Wednesday 14th April 2010

Toyota Woes Deepen With SUV 'Roll-over' Claim

Lexus GX 460 sales halted as oversteer issue is investigated

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Toyota has halted sales of the Lexus GX 460 SUV in the US on the back of a Consumer Reports claim that the electronic stability control system fails to reign-in lift-off oversteer until it may be too late for a 'save'.

A Lexus GX - 460 the right way up

Apparently the V8 powered GX (a very close relation of the 3.0 diesel-powered Land Cruiser sold over here) surprised Consumer Reports testers by swinging it's back end around too far before the ESC helped out.

"When pushed to its limits on our track's handling course, the rear of the GX we bought slid out until the vehicle was almost sideways before the electronic stability control system was able to regain control," they say.

"We perform this evaluation on every vehicle we test, which includes the 95 SUVs in our current auto Ratings. No other SUV in recent years slid out as far as the GX 460, including the Toyota 4Runner, which shares the same platform as the GX.

"To confirm our results, we paid for the use of another GX 460 from Lexus and experienced the same problem."

While certain PHers (and similarly-heroic/hairy-chested types) might just appreciate such a handling foible, the US testers issued a 'don't buy it' warning, which has naturally set the cat amongst the pigeons across the pond.

Toyota has suspended sales of the model there temporarily while its engineers investigate the issue, but has stated that the vehicle does meet all relevant regulations. Toyota GB tells us they are aware of the reports which relate only to a US-specific model, so at this stage they are not taking any action.

[Braintax]

Tough times for toyota, bit of lift off oversteer never hurt anyone

Edited by Braintax on Wednesday 14th April 11:07

[Sixpackpert]

Yes yes.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[soad]

No end to the Toyota saga it seems...

[Digga]

I had a Land Cruiser Amazon 4.2TD and that would oversteer. Big deal, never killed me.

I'm getting a bit sick of the obvious attempts by America to sabotage Toyota. Like Ford & GM never made dangerous cars....

[Trusty Steed]

Its just another reason to show that the vehicles with a green and gold oval badge are better designed and a better vehicle!!

Down with the taliban wagons!

[Garlick]

Sixpackpert said:

Yes yes.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

We generally see a different audience on the home page of PH to those who view the forums (not exclusively, but enough to matter), so news has to be covered there too even if the subsequent forum conversation gives the impression of a repost.

[johnhenry]

Braintax said:

bit of lift of oversteer never hurt anyone

Well said!

[kambites]

johnhenry said:

Braintax said:

bit of lift of oversteer never hurt anyone

Well said!

But probably not strictly true.

Given the number of up-side-down SUVs I've seen in the middle of dead straight three-lane highways when I've been working in the states, I think it's probably better if they make them handle as predictably as possible.

[LukeBird]

Digga said:

I'm getting a bit sick of the obvious attempts by America to sabotage Toyota. Like Ford & GM never made dangerous cars....

Me too, all sounds like a joke.
To be honest the quotes from that place read like a joke... the fact the car just slide more before the ESP regained control? So what?!
Sensationalist America or what?!

[P7ULG]

"electronic stability control system fails to reign-in lift-off oversteer"


I can't believe that an American knew what this statement actually meant !!!!!

[Sixpackpert]

Garlick said:

Sixpackpert said:

Yes yes.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

We generally see a different audience on the home page of PH to those who view the forums (not exclusively, but enough to matter), so news has to be covered there too even if the subsequent forum conversation gives the impression of a repost.

Oh

[louiebaby]

The timing as too convenient. Just as the Toyota furore is calming down after the unintended acceleration nonsense, it flairs up for Lexus.

With GM basically governement owned, and Toyota taking bigger and bigger market share, this is being orchestrated to get more Americans buying American.

If I was in PR for Infiniti, Mercedes or BMW, I'd be stting a brick.

I shall now go and polish my tinfoil hat.

[Ug_lee]

What about all the millions of pre-stability control SUV's that have been sold over the years? Shouldn't they be classed as dangerous and go to the crusher rather than beem sold on the 2nd hand market.

Oh hang on that would include GM and Ford SUV's too..................

Seems they are trying everything to knock Toyota out of the US market, thinly veiled protectionism IMO.

[robm3]

Ford still sold the Explorer despite actually killing quite a few people...

[Beefmeister]

It seems to me like everyone in the US has it out for Toyota now. They just want to destroy sales so the remaining home-grown manufacturers flourish.

I mean really, is this issue really worthy of stopping sales? No, but Toyota now have to do this to avoid any more spurious claims.

Farcical in extremis.

[robm3]

Consumer testing department said:

...situation could lead to a rollover accident, which could cause serious injury or death.

And then

Consumer testing department said:

...We are not aware, however, of any such reports.

But alas in America the damage had been done...cos' CNN has it: http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/13/toyota-suspen...

Toyota response said:

Our engineers conducted similar tests during the development of the new GX and had no issues.

But that's no good, yanks will start crashing Lexus now and suing...

Edited by robm3 on Wednesday 14th April 11:04

[lionrampant]

If they released that data about a model here, Toyota would probably see a rise in sales.

[BigS]

kambites said:

johnhenry said:

Braintax said:

bit of lift of oversteer never hurt anyone

Well said!

But probably not strictly true.

Given the number of up-side-down SUVs I've seen in the middle of dead straight three-lane highways when I've been working in the states, I think it's probably better if they make them handle as predictably as possible.

I was last over there in 2002 and was constantly bombarded by adverts on the radio for specialist SUV rollover lawyers, after 2 weeks of them, I was dissapointed I didn't see a single SUV on it's roof!

[G0ldfysh]

louiebaby]The timing as too convenient. [....snip said:

I shall now go and polish my tinfoil hat.

Don't use too much polish, government regulations insist it is manufactured with radio conducting chemicals. This stops the effectivity of the tin foil allows the thought reading to continue.

You have been warned!!

[E21_Ross]

of course, we should all be relying on electronic systems to help correct driver errors, instead of learning how to drive properly in the first place