After the news came out about the unintended acceleration problem that killed the cop and his family one of the ladies in my office said she was ruling out buying a Highlander as a result. She wants to get a bigger car for her family and was looking at Highlanders but not anymore. Frankly I was amazed that something like this would so quickly turn off a buyer.
I am too, considering the Highlander is not one of the vehicles affected by the problem.
Ashton Crusher wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
And that's likely just the sort of thing Toyota is trying to prevent by jumping all over the issue the way they are.
In the end folks will remember the lengths that Toyota went to to fix it more than the initial problem. Something the domestics never learned.
--Vic
Yay for uninformed consumers!
-J
Of all the vehicles I have owned before since over fifty years ago, and the vehicles I own now, I have never had any problems concerning sticking gas pedals, or otherwise ''runaway vehicles''. cuhulin
I'll bet you a buck that this lady will remember Toyotas as unsafe vehicles for quite a while. At least that's the main claim to fame of the Ford Pinto and Audi 5000.
Funny, isn't it? After 40+ years in the US making safe, reliable cars, one error taints the brand for a while?
Bet she goes out and buys an Equinox...
BTW, as I mentioned, the Highlander was not affected. But, that doesn't matter to people who don't pay attention.
YOU know how to drive...
Wish I could get a Lexus - hey, maybe the prices will drop! I remember when that Audi 5000 hassle came about. I though it would be a great time to get one. Unfortunately, the damn seats were too hard on my ass. I have a normal ass so it beats me how most folks could stand driving that model for any length of time. That's the breaks - it's always something... :-)
Hard seats? I am in the process of laying down 1/2'' thick plywood on top of the ceiling joists in my attic so I can stash my junk up there and little doggy and I can have some space down below.That plywood is rough on my knees.I went to Lowe's and I bought some cheap knee pads.Makes all the difference in the world for my knees. cuhulin
Amazing seat materials. Advanced German/European thinking. Evidently, my ass was not up to the European standards of the time. My guess is that these days, European asses are getting to be more like good old American ass, i.e., softer and fatter. Yay! :-)
dsi1 wrote in news:ITBPm.12537$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe10.iad:
Possibly influential difference: Ford stonewalled on the Pinto for quite a while. Toyota never did that.
And Audi had no problem to fix in the first place, which put them in a bit of a spot as to what to do before somebody came up with the idea of the brake interlock.
And Toyota as a whole just shrugs and waves....maybe she'll go buy a Ford. Then we can all laugh at her when she starts getting the recall notices and repair bills....
At least Toyota is owning up to the problem, something several other auto makers could take a lesson or two from. And as far as the folks who got killed by their runaway cars, why are these people not putting the transmission in neutral? Or holding down the 'start/stop' button to kill the engine? It's sad that people die from this but seriously..did they read the owners manual? Do they know how to safely operate the car? Because it sure seems to me they did not.....
Chris
The pinto -was- an unsafe vehicle. The differential case would puncture the gas tank in a rear-end collision and start a fire, and what exacerbated the problem was the fact that the doors would jam shut in a rear collision due to deformation of the passenger compartment. Do a little reading on the infamous "ford memo" where it was decided the cost of fixing the cars to be safe would be more expensive than paying off the families of the people who got killed. Quality is Job 1 my ass.......Ford should be ashamed that they ever did something that horrible.
The Audi...rumor has it the gas pedal and the brake were a little too close together, and people would hit both accidentally. I never owned one so I don't know, but I'd sure as hell take an Audi 5000 over a pinto, or any other ford for that matter.
Chris.
And when the infamous audi unintended acceleration cases all vanished with the addition of the interlock, it became obvious that the cases were all ones where the driver had confused the pedals.
As I recall, it was a protruding bolt in the differential that posed a hazard. This was a problem but I don't believe that this resulted in any more deaths than other cars, at least I've never read anywhere that this was true, although most people seem to feel that it is.
I have heard of the Ford memo. This memo dealt with the costs to the automotive industry of making cars and trucks resistant to fuel leaks during roll-overs. The fact that car companies do not build cars with racing safety fuel cells means that they still do these studies today.
I never noticed anything strange about the Audi's pedals during my limited time in the car, but it could be. I've owned a Capri and used to drive a Pinto company car. They're pretty good driving cars as far as driver control and handling goes. Compared to most other cars of the 70s they were quite enjoyable to drive. Build quality was so-so. That's the breaks.
As I recall reading previously, according to the NHTSA, of the 2 million Pintos built, only 27 deaths ever resulted from fire. This is typical for highway safety of the time in any car. There also were no specifics about each accident- for all anyone knows these people could have crashed into a train or a gas station. I also recall Ford eventually recalling Pintos and putting plastic caps on the bolts of the diff (decide for yourself i that will make a difference) and that the notorious "Ford Pinto Memo" was actually false.
Keep in mind also, that a number of years ago when GM was accosted for the saddle tanks outside the frame rails in their full-size trucks, we also heard a "statement" similar to "it will be cheaper for us to pay off lawsuits from actual cases than to recall all 3.4M vehicles".
-J
Those must have been some caps!
In the sense that it wasn't about the Pinto or rear-end crashes or specifically about Ford, you're right.
Boy, you can't put that fuel tank anywhere! OTOH, anywhere was better than sticking it on the passenger's lap like in a VW type 1.
Hal wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@u7g2000yqm.googlegroups.com:
And the calls from the collection agency about her unpaid car loan from Ford credit despite her using a bank directly.
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