| Author | Message | ||
     Paw |
Well I bet, not many people knew this about Toyota...Toyota will never get bad publicity about their recalls...If it were Chevy, Ford or Chrysler there would be hell to pay!!! http://www.autospies.com/news/Toyota-leads-the-way -with-the-most-recalls-for-2009-50726/ And looks like they will lead the way again in 2010...There is a recall for 2.3 million vehicles 8 models in all for sticking gas peddles...This is a different recall as compared to the floor mats in 2009...They are stopping production to see what the hell is wrong. Copy and paste it. Link will not show up. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100127/ap_on_bi_ge/us_toyota_recall (Message edited by paw on January 27, 2010) | ||
| Squintz |
Over the past couple decades, the American autos have been making progress in the quality department. And honestly, the cars they produce today aren't all that bad. It's just that Toyota, Nissan, and Honda have always made good quality cars. And if it weren't for them, the American manufacturers wouldn't have gotten their act together. | ||
| Froggy |
Toyota since 2007 has had more recalls each year than everyone else. I love how they blame floormats for this issue, when a Toyota spokesman accidentally admitted that the issue isn't the floormats and gas pedals but instead a programming error. The fix is they reflash the car while its in for service for the new mats and pedals. | ||
| Johnnylunchbox |
I loathe drive-by-wire. | ||
| Tq_freak |
Same here lunch box Whats ever scarier is Brake-by-wire. | ||
| Spiderman |
American car quality is awesome, the fit and finish is another thing! Now a little background. My father has been in the plastics industry since he got out of the Navy, starting as a mold maker and now in design and drafting. I worked in tool&die when I got out of HS and went back into mold making for a few years when I went back to school. The plastic interiors of almost all american cars that are sub 30k are just awful to me. My Vdub was 15k fully loaded and the interior plastics, seats etc is excellent! No live hinges in view, no parting lines in site and there isn't 50 plastic caps covering screws. NOW This isn't a jab at just American cars cause I have seen the same in Japanese cars as well. I have always been a fan of the Spyder, for obvious reasons, but holy hell the fit an finish of the interior of that looks like a ford fiesta. The first thing you seen when looking in was the seat rail with this awkward plastic cap, WTF? Another that I have seen the interior of was a Honda compact, now it could have been the color combo, the car was a Blue much the same as a XB9R with kaki brown interior, and the fit an finish of that was as nasty as the color... Now I am sure people are not as critical of their interior pickings as I am, but I know what the cost of those molds are, the time and labor that go into them. And If a German car company can nail it and put it in a car sub 16k and a Japanese or American car company can't, ??????? | ||
| Hootowl |
VW in general has a very high level of fit and finish. They're an anomaly in the economy car market. | ||
| Spiderman |
Ur tellin me! I originally started looking at VW cause it was a hatch in the price I was looking at. But found soooo much more. I got to wonder if they use their smaller cars as a break even and make there money up the scale like Yamaha does with their smaller motorcycles... | ||
| Court |
We just replaced a Mercedes-Benz CLK Convertible with a 2010 Ford Focus. The new E Series Mercedes Convertible doesn't come out until April and the idea was that the Ford would be a "temporary" deal. I've got to tell you . . . I'm impressed. The car has XM radio, sunroof, kick-ass stereo, heated leather seats and a lot of the stuff the Mercedes had. Kinda cool how the Microsoft SYNC system finds my iPhone and plays the iPod over the stereo effortlessly. We drove it home and got 32.7 MPG on the way. Best part is that the Ford AND a Porsche still cost less than the Mercedes. The quality is excellent, the car seems to do everything well. Build quality is there, fit and finish is great, economy is great, roomy, comfy and for the whopping sum of $16,531. Tough deal to beat. Another former BadWebber, who I just got off the phone with, is on his way home from Stuttgart with one of the new SMART cars. He told me it's "bigger" . . it is . . by a total of 20cm. We in America, with our cheap gas, drive differently than most the world. I keep my 12MPG pickup but it's reserved for "reimbursable" mileage. I'd be tough to convince that Ford (the ONLY car company in American making cars AND money) can't hold their own against any company in the world. | ||
| Spiderman |
What Ford did you get again? The Focus or Fusion? | ||
| Hmartin |
"Those [unaffected] vehicles contain gas pedals produced by a different North American supplier from the one whose parts are invovled (sic) in the current sales halt, Toyota has said." Oops. | ||
| Redbuelljunkie |
