"Nice car company ya got there"

Obama is simply 'dancin' with the one what brung him', or in this case the UAW.

That White House clown owes so many favours to special interest groups it's astounding.

What happens in Chicago...gets instituted throughout the nation!

methinks the US gubmint and the MSM have jumped on this recall like they jumped on the H1N1, its not that big of a deal .

I dont recall the government stepping in and telling anyone to stop driving Pintos

Oh, and just wait for the GM and Chrysler commercials touting thier 'quality'. Perhaps a fuzzy, hopey changey ad featuring factory workers and how they 'care' so much about the heavily government subsized cars they are building for the 'American Family' (TM)

I have absolutely no regret in the Camry I bought two years ago. At the time it was priced the same as a Chev Malibu, but it was no contest. I could take both cars, drive them for ten years and the Camry would be worth more than double the Chev.

And the Toyota Motor Corp. has always been able to do business on it's own dime, not the taxpayers'.

The Transportation Secretary's name is "LaHood"?

Good lord, you can't MAKE this stuff up!

Of course they are going to hammer the Prius, perhaps deservedly so...they are not an uninterested player.

Neither are we, but we also have more at stake in a Toyota assembly. Did I read the part originally came from China (what a shock if true)

Do not let your children gnaw on these cars they contain lead..

The first link was idiotic. The US car company that will be helped the most is Ford. The article listed sales for the last year, and Ford, which of course rejected government bailouts, has the biggest sales increase of Detroit's 3 and Toyota. (Don't these reporters read their own articles? Rhetorical question.) I'm sure Toyota will recover, but in the short term, Ford will be the one to come out ahead, not the government owned GM and Chrysler.

Who was it said never let a crisis go to waste?

"Gangster government." I love it. Not the government; the name.

Although it's likely that the Chi Thugs are doing exactly what's being suggested and making mountains out of mole hills, I still can't help but bask in the Ahole light that it's Prius owners that are hysterical. It couldn't happen to a more deserving smug (google smug alert)bunch. I wonder if a Prius driver that is accelerating uncontrollably to his death sees the irony of their smugness and wishes they had purchased a Hummer instead.

"Now along comes Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood muttering darkly that "we're not finished with Toyota"

As DN said, you can't make that stuff up! This is surely the preview of a Mickey Spillane novel.

Saint Valentines Day IS only ten days away.

I gave up my car a couple of years ago, so I don't have one to experiment with, but if I were in a car that was accelerating uncontrollably, could I not do the following?

1 - Shift the car into neutral
2 - Shut off the engine

I know this would work with a manual, but most people drive automatics these days. Would this process work with an automatic transmission?

KevinB ...

I think it should work, however there is the surprise factor and time of reaction.

I've owned and been driving Toyota's product for more the a decade from Corolla and Matrix to RX and Tundra, never had a major problem, however I have to admit that quality is not what used to be. On Tundra I had to replace radiator after 80k and on brand new RX350 power steering drive-by-wire module went dead most likely due to cold weather.

Since the US taxpayers have given ownership of GM and Chrysler to the UAW. it seems to me there's a conflict of interest for the adminstration to be commenting on a competitor.

I heard a hysterical interview with a woman on tv yesterday. She supposedly experienced a failure and said she was lucky to have heard an explanation on how to survive on the news the night before. She 'pushed on the brakes as hard as she could, and with all her might shifted the car into neutral'. All her might, as opposed to tapping the shifter with one finger as is actually required.

I recall having custody of a rig with an air-brake pedal that didn't release quite causing brake drag.
Gee...I pulled up the pedal with my toe and then after parking applied a bit of WD and exercise.
No more problems.
The real problem is incompetant drivers who react badly to surprise situations.
I recall a gal with a stuck gas pedal who died after a wild ride from St. Thomas to Port Stanley....she ended up in the harbour. The car was examined---gas pedal rusty/stuck....brakes totally burnt out....ignition on.....
Then there was the buddy who had a bike clutch cable break---and complained he had to stall it with the brakes.......couldn't reach the key in the emergency.............kill switch???

