Toyota recall - Part 3

So last week I took the Camry in for a 15,000 mile service.  They had a couple of recalls on the gas pedal thing.  They put the reinforced shims on the gas pedal, they shortened the gas pedal arm (?) about 1/2 an inch, and then they reprogrammed the computer.  The computer reprogram was the brake over-ride so if I have gas and brakes both depressed, the engine would reduce power.

So, any differences after the changes?  The gas pedal still feels the same.  The shortening of the pedal is unnoticeable.  The gas pedal seems a little bit more on the sensitive side.  The car seems a little more peppy to me on the lower end of the RPM scale.  That could be the affects of the shortening of the pedal itself, but that's my perception.  For the brake override, that seems to work.  Before the recall, I put on the gas and the brakes the the engine was still pushing hard.  After the computer reprogram, the engine power will decrease.  Once you release the brake pedal, normal power resumes.  Kinda cool.

Is there a problem with Toyotas?  Honestly, I really don't know.  The runaway Prius story in California makes me wonder what is going on.  And I will be very interested to read about the results of the engineering team's testing.  Newer cars have a black box similar in nature to black boxes in airplanes.  I'm sure that the engineers will extensively review the data from that black box.  I hope that Toyota does the right thing for this guy and fixes his car - brakes and all - for free.  If anything, they should fix it for free for PR reasons.

I'm on my second Toyota.  The cars have been built solidly.  The first car I had was a 2003 Corolla and it was a magnificent car.  My 2009 Camry is a lot like my Corolla was like, except even better. 

With the runaway car issue, I'm mostly concerned about my son and his reaction to a sudden acceleration problem.  My Camry has a five speed manual transmission, something that is extremely rare in a Camry.  We've told him that if he has that problem, to simply put the car into neutral, pull over and turn off the car.  And with the brake override, he could use the brakes to slow things down.  But the Prius should also have a brake override system and it didn't work in the California Prius incident, so who knows.  Best bet, put in the clutch, put it into neutral, pull over and turn off the car.

Will I buy another Toyota?  Probably.  I think the overall quality of Toyota cars is better than the American cars.  And I think Toyota will figure out the root cause of the problem and take care of their customers.  Many of these problems, especially intermittent or rare computer related problems, are quite difficult to troubleshoot and diagnose.  I know because I've worked in tech support for over a decade.  The "easy" problems to solve are the readily duplicate-able problems.  The harder ones to solve are those that are rare and random.  This issue seems to appear in the latter case - rare and random.  Hopefully the Prius in the California incident will provide Toyota the details that they need to fully understand the root cause of the problem.

Toyota - Part 2

I don't really understand all the buzz about Toyota.  I've got a 2009 Camry and it has been a fine car.  Today I scheduled an appointment with the dealership to get it serviced.  They looked up my car and said it was subject to two recalls.  They are going to put the brackets on the throttle and reprogram the computer (so if the brakes are on, the accelerator will be cut) for the first recall, and then they are going to shorten the accelerator pedal by 1/2 an inch.  I think the reprogramming is a smart thing to do and should have been done long ago.

I know that Toyota is getting hammered, but give me a break.  All car companies have issues.  The Congressmen that want the president of Toyota to testify is just overkill.  They are doing it for political points and to bash and humiliate Toyota.  What will it accomplish?  Will it fix the problem any faster?  Will it make Toyota be more careful in their designs?  Will it bring back the lives of those who died in Toyota vehicles that had issues?  I really don't think it will solve any of these problems.  Toyota has learned a hard and valuable lesson.  They will be better in the future.  And if all the other Toyotas are like the dealership I have to deal with, customers will be taken care of.

Like I said, all this frenzy about the "quality" problem and customers leaving the brand are just the press in hyper-drive.  Once the recalls stop and the press quiets down and some other big topic of the day comes up, people will forget about the problems.  Haiti attention has dropped off the map as the press moves on with other "hot" stories.

So I'll keep my Toyota.  My only regret is that I don't have money to go and buy another Toyota vehicle, as I'm sure there are some pretty good discounts on the cars these days.

Toyota

With all the publicity about the recent Toyota recalls, you would think that people are panicing and dumping their Toyotas.  Maybe that is the case.  Maybe there are people who are dumping their cars for "American" made cars.  Maybe.  There will always be sheep that are driven into a panic.

I've had a few Toyota products over the years.  I have a model that is currently affected by one or more of Toyota's recalls.  And you know what?  I'm not worried about it.  I haven't taken the car in for any of the recalls.  My first Toyota got rear-ended.  The impact was incredibly forceful resulting in a total loss, but in the end, my wife and oldest daughter walked away from the accident unharmed.  You can't put a price on that kind of protection.

The Toyota I currently have is a well made car.  And in the end, I think my Toyota will outlast any other "American" car out there.  No car company in the world is perfect.  There will be recalls.  In the end, Toyota will take care of their customers, the problems will get resolved, and the problems will blow by.  And customers will return to Toyota because of their value and quality.  There will be some short-term brand issues, but I think it will all blow by and be forgotten like presidential campaign promises.