The gas pedal in an ETCS-i equipped Toyota is only a "gas pedal" in an academic sense- when pressed the car should "go". It's actually a dead pedal with a motor designed to "push back" to give the driver the "feeling" that they're operating a throttle. The "drive-by-wire" computer system "interprets" what the driver wants by "reading" the gas pedal movement and signals the throttle body to adjust electronically. The system works great- when it works. When it doesn't, Toyota stops sales, ceases production, announces a recall, and lawyers up. Call me old-fashioned, but I'm perfectly happy with a throttle cable. | ||
| Mnrider |
I've been an auto tech for 35 years and I've worked at small shops and dealerships and I've never understood why people think Asian cars are better. Up here cars take a beating with the rough roads and temp extremes. Sure the competition has made American cars better but IMO the've always been better anyway. Now Toyota is finding out how hard it is to mass produce a Quality vehicle. I love my Fords! | ||
| Blake |
I saw that Toyota stop work report on the news this morning, Fox News channel. We traded Michele's 1994 Ford Explorer a little over a year ago. It had 235,000 miles and ran perfectly, used no oil, was a very well built and a reliable automobile. I recently sold the 1986-1/2 Nissan pickup and bought a very nice used 2002 Ford F250 diesel. I'm very impressed with it's quality. And for me, after 22 years of driving the little Nissan, the big Ford is pure entertainment to drive, not to mention handy for hauling tons of flagstone. | ||
| Timxb9s |
I travel for my job and rent cars all the time. I like to try out all different kinds. I find that over the past few years the Ford has really started to build cars that I would have no problem owning. The Fusion is and outstanding value. I would take one over a Camry any day. GM has been impressing me lately too. The Malibu and Impala are great cars. I only returned one car. I was in Colorado about 2 years ago. The girl at the counter said they upgraded me to a convertible. Great !! I go the the spot and see its a PT Cruizer w/ a turbo. WOW Cool, I think. I got a few miles down the road and turned around. That thing was the biggest POS I have ever driven. Road like S**T and was very uncomfortable. Power was poor and unpredictable. Hit the gas and it lagged and then took off. Also it was a pretty ugly thing too. I can't believe people buy them. When I returned it she gave me a Sebring. That was better but not a rag top. | ||
| Fordrox |
My Username says it all. | ||
| Hootowl |
I had a PT as a rental after I got T-boned. POS, through and through. | ||
| Firebolt020283 |
you know people have always talk up jap cars as being good quality but I have yet to see this. I have owned 4 different jap cars and had really bad luck with them. American cars on the other hand I have had great luck with like my current two which both have over 100000 miles and both are in decent shape. | ||
| Cowboy |
Check out where the part that failed was MADE | ||
| Bluzm2 |
Hoot, I have to agree as I own one... lots of issues, some repeated. One of the things that pissed me off about most of the reporting of the Toyota issue is insufficent information. It took multiple articles and some digging to figure out if the models involved were fly by wire or old school cable or linkage. All of the articles stated the problem but not the more semi deep technical info. Remember back when Audi had a simular problem? The fly-by-wire tag was in every article or news item. Why not now? Brad | ||
| Court |
2010 Focus SEL - Impressive. My 1997 F-250 (that I refused to turn loose of until Road Thing and my wife threatened me) was as good a vehicle as I have ever owned. The 2006 F-150 Supercab . . . right up there. It's top drawer and when the Porsche arrives the truck stays. The Fords are as good, in my opinion, as both the Porsche and Mercedes-Benz. | ||
| Hootowl |
I like my drive-by-wire VW. It's a diesel, so I typically don't downshift if I'm doing say 15 in third gear, I just give it more "I want to go faster" signal on the "gas pedal". The ECM opens the throttle body as it sees fit, and consequently the engine doesn't bog, it just pulls smoothly. When I want to be connected to a machine more viscerally, I ride my X1 with its twitchy low speed fueling issues. It is a beast, and I love it. | ||
| Paw |
Right there with you Court...I use to be a Chevy man myself. I will say. Ford and Chevy have gotten their shit together. Dodge, well not going to say much there...I'm trading my Dodge in on a Ford Fusion I went this past saturday just to look, drive and get a literature and after driving and looking it over...I'm approved as of yesterday and the final deal will be done at the end of the week. Other cars I looked at were the Malibu and Sonata...But the Fusion is a much better car inside and out as well as the ride and it looks better than any car in it's class. The best part is I get it for $100 over invoice threw the Ford/GE partnership discount. Fit and finish on this American company car is top grade as compared to it's rivals, including the pile of crap Toyota sells...The self accelerating Camry...LOL If Ralph Nader was still in the business of killing a car company he would have a field day with this issue...Maybe he would if Chevy had this problem...He hates Chevrolet!!! (Message edited by paw on January 27, 2010) | ||
