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TOYOTA BLACKMAIL
ABC NEWS 2/9/10
Toyota dealers in five southeast states have pulled their commercials off ABC TV local affiliates, complaining about the coverage of Toyota safety problems by ABC News and its chief investigative correspondent Brian Ross. The ad agency representing the 173 dealers told ABC affiliates last week that the shift was due to "excessive stories on the Toyota issues." The dealers shifted their commercial time buys to non-ABC stations in the same markets, "as punishment for the reporting,"
SUMMARY : Toyota wants to blackmail the American press .The same press that has given them a free pass for years. Toyota thinks the freedom of the press is only the right to cover them in a positive light. This company is anti American.
British Sports Cars
Mygraphix, Carnut...
The only complaint I ever had about my MG TD was the fussy electric fuel pump and the electric wiper motor. One learned to carry a small points file for the fuel pump and the Brits were smart enough to provide a little crank handle to operated the wiper when the motor hicupped. BUT...you'll never beat the wind-in-the face experience of driving with the windshield folded down and nothing between you and the bugs except a little lucite windscreen. I think the last car you could do that on was the Sprite...but you had to physically remove the windshield while on the TD it was a matter of simply loosening the wingnuts and folding the WS down. I have to say that my MGA was totally reliable...never had problem one, even though the
battery(ies) location gave rise to concern.
Good to be talkin' cars again!!!!!!!
NHTSA Fielding Complaints About 2009-2010 Toyota Corolla Steering
February 9, 2010 - 8:44 am ET -
NHTSA has received 76 complaints that 2009 and 2010 Corollas (a 2010 model is shown) can unexpectedly veer to the left or right at 40 miles an hour and up.
WASHINGTON -- Toyota Motor Corp. faces yet another possible federal investigation, this time of the electric power steering in 2009 and 2010 Corollas.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is considering a formal investigation of alleged defects reported in the compact car, agency spokeswoman Karen Aldana said.
Automotive News found that the Corolla has been the subject of 83 power-steering complaints since April 2008, 76 of which have reported that the vehicle unexpectedly veers to the left or right at 40 miles an hour and up.
Complainants have compared the movement to being buffeted by strong winds, sliding on black ice, or hydroplaning. They said that after trying to straighten the car, it can overcorrect -- requiring the driver to use a tight, persistent, two-handed grip on the wheel to travel in a straight line.
10 injuries, six accidents
"If you take your eye off the road for a second, the car will drift into another lane," said one driver who lodged an Oct. 18 complaint.
The complaints cite 10 injuries resulting from six accidents, which sometimes left the vehicle upside down, at the bottom of a cliff or in a ditch.
"This was the most terrifying thing that has ever happened to me in my life as well as my grandchildren!" a Fayetteville, N.C., woman wrote NHTSA Sept. 11. She said her Corolla veered "on its own" to the right, hurtled down a cliff and hit a tree and fence.
NHTSA is speaking with Toyota, reviewing consumer complaints and looking at reports from the automaker about property damage and product defects, Aldana said in an e-mail.
"We are continuing to review and gather information to determine if it warrants a formal investigation," Aldana said Monday.
Aldana's e-mail was in response to an Automotive News analysis of consumer complaints to NHTSA about the 2009-10 Corolla. A formal investigation typically begins with a preliminary evaluation which, if warranted by the evidence, can be upgraded to an engineering analysis. A recall can follow. The process can take months.
Toyota spokesman Brian Lyons didn't respond to numerous e-mail and phone requests for comment Monday and Tuesday.
Toyota switched from hydraulic to electric power steering with its 2009 Corolla, which first went on sale in February 2008.
Mounting scrutiny
Toyota already faces investigations and recalls of more than a dozen other models.
Toyota today announced a worldwide recall of 437,000 hybrids, mostly of the 2010 Prius. NHTSA opened an investigation last week of braking problems with the vehicle.
NHTSA also is investigating unintended acceleration in a dozen Toyota models, more than 8 million of which have been recalled globally since October.
And since November, NHTSA has been investigating reports of engine stalls in the 2006 Corolla.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has been sensitive to questions raised in Congress about NHTSA's effectiveness. He is scheduled to testify Wednesday before the House Oversight Committee, and House Energy Committee investigators have requested NHTSA documents dating to 2000.
