Quality Weenie

Toyota Cheaping Out Repairs

I thought that Toyotas recall fix was to replace the gas pedel, from my understanding in what I read that is what I assumed.

Come to find out that they are not replacing the gas pedel, only inserting a small piece of metal into the gas pedel.

Seems some customers are pretty pissed about the cheaped out fix.

The Japanese automaker said in a memo obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press that if a customer is unhappy with the feel of the accelerator after the car is repaired, dealers can provide a replacement pedal at no charge. Dealers have been inserting a piece of metal into the gas pedal mechanism to eliminate friction that was causing the pedal problem on more than 4 million vehicles involved in a January recall.

If you ask me, inserting a small piece of metal into something usually doesn't decrease friction.

And you notice how the AP used only 4 million vehicles instead of the 8.5 million vehicles that are under the recall.

But the total replacement of the gas pedel isn't being done until after the inserting small piece of metal has taken place and then the customer comes back and requests total replacement. Toyota isn't offering it up at all unless the customer complains even more after the fix.

Toyota wasn't even telling customers that they could request total replacement. Total replacement was only happening if the customer came back after the cheap fix and was still complaining.

"A replacement pedal should only be offered to a customer after the reinforcement bar has been installed and the customer has expressed dissatisfaction with the operation and/or feel of the pedal," Toyota said in a memo to dealers, service manager and parts managers.

Cheap bastards.

God Help Us

Toyota's Keeping Secrets Again

Toyota won't allow access but most other automakers routinely allow access.

So who's the bad guys again?

Toyota has for years blocked access to data stored in devices similar to airline "black boxes" that could explain crashes blamed on sudden unintended acceleration, according to an Associated Press review of lawsuits nationwide and interviews with auto crash experts.

The AP investigation found that Toyota has been inconsistent — and sometimes even contradictory — in revealing exactly what the devices record and don't record, including critical data about whether the brake or accelerator pedals were depressed at the time of a crash.

Allowing access to black box data from Toyota vehicles could show what was really going on during unintended acceleration. If Toyota is so confident that it was the vehicle owners fault then why won't Toyota allow that data to be seen?

Could clear up this whole mess in a matter of days.

Toyota has both claimed that the black box does record brake position and it does not record brake position. Some people are claiming Toyota has turned off the brake position recording in their black boxes so they don't have to give up that information in lawsuits.

Last week, Toyota acknowledged it has only a single laptop available in the U.S. to download its data recorder information because it is still a prototype, despite being in use since 2001 in Toyota vehicles.

In congressional hearings on the recalls last week, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Toyota's EDR data cannot be read by a commercially available tool used readily by other automakers. "Toyota has a proprietary EDR, which is the system that only they can read," LaHood said.

So when asked to print off the data from a black box, Toyota is the only ones that can do it. Sounds fishy to me ...

In the Texas crash, where four people died when their 2008 Avalon ripped through a fence, hit a tree and flipped into an icy pond, an EDR readout obtained by police listed as "off" any information on acceleration or braking.

Real Fishy ....

Oh and the Big 3, how do they fair on allowing others to see their black box data?

General Motors, for example, has licensed the auto parts maker Bosch to produce a device capable of downloading EDR data directly to a laptop computer, either from the scene of an accident or later. The device is available to law enforcement agencies or any other third party, spokesman Alan Adler said.

Spokesmen from Ford and Chrysler said their recorder data is just as accessible. "We put what you would call 'open systems' in our vehicles, which are readable by law enforcement or anyone who has a need to read that data," Chrysler spokesman Mike Palese said.

So what is Toyota trying to hide?

GM Recalls 1.3 Million for Steering Problems

The people are whining already that GM isn't being treated like Toyota was and should be hauled before Congress for a special hearing.

Good lord people, this is one recall which GM wasn't forced by the government to do. GM did this voluntarily, like most (except Toyota) do for recalls.

Toyota got hauled before Congress because they refused to do the recall and they had been stalling this for nearly 10 years amoung other things.

So I guess now everytime an American Auto Company has a recall demands of them being hauled before Congress will be made.

Talk about not seeing the Forest for the Trees, also shows their bigotry towards amercian Auto Makers.

General Motors Co. is recalling 1.3 million Chevrolet and Pontiac compact cars sold in the U.S., Canada and Mexico to fix power steering motors that can fail.

The recall affects 2005 to 2010 Chevrolet Cobalts, 2007 to 2010 Pontiac G5s, 2005 and 2006 Pontiac Pursuits sold in Canada and 2005 and 2006 Pontiac G4s sold in Mexico.

The automaker said Monday the vehicles are still safe to drive and never lose their steering, but it may be harder to steer them when traveling under 15 mph.

And this recall only involves 1 injury, no deaths unlike the (at last count) 52 that the Toyota recall involves.

The automaker will fix older models first because it usually takes 20,000 to 30,000 miles of driving for the condition to develop, Adler said. GM also will have to repair thousands of vehicles on dealer lots before they can be sold, he said.

The recall affects 2005 to 2010 Chevrolet Cobalts, 2007 to 2010 Pontiac G5s, 2005 and 2006 Pontiac Pursuits sold in Canada and 2005 and 2006 Pontiac G4s sold in Mexico.