A while back Obama said, "So, if somebody wants to build a coal plant, they can — it's just that it will bankrupt them..."

Now the administration is saying, "So, if somebody wants to build cars at a non-government plant, they can — it's just that we won't let them sell them and we will bankrupt them."

Who said he doesn't embrace capitalism ideals, such as competition (with a twist)?

"Gangster government."

Well GM & Chrysler had to sign an agreement NOT to sue the EPA, CEO was fired....Ford was already in the BAG....What makes anyone believe that FORD didn't get monetary consideration, without the publicity. Big gangster government looks after the stakes holders and screws the people

I think that Brand loyalty is GONE.....at least by those that can read

The GM & Chrysler business model is WELFARE...We the people pay the wages of UAW who are building Stupid shit or marking time. It’s strange but Welfare recipients (UAW) now get Cadillac retirement plans…Kind of like the RCMP public/Private swindle that taxpayers had to fix….

Toyota is not playing the Gangster game, somehow..They will cave OR Obama will fire the CEO

"KevinB ...

I think it should work, however there is the surprise factor and time of reaction."

Yeah, the poor
911 operator only had 51 seconds to continue to take down information as if he weren't dealing with panicking people in need of some immediate common sense suggestions.

Yes, the first search I did on this "legal armada" was on Stephen A. Sheller of Sheller PC in Philadelphia. He was mentioned in the Huffington Post as a major contributor to The American Association For Justice Political Action Committee.

Here is how the "Discover The Networks.org describes the AAJ;

"AAJ is a member organization of Working For Us (WFU), a political action committee formed in 2007 that is committed to holding "Democrats electorally accountable on economic and community security issues and to elect lawmakers who support a progressive political agenda." WFU is the brainchild of Service Employees International Union President Andrew Stern, who, in his desire to keep the Democratic Party moving ever further to the political Left, saw a need for a group that could help prevent conservative and moderate Democrats from gaining too much influence. The Executive Director of WFU is Steve Rosenthal, co-founder of America Coming Together, the George Soros-affiliated Shadow Party's labor wing and get-out-the-vote machine."

I'm sure this information will come as a stunning shock to you all.

Sasquatch I had a motorcycle where the kill switch was on the engine. No key. You had to find it by leaning forward and feeling around for it. Hot. When my throttle stuck open I just laid it down before the red light.

"The US car company that will be helped the most is Ford."

And Ford is one strike away from being in the same position as GM and Chrysler. The UAW is already rattling on about how Ford made a profit so they ought to be be paying more protection money to the UAW. All you have to do is zoom out a little and look at the big picture.

I have always bought a car with a manual transmission, despite the funny looks I get when I walk into a dealership to buy a new car. A manual transmission offers more control and requires more concentration under almost every circumstance (especially in wintery weather)
Besides, a manual transmission is a lot more fun, and used properly, is easier on gas.

LMAO!! Welcome to GM's world, Toyota. Toys have been seeing recalls for years including major recalls at Japan-based facilities. Tundras and Sequoias were recalled six years ago for steering problems. And, what's with the engine sludge? The press didn't cover it because only things American are bad. You drank the koolaid. Plus, you are what you drive, all you camry's and prius' out there. Hahahahaha.

Violet:

Don't disagree about what you said about manuals, but when you're commuting in Toronto's interminable rush hour, a manual really isn't that much fun. If you're going up a long hill on the Don Valley Parkway at about 5 mph, you're just constantly riding the clutch (because letting a space more than 10 feet develop between your grill and his rear bumper is a grievous insult to the driver behind you). After a while, an automatic seems a God-send.

If I lived out in the country, though, I'd have a manual for sure. I remember long ago driving my little Honda 4-speed in winter. I'd watch other drivers spinning their tires and sliding all over the place while by simply feathering the clutch and feeling the road, I'd glide along. And if I did get stuck, I could leave it in first, pull out the choke a bit, and get out and push. It went slow enough that once it was free, I could run after it, and jump back in!