Today, after Toyota announced its hybrid recall, he issued a statement that said: "When I spoke with Toyota President Akio Toyoda last week, he assured me that his company takes U.S. safety concerns very seriously. The U.S. DOT will remain in constant communication with Toyota to hold them to that promise."
Said Sean Kane, president of the Safety Research & Strategies consulting firm: "Toyota's Teflon image for reliability is going out the window faster than anyone can salvage. ... People are logically asking, how can it have problems with so many models?"
Kane, who is scheduled to testify tomorrow at a congressional hearing on Toyota's problems, said that the accumulation of so many serious complaints over 21 months without an investigation raises questions about NHTSA's effectiveness.
Said Kane: "How could NHTSA's surveillance miss this apparent pattern?"
The Department of Transportation, which oversees NHTSA, said it receives 30,000 complaints a year, each of which it reviews within a single business day.
"NHTSA takes these very seriously and opens investigations based on the frequency and severity of the complaints," the e-mailed statement said.
NHTSA currently is conducting 40 investigations of possible defects, three of which involve Toyota, Transportation said. Over the last three years, NHTSA said its probes have resulted in 524 recalls involving 23.5 million vehicles.
[ More trouble and bad press for Toyota. When does it end? ]
Miata's Muse and the near-luxury class
I recently saw a picture of the original Saab Sonnet. It was a beautiful car, and the second generation Miata looks similar. What an obscure muse!
Maybe now that Spyker is buying Saab, they can return to building a 2-seat sports car, something they haven't done since the early 70s.
Saabs are great cars, in that they don't try to be like everyone else. They seem to float in that not-quite-luxury class of Volvo, Saab and even some VWs. You might even include Buick's recent offerings in that class. Now it's time for Mercury to step up or bow out.
Talkin' Cars!!!
British Sports Cars
Good post, carnut!
I always enjoyed going south and driving the Blue Ridge in the B's. Hard to pick a favorite as far as pure beauty of the design but the Healy's and the MG-TF along with old Morgans are near the top of my list.
British Sports Cars
I don't think any cars were as safe as the ones built today. The size of the MGs and their ilk made them inherently less safe than the American bohemoths that wandered our roads in the 60s and 70s. Even today, some think I'm crazy for "letting" my wife drive such a small car. I've been told that I should buy her a large SUV. Wow!
You really felt the road in those old British sports cars. I think part of it might have been the rudimentary suspensions. Some of the MGs had a curious sort of sidearm shock absorber. Today's Miata is perfectly balanced, but you certainly don't feel every pebble of the road like the in the old Brits. Not sure if that's a bad thing.
I use to love the old Triumphs with the low cut doors. It was once said that it's not a sports car unless you can lean over and put out your cigarette on the pavement while at speed. Miatas aren't that low, and nobody really smokes these days, but in those cars you could not only feel the road, but taste and smell it too.
One of the most beautiful old Brits (other than the obvious choice, the E-type) was the Jaguar XK120. The coupe looked better than the droptop.
Those old Brits, much like the old VWs even had a smell to them. A slightly must, mixed with oil and the horsehair seat stuffing.
All this talk makes me want to go out and buy a Harris tweed jacket, one with patches on the elbows, and go and teach full-time at some New England university. I can picture tooling down a Vermont road in the fall. Biting wind blowing through my hair, shocking reds, golds and oranges in the trees, sun low on the horizon.
I've never lived in the northeast, but that's my picture of a perfect drive.
Talkin' Cars!!!
British Sports Cars
The Miata was for sure an answer to the MGB's and Spitfires of the day and right out of the gate they were much more reliable. However from owning 3 B's and driving many Miatas I will say from my experience the Miata never came close to matching the pure handling of the MGB or the joy of driving one (when it ran).
As for the other comment from another poster, I have never heard of the MG's being unsafe, unreliable yes.
Toyota woes and smalltown America
Tell that to the guy at the Marysville, Ohio Honda plant. Tell it to the woman at the Spartansburg, SC BMW plant. Tell it to the folks at the Mercedes plant in Alabama. Tell it the the family who's breadwinner works in the Kentucky Toyota plant. Are they really any less American than you or me? Shutter those plants, and then where do they go? Detroit? Dearborn? Auburn Hills?
