Toyota - are the US press trying to damage them?

[Blue Meanie]

Jimbeaux said:

alfabadass said:

I heard stories of American cars doing this all the time over the years. Always denied by the companies that there was any issue.

Toyota came clean and tried to do something about it, with the CEO apologising and crying on TV. Press smell blood and are going for the jugular.

They came clean after being caught out. The memo just showed it was brought to management's attention in 2006.

There have been investigations from as far back as 2001 with the NHRSTA or whatever they are called.

[andy_s]

One of the American guys at work said that Ford have now become the top car seller this last quarter, regaining top position after Toyota sales slump.

I was going to say that Toyota manufactures in the US, but after seeing his red neck and John Deer tractor cap I thought better of it.

[Jimbeaux]

andy_s said:

One of the American guys at work said that Ford have now become the top car seller this last quarter, regaining top position after Toyota sales slump.

I was going to say that Toyota manufactures in the US, but after seeing his red neck and John Deer tractor cap I thought better of it.

I like doing that sort of thing. I get a kick out of Merc owners when I tell them that their radio was built in Mexico, etc. (it was at one time. I honestly have no idea where it is put together these days).

[rypt]

Jimbeaux said:

andy_s said:

One of the American guys at work said that Ford have now become the top car seller this last quarter, regaining top position after Toyota sales slump.

I was going to say that Toyota manufactures in the US, but after seeing his red neck and John Deer tractor cap I thought better of it.

I like doing that sort of thing. I get a kick out of Merc owners when I tell them that their radio was built in Mexico, etc. (it was at one time. I honestly have no idea where it is put together these days).

AFAIK Toyota makes more cars in USA than Ford, who now use Mexico for a lot of production (note I said cars, pickups are NOT cars)

[Jimbeaux]

rypt said:

Jimbeaux said:

andy_s said:

One of the American guys at work said that Ford have now become the top car seller this last quarter, regaining top position after Toyota sales slump.

I was going to say that Toyota manufactures in the US, but after seeing his red neck and John Deer tractor cap I thought better of it.

I like doing that sort of thing. I get a kick out of Merc owners when I tell them that their radio was built in Mexico, etc. (it was at one time. I honestly have no idea where it is put together these days).

AFAIK Toyota makes more cars in USA than Ford, who now use Mexico for a lot of production (note I said cars, pickups are NOT cars)

My Ford V8 was made in Canada.

[briSk]

so it's bad to have something made by a nation known for manfcturing but good to have it made by a nation known for chopping down trees?

[Jimbeaux]

briSk said:

so it's bad to have something made by a nation known for manfcturing but good to have it made by a nation known for chopping down trees?

I didn't say it was good or bad, I just wanted to throw yet another country into the mix.

[rypt]

Jimbeaux said:

briSk said:

so it's bad to have something made by a nation known for manfcturing but good to have it made by a nation known for chopping down trees?

I didn't say it was good or bad, I just wanted to throw yet another country into the mix.

Yer but Canadians are cool

[Jimbeaux]

rypt said:

Jimbeaux said:

briSk said:

so it's bad to have something made by a nation known for manfcturing but good to have it made by a nation known for chopping down trees?

I didn't say it was good or bad, I just wanted to throw yet another country into the mix.

Yer but Canadians are cool

Yea, but which ones?

[rypt]

Jimbeaux said:

rypt said:

Jimbeaux said:

briSk said:

so it's bad to have something made by a nation known for manfcturing but good to have it made by a nation known for chopping down trees?

I didn't say it was good or bad, I just wanted to throw yet another country into the mix.

Yer but Canadians are cool

Yea, but which ones?

The non-French ones

[Jimbeaux]

rypt said:

Jimbeaux said:

rypt said:

Jimbeaux said:

briSk said:

so it's bad to have something made by a nation known for manfcturing but good to have it made by a nation known for chopping down trees?

I didn't say it was good or bad, I just wanted to throw yet another country into the mix.

Yer but Canadians are cool

Yea, but which ones?

The non-French ones

Precisely what I was waiting for you to say. BTW, I fully agree....despite parts of my state's cultural background.

[ErnestM]

Jimbeaux said:

rypt said:

Jimbeaux said:

rypt said:

Jimbeaux said:

briSk said:

so it's bad to have something made by a nation known for manfcturing but good to have it made by a nation known for chopping down trees?

I didn't say it was good or bad, I just wanted to throw yet another country into the mix.

Yer but Canadians are cool

Yea, but which ones?

The non-French ones

Precisely what I was waiting for you to say. BTW, I fully agree....despite parts of my state's cultural background.

So Canadians as opposed to Canadiens.

[rypt]

ErnestM said:

Jimbeaux said:

rypt said:

Jimbeaux said:

rypt said:

Jimbeaux said:

briSk said:

so it's bad to have something made by a nation known for manfcturing but good to have it made by a nation known for chopping down trees?

I didn't say it was good or bad, I just wanted to throw yet another country into the mix.

Yer but Canadians are cool

Yea, but which ones?

The non-French ones

Precisely what I was waiting for you to say. BTW, I fully agree....despite parts of my state's cultural background.

So Canadians as opposed to Canadiens.