Wouldn't try that today, though. Too old, too fat, and too afraid of the cops.

I remember once when I lived north of Edmonton my gas pedal froze to the floor on the highway accelerating up a hill, a little excitement once i was over the top. simple solution though, put it in neutral, turn off the engine , pull to the "paved shoulder", pry the pedal loose , hammer it about a dozen times to make sure ,and then restart with the heater directed, full feet.

couldnt help myself with the paved shoulder.

There's 3 Toyotas and 1 Porsche in our driveway. The Porsche requires more maintenance $$$ than all 3 Toyotas combined.

Has there been a car company that hasn't had a recall? This one is no different.

The one thing I would like to see is mandatory simulator training much like the airlines use to train their pilots. Every few years you would have to undergo a session where you are faced with various emergencies and graded on how you deal with them. Different road surfaces, traffic patterns, mechanical failures could all be programmed into a simulator and every driver on the road would have had some simulated experience in said conditions.

Not one comment about the lawyers diving in for their feast in class action suits. The future value of the car has diminished! Pay me. What a bunch of bull. THAT is what's wrong with the American system. Never mind the bully goverment. The greed of their law profession is way beyond the pale.

There's 3 Toyotas and 1 Porsche in our driveway. The Porsche requires more maintenance $$$ than all 3 Toyotas combined.
Posted by: not stirred enough said at February 4, 2010 3:27 PM

But worth every nickle...
FIFY

Welcome to the front of the pack Toyota!

GerryM

""The greed of their law profession is way beyond the pale.""

read the "names" of these lawyers

you do know that 78% of the american joos voted for the ZERO, don't cha????

============================

this whole thing brings back the SAAB fiasco of many years ago, when the gas pedals got stuck, causing the cars to jump out of control when shifted into gear (this was the impetus behind the shift locks that required you to step on the brake to shift into gear). When I was in the detailing business I had a SAAB dealer as a client, and most SAAB owners are lefties, and couldn't drive if their life depended on it

GYM, I think you meant the Audi 5000. I've never heard of any such problems with Saabs, and I've owned a few. In defense of Saab and "lefty-ism", their other business was building fighter jets and weapons systems. Volvo autos is/was the preserve of the TorStar leftist set.

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/in-defense-of-the-audi-5000/

I have been reading up on this whole matter about a year before the recalls began. Some of the people are under the impression that the problem lies in the ECU(? If memory serves me correctly on the abbreviated name) Essentially the computer. The computer in these new cars control everything, from gas to brakes (though from what I understand the brake system is controlled by a separate computer). Even the automatic transmission is shifted by a computer some people have argued (I can't verify this claim unfortunately.) Also some of the new Toyotas have push button starts. In other words the computer starts and stops the engine. So if a computer suddenly locks up or glitches out--bam. You've got an ONBOARD Hal system that has a taste for speed. Of course this is highly speculative at this point on all of this but when you start to collect these massive amounts of comments and testimony on the matter from people who have had problems, a pattern starts to develop. If this is really what's going on, well, that's another matter.

I'm not saying that the government should be jumping on Toyota like a mob in a witch hunt, but Toyota has had these horror stories for over two years now from their customers and even if they don't know how or why it's happening they should have by now come up with an idea as to what is causing these problems and made a solution. OTOH The government is really out to give Toyota a black eye and that I don't agree with that either.

I really don't know which way to go on this one. And for the record, yes I do own a Toyota--one of them being recalled too. It's also a manual and I too had the funny look from the dealer when I said I wanted a manual too ;)

How to fix Toyota foot throttle problems. Buy a FORD!!!

Its Obama. He can't see anyone employed except in Government. If there is a job to lose. Count on this goof to get them terminated.

Joe Citizen said...

How to fix Toyota foot throttle problems. Buy a FORD!!!

Or buy a Nissan Leaf... No GAS!