I don't wish ill will on the D3, but I also want options when I buy a car. Sometimes it will be American made, sometimes not. Sometimes the best options simply aren't American. Sometimes the best options are not Japanese or German.
A perfect example is the luxury end of the industry. If you're young and want a sporty luxury car, Cadillac offers the CTS in various forms. However, if you want something bigger, you have to look overseas. Lincoln and Cadillac may one day rejoin the elite classes of Mercedes, BMW, and Lexus, but they're not there yet.
That's not to say that we get beat in every market.
Hyundai is trying to build a musclecar in the Genesis. Not a bad first effort, but they just don't get it.
Toyota and Nissan have both tried to build big trucks. Nissan gave up and Toyota is on it's 3rd try. The first (the T100) was not much bigger than a Dakota. The second was an F150 wannabe. The 3rd is just plain ugly, without enough options.
Talkin' Cars!!!
Monozukuri
When costs creep up, as they inevitably do, "something has to give". Manufacturers start to "de-content" (cheapen) their products. This usually starts in ways that are not obvious, but once the attitude is in place, everything is fair game. The Det3 did this in spades in the 60's and 70's. Toyota is doing it now. Might be time for that Hyundai after all. The good news for the Bankrupt 2 is that post-bankruptcy their costs should be in line with the transplants. Now it's all about the execution.
Toyota woes and smalltown America
I think that some on this post would like to see all car manufacturers outside the US fail. What would our world look like then? Even if you prefer American, there are some cars that the D3 have no answer for. To be fair, the D3 offers cars that the foriegn companies have no answer for.
Foriegn cars that have no American counterpart:
Mazda Miata
Mercedes E-class and S-class
Porsche Boxster and Cayman
VW Golf
VW Passat CC
Mini Cooper
BMW 3-series and 5-series (Cadillac is getting closer)
Nissan Z
Audi A6 and A6 convertible and A8
Audi TT
Fiat 500
American cars with no foriegn counterpart:
Chevy Corvette
Dodge Viper
Ford Mustang
Chevy Camaro
Dodge Challenger
Full-size trucks (Tundra still doesn't compare!)
Ford Flex
Hey, I prefer a bit of variety, and competition is good for business. It forces companies to build a better product. Buy what you like!
Talkin' Cars!!!
Toyota woes and smalltown America
The Domestic automakers employ approximately 400,000 US workers. The transplants employ 110,000 in total. These jobs are primarily the assembly jobs and not the technical positions that our country needs. The majority of the engineering, testing, suppliers, and profits are sent out of our country. The assembly of the vehicle is about 25 to 30% of the cost of a vehicle. This may be a good story for Georgetown, but there are four other towns that are devastated from domestic plant closures. Why are you bragging about being a laboring class that then sends 70% of your money out of the county? Our nation is a great nation. Worthy of more than to be proud of driving screws for another county. By American made, American owned, and American designed products when possible.
Toyota woes and smalltown America
dont bet on that !
Questions for Carnut
Dave in Virginia...
One of my dreams, that will probably never be realized, is to own an MG TF 1500. Problem is that there was so few 1500s built...allot of 1250s around though.
Talkin' Cars!!!!!!
Toyota woes and smalltown America
Those that cheer for Toyota's demise need to look at another New York Times article today on Georgetown, KY. Toyota's factory opened there 20 years ago, and the town has thrived on it.
Toyota has earned a strong reputation, and has handled this issue poorly. They will learn from it, and they will once again thrive, as will the people of Georgetown, KY.
Monozukuri
The New York Times has an excellent article on Toyota today. It talks about Japan's secret weapon after WWII that allowed them to surpass the Americans in quality. It's called "monozukuri", and refers to an ancient Japanese tradition of perfection in craftsmanship. It also speaks to the downturn in Toyota quality in recent years. Whether you love or hate Toyota, it's worth a read.
Toyota has been one of the biggest economic engines in Japan for decades, and that's now threatened. It even suggested that Japan may have to become more of a service-based economy, as in the US and Britain, as Korean products (cars, electronics, etc) are now flooding the market.
Toyota replaced the D3 as the standard of the industry in the 80s, 90s and 00s. Is Hyundai/Kia the new Toyota? Time will tell.
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