they are supposed to.
"Our investigation indicates that there is a possibility that certain accelerator pedal mechanisms may, in rare instances, mechanically stick in a partially depressed position or return slowly to the idle position. Consistent with our commitment to the safety of our cars and our customers, we have initiated this voluntary recall action."
Kudos for the effort. I guess after repairing the same fault 6.4 million times they will become quite proficient at it, and also learn a harsh lesson in quality assurance.
Oh what a feeling.
aries
Friday 22nd January 2010 | 04:27 PMI'd say the smart thing to do would be to stop putting accelerators in cars altogether. I mean heck they might fail occasionally... Actually funny but true story, my Mum rolled our old Toyota Landy because of that exact same problem back in about '85 I think it was.
Better stick to Subaru I think... :)))
Rodney
Friday 22nd January 2010 | 04:56 PMI had this happen in a 1983 Ford Laser. Nearly blew the engine when I tried to change gears and had no way to bring the revs down (until I pulled the keys...)
...in response to this comment by Rodney. Actually you just reminded me of my mate Luke whose car did the same thing in about 1980. It was a Toyota as well. Accelerator just got stuck while we were at the lights and we panicked. Pulled the keys in the end to stop it.
Papa
Friday 22nd January 2010 | 06:44 PMIf your car is accelerating out of control, slam on the brake and turn the ignition off for god sake. California drivers are a bunch of idiots, but I would hope for more skill amongst the rest of the nation...
...in response to this comment by andrew. I don't the problem isn't that they don't know how to make cars, it's the engineers try to cram more shit into smaller spaces. With more stuff rubbing up together, it's more likely to cause a bind, especially in the case of wires through the firewall.
Ben Thomas
Wednesday 27th January 2010 | 08:18 AMI can't turn off the ignition in my car while in motion. But being manual, I can stick it into neutral and use the handbrake to bring it to a stop.
It's a Renault.
andrew
Friday 29th January 2010 | 01:35 PMand toyota on another recall, at least 8million for a sticky accelerator!!!
andrew
Friday 22nd January 2010 | 03:44 PMhow long have they been building cars for, and they still have problems?