Early Tests Pin Toyota Accidents on Drivers (more evidence now, same conclusion)

[Daox]

The investigation continues, and still more indication that its driver fault.

U.S. Study Indicates Driver Error in Many Toyota Crashes - WSJ.com

[gone-ot]

...not to be taking sides, but the the word "MANY" does equate to mean "ALL" the last time I checked Websters.

[Daox]

Toyota has already admitted there was a problem with the floor mats possibly sticking the gas pedal as well as the pedal being slow to return to the default position in certain cases. They have issued recalls for these issues already. I believe the article states this. This investigation is just showing that those instances were very few and the main problem is the drivers.

[shockware]

I believe Toyota wouldn't recall all those cars if there wasn't anything wrong with them. They recalled them for a reason.

[user removed]

I am not taking either side in this one.

I wonder what the percentage of incidents in Toyota's was in relation to other brands and their different models.

Before all the hoopla started and people climbed on the blame Toyota bandwagon.

I hear and see almost every day where people short change you with money or other services, and they claim it was an "accident" or an "honest mistake".

If that were true then it would not be that you are ALWAYS given less than you deserve.

If you are always getting less change or service than you paid for, it is not any accident or honest mistake, its fraud and theft.

Toyota got the "big dog" arrogance attitude that GM had in the 50s and 60s and pressured all their suppliers to cut costs or else. The inevitable result of such an attitude is you find the weak link in design and manufacture of the many dependent systems that must interact correctly for a modern very complicated car to function properly.

I wonder what the difference (if any) in the percentage of incidents were comparing the older mechanical throttle linkage models to the more recent throttle by wire models.

Before all the media attention made it the norm to blame the manufacturer.

I wonder if we will ever know the real truth, but if not a pre media hype comparison of consumer complaints and reported and confirmed incidents would point a rational person in the right direction.

regards
Mech

[Daox]

Originally Posted by shockware

I believe Toyota wouldn't recall all those cars if there wasn't anything wrong with them. They recalled them for a reason.

The floor mat "problem" has been around since 2004 when the 2nd gen Prius came along. It took 6 years to make the recall. I personally have always had two floor mats (OEM plus an all weather mat) in my Prius and never had a problem. I don't think its a very valid recall.

I can't really speak to the pedal sticking problem.

[Daox]

Originally Posted by Old Mechanic

I wonder what the percentage of incidents in Toyota's was in relation to other brands and their different models.

Before all the hoopla started and people climbed on the blame Toyota bandwagon.

I can't speak to the percentage, but the first article I linked in the first post had this image. The numbers (besides the spikes) seem incredibly low for the volume of cars Toyota must sell in a month.



I'm by no means saying there wasn't a problem. But, I do believe that this was just this year's media frenzy. I can't even begin to imagine how much the media has cost Toyota (and I know they aren't the first by far), just because they had to have a good story.

[gone-ot]

...attention begets attention.