The U.S. government just bought a major stake in General Motors, the world's former #1 auto manufacturer.
The U.S. government is going after Toyota, the world's current #1 auto manufacturer.
Coincidence? Or protecting their investment?
That's not to say there hasn't been wrongdoing on Toyota's part, but it makes me wonder...
White_and_Nerdy wrote: The U.S. government just bought a major stake in General Motors, the world's former #1 auto manufacturer. The U.S. government is going after Toyota, the world's current #1 auto manufacturer. Coincidence? Or protecting their investment? That's not to say there hasn't been wrongdoing on Toyota's part, but it makes me wonder...
Toyota has issued recalls in other countries..........
Knowing how people work, fabrications don't often surprise me. I'm sure Toyota's current woes are creating even more.
However, there is the issue that a cop had to intervene in order for the car to stop. The driver must have been pretty ballsy to keep the throttle open while the cop car slowed him down, even if the cop was in on it.
I'm sure I don't know enough about it to draw any conclusions. I'll be watching this story with interest.
The latest from AP:
...A self-diagnostic system did show evidence of repeated applications of the accelerator and brake pedals, Toyota said. "The data from the diagnostics test indicated that the accelerator and the brake had been rapidly pressed, alternately back and forth, 250 times," Mike Michels, vice president of corporate communications for Toyota Motor Sales USA, told a press conference. In a test, the front brakes were replaced and then purposely overheated by continuous light application and still stopped the car, the company said...
Hmmm, 250 times...
Speaking of Audis and UI, this article from 1989 has a good overview of what happened to Audi back then. Definite similarities to Toyota's current problem. So far, though, 60 Minutes hasn't rigged up a Prius to "unintentionally" accelerate and crash on national TV...
http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/cjm_18.htm
Cotton wrote:White_and_Nerdy wrote: The U.S. government just bought a major stake in General Motors, the world's former #1 auto manufacturer. The U.S. government is going after Toyota, the world's current #1 auto manufacturer. Coincidence? Or protecting their investment? That's not to say there hasn't been wrongdoing on Toyota's part, but it makes me wonder...Toyota has issued recalls in other countries..........
as opposed to Ford, GM, Honda, Mazda, Chrysler, and BMW...who have never issued any recalls, right?
3Door4G wrote: However, there is the issue that a cop had to intervene in order for the car to stop. The driver must have been pretty ballsy to keep the throttle open while the cop car slowed him down, even if the cop was in on it.
The cop car didn't physically touch the Prius until it came to a stop, from what I could tell. The cop was just there telling him what to do over the speaker, he wasn't braking in front of the Prius to stop it. He pulled in font of the Prius after it came to a stop, presumably to keep it from taking off again....
ignorant wrote:irish44j wrote: Same morons that have to call AAA to change their tires because they don't know how to work the lug nuts....Hey, I have AAA and I have them change tires. In the winter and snow. I've used it once, and It was nice to not have to lie down in the snow.
teh difference there being that you know how to change your tires and could do so if you needed to. Your use of AAA was by choice, not by necessity. I have friends with $40k cars who can't change a tire, can't change oil, and one once asked me where the distributor was on his Acura TL, because a mechanic told him he needed to have it replaced.
irish44j wrote: The cop car didn't physically touch the Prius until it came to a stop, from what I could tell. The cop was just there telling him what to do over the speaker, he wasn't braking in front of the Prius to stop it. He pulled in font of the Prius after it came to a stop, presumably to keep it from taking off again....
That shifts my perception a bit. I'm still reserving judgement until further details emerge.
In reply to 3Door4G:
what i've read says the guy was going 90, and then when he got to a hill it slowed down to 50 and he was able to turn off the car or bring it to a stop or whatever.....
more likely: He blew through a radar trap doing 80, saw the cop there, and quickly got on his phone with this story of unexpected acceleration so he wouldn't get a reckless driving ticket.
That would explain how a police car was able to get to him so quickly. Because it was already there.... 
That guy purposely over worked his brakes.
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/03/toyota_casts_doubt_on_calforni.html
“The data from the diagnostics test indicated that the accelerator and the brake had been rapidly pressed, alternately back and forth, 250 times,” Mike Michels, vice president of corporate communications for Toyota Motor Sales USA, told a press conference.
Thats all during the 24 minutes of this debacle.. He purposely overheated his brakes.
irish44j wrote: In reply to 3Door4G: what i've read says the guy was going 90, and then when he got to a hill it slowed down to 50 and he was able to turn off the car or bring it to a stop or whatever..... more likely: He blew through a radar trap doing 80, saw the cop there, and quickly got on his phone with this story of unexpected acceleration so he wouldn't get a reckless driving ticket. That *would* explain how a police car was able to get to him so quickly. Because it was already there....
This situation has crossed my mind...
John Brown wrote: We had a little old lady buy a GTI DSG 2 weeks ago and want to return it because of "unintended acceleration". Apparently if she stepped on the gas all the way down "the tires would squeal and the car would go to 100 really fast"... We asked if the she would lift her foot off the pedal and she said "what's the fun in that?" Awesome.
And with that, it's time to stick another quarter in the GRM jukebox.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ihb_s6tqfqw
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/york-runaway-prius-case-driver-error/story?id=10138656
Take foot off gas...
Thanks
bye.
I notice how the media's become very very quiet about all this over the last few days. What happened to all the defective product?
irish44j wrote:Cotton wrote:as opposed to Ford, GM, Honda, Mazda, Chrysler, and BMW...who have never issued any recalls, right?White_and_Nerdy wrote: The U.S. government just bought a major stake in General Motors, the world's former #1 auto manufacturer. The U.S. government is going after Toyota, the world's current #1 auto manufacturer. Coincidence? Or protecting their investment? That's not to say there hasn't been wrongdoing on Toyota's part, but it makes me wonder...Toyota has issued recalls in other countries..........
What are you talking about? I never said the other companies didn't! I quoted a post that basically implied the whole thing is a US conspiracy theory.
kb58 wrote: I notice how the media's become very very quiet about all this over the last few days. What happened to all the defective product?
Autoblog had a blurb about Corolla issues today. Possible recall looming. http://www.autoblog.com/2010/03/18/followup-toyota-considering-stall-fix-for-1-2m-corolla-and-matr/
also seems like some of the "fixes" didn't work on other recalled Toyotas. Some of the issues were looked into and the dealer was to blame.
http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2010/03/18/toyota-drivers-say-fix-bust/
get rid of all of the drive by wire and throttle/brake by wire crap.
Give me good-ole hydraulic mechanical braking and a real live throttle cable.
/story. Problem solved.
atlantamx3 wrote: get rid of all of the drive by wire and throttle/brake by wire crap. Give me good-ole hydraulic mechanical braking and a real live throttle cable. /story. Problem solved.
Ok... So lets also go back a few generations in electrionics as well, cause they're all intergrated now.
No more 412 hp v8 ford with 26 mpg.
canoe
Sigh
The more I read about this stuff the more depressed I get. Especially after reading that story about Audi! Despite being proven to not be at fault they still had to defend themselves in court. There's a lot of unanswered questions in this story.
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