I prefer the Canucks and the Maple Leafs personally

[Talksteer]

JMGS4 said:

They're probably getting all the flak because of their "greener than thou" attitude with their polluting Prius/Priii(?) (doesn't do the claimed mileage, isn't as clean as any EU small car, Lithium batteries causes the pollution of hundreds of square miles of dead nature at the mines etc etc etc) and apart from which it drives like an invalid carriage!!
Boring cars for boring people i.e daft Californians, gullible filmstars, greenslime and thick austro/californian Governors!

Pirus doesn't used lithium batteries, lithium ion batteries are pretty none toxic. Mining the nickel for the nickel metal hydride batteries does have some environmental consequences but to be honest on a fairly small proportion of the nickel mined is actually used in batteries.

[sebhaque]

Sorry if it's been said before, but weren't the assemblies for the throttles on Toyotas made by an American subcontractor? Meaning they're not really to blame. Either way, I'm not fussed, a stuck accelerator is hardly the be all and end all of everything motoring. I'm sure some of us on here have much more irksome breakdowns (not mentioning any names... did I mention I have a nice red rose from Valentine's still on my desk?)

Edited by sebhaque on Saturday 13th March 21:24

[GavinPearson]

sebhaque said:

Sorry if it's been said before, but weren't the assemblies for the throttles on Toyotas made by an American subcontractor? Meaning they're not really to blame. Either way, I'm not fussed, a stuck accelerator is hardly the be all and end all of everything motoring. I'm sure some of us on here have much more irksome breakdowns (not mentioning any names... did I mention I have a nice red rose from Valentine's still on my desk?)

Edited by sebhaque on Saturday 13th March 21:24

What you are saying has been said many times before. However:
1) The throttle pedals are made to Toyota's design. Toyota has responsibility for the design to be reliable.
2) Standard Engineering practice is to conduct a "Failure Mode Effects Analysis". For the layman, it means "what are the consequences if something breaks, and if they are bad, what do we do about it?". There is even a Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard, FMVSS 124 to deal with this. But Toyota's design does not address the issue.
3) You may not think that a stuck throttle isn't that big a deal, until you realise that when people panic that they don't necessarily have the presence of mind to deal with the problem as well as you might hope. A stuck open accelerator eliminates the ability to generate vacuum for the brakes on the majority of vehicles, leaving the vehicle with unassisted brakes working against an engine delivering full output. And in many cases, where the drivers tried to stop the engine, they couldn't because the push button start-stop didn't allow them to stop the engine.

[Jimbeaux]

ErnestM said:

Jimbeaux said:

rypt said:

Jimbeaux said:

rypt said:

Jimbeaux said:

briSk said:

so it's bad to have something made by a nation known for manfcturing but good to have it made by a nation known for chopping down trees?

I didn't say it was good or bad, I just wanted to throw yet another country into the mix.

Yer but Canadians are cool

Yea, but which ones?

The non-French ones

Precisely what I was waiting for you to say. BTW, I fully agree....despite parts of my state's cultural background.

So Canadians as opposed to Canadiens.

Edited by Jimbeaux on Saturday 13th March 22:19

[Jimbeaux]

GavinPearson said:

sebhaque said:

Sorry if it's been said before, but weren't the assemblies for the throttles on Toyotas made by an American subcontractor? Meaning they're not really to blame. Either way, I'm not fussed, a stuck accelerator is hardly the be all and end all of everything motoring. I'm sure some of us on here have much more irksome breakdowns (not mentioning any names... did I mention I have a nice red rose from Valentine's still on my desk?)

Edited by sebhaque on Saturday 13th March 21:24

What you are saying has been said many times before. However:
1) The throttle pedals are made to Toyota's design. Toyota has responsibility for the design to be reliable.
2) Standard Engineering practice is to conduct a "Failure Mode Effects Analysis". For the layman, it means "what are the consequences if something breaks, and if they are bad, what do we do about it?". There is even a Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard, FMVSS 124 to deal with this. But Toyota's design does not address the issue.
3) You may not think that a stuck throttle isn't that big a deal, until you realise that when people panic that they don't necessarily have the presence of mind to deal with the problem as well as you might hope. A stuck open accelerator eliminates the ability to generate vacuum for the brakes on the majority of vehicles, leaving the vehicle with unassisted brakes working against an engine delivering full output. And in many cases, where the drivers tried to stop the engine, they couldn't because the push button start-stop didn't allow them to stop the engine.

You are throwing a wrench into the not-so-subtle attempts, by the usual suspects, to make this the fault of American parts manufacturers as oppossed to bad design. Good for you.

[Blue Meanie]

Jimbeaux said:

You are throwing a wrench into the not-so-subtle attempts, by the usual suspects, to make this the fault of American parts manufacturers as oppossed to bad design. Good for you.

Still got your paranoid hat on? YOU said it was a part made in Japan. It wasn't. How the hell is that the 'usual suspects' trying to blame Americans?

[Jimbeaux]

Blue Meanie said:

Jimbeaux said:

You are throwing a wrench into the not-so-subtle attempts, by the usual suspects, to make this the fault of American parts manufacturers as oppossed to bad design. Good for you.

Still got your paranoid hat on? YOU said it was a part made in Japan. It wasn't. How the hell is that the 'usual suspects' trying to blame Americans?

Feeling guilty are you? I never mentioned names. The parts were made in various places and various ones failed. Design, not location.