| 99buellx1 |
My family has been pro Ford forever. On the farm we've always had F series trucks and generally a Ford car to go along with it. The two best vehicles we've had have been first year models purchased new (even though common thought is to not buy it until the "bugs" are worked out). My 1991 Explorer has been near bulletproof. It would have over 200k on it, but the speedo quit working and I didn't care to fix it.  It now only gets used in the winter. All we've done are batteries, brakes, alternator, blower motor ($10 at salvage yard) and the front seal on the water pump went out because of dry rot ($20 eBay for a new one). The other was a 1997 Expedition Eddie Bauer, no major issues with that one, it got traded on a 2004 Expedition Eddie Bauer. | ||
| Bads1 |
I've owned in the past 4 toyotas since 92 brand new. Never had any issues at all. I've owned 2 subies since 2000. No issues. I've owned I new Honda since 2003. Never had a issue. I bought a 2006 Dodge Durango new in 2007. Its in the shop more in the last year and half then all of the above put together. Rattles,Ball joints,recalls for electrical problems that I had that I was not notified of. Also malfunctioning fuel tank that it took 5 times to fix that was also a recall... not notified till I had a problem. Then I found rust in the driver door at the bottom. The whole side of the truck got a repaint. I'm battling getting new wheels for it right now because the clear coat is peeling off of them. Did I say this truck just turned 30,000 miles. Pure and utter junk. As far as Toyota?? Atleat they recognize there issues and fix them. Aleast they have for me. I'll be getting rid of that crap box Durango within a year or so. When I do I will go back to a Import. I just had great luck and also with my dealer. | ||
| Bikertrash05 |
Harley's drive-by-wire hasn't been problem free either. I am glad Buell didn't change out the cables! | ||
| Dentguy |
I've owned Ford, Chevy, Pontiac, GMC, Buick, Porsche, Toyota, Nissan, Saab, Mazda and who knows what else. They were all good to me. I probably spent the most in repairs on a 97 Explorer, but it was still good to me. It's a bad part and they will fix it. Manufactures have recalls sometimes. Even Buell. I currently have an 06 Tundra and an 08 Highlander for my wife. Great vehicles and have both been in for 1 recall each. Tundra (ball joints), Highlander (3rd row seat belt). (Message edited by dentguy on January 27, 2010) | ||
| Nik |
I like my drive-by-wire VW. It's a diesel, so I typically don't downshift if I'm doing say 15 in third gear, I just give it more "I want to go faster" signal on the "gas pedal". The ECM opens the throttle body as it sees fit, and consequently the engine doesn't bog, it just pulls smoothly. Diesels don't have throttle bodies. The ECU just tells the injectors to dump more or less fuel in. On an electronic injected diesel DBW is a relatively easy system to impliment, since you'd have to convert the mechanical signal to an electronic one somewhere along the line anyway. It's a bit more difficult on a gasoline powered vehicle because you have to go from a mechanical, to electronic, and back to a mechanical signal. Hysteresis becomes a problem, as does the compromises made in the control algorithms for efficiency over direct control. Then if the electronic components at either end fail... A lot of this is being blown out of proportion by the story of the CHP officer who had this problem and called 911 at 120mph and ultimately died. Simply shifting to neutral could have avoided that. My family has owned Toyotas for a long time. I have noticed a decrease in build quality over the past 20 years, as they've grown to emulate GM. Ford has done well in their cooperation with Mazda and has come a long way in the same timeframe. I would probably consider a Ford or Mazda product above that of a Toyota for my next vehicle, though admittedly neither really make anything I'm interested in (Ute anyone?)} | ||
| Mnrider |
Toyota kept there frame rust issue on the down low then the spare tires were falling off and the gov. got after them. | ||
| Dwardo |
I have a 2002 Ford Focus with 219,000 miles on it. It has been very trouble-free and still uses no oil and rides solid with no rattles. The build quality is excellent. It has the only leather interior I've ever heard of in a Focus of that vintage and it is impressively well done too. I expect to have to replace a transmission bearing sometime soon but I'm willing to do it. I also owned 3 Mustang GTs from 1986 to 2002 and they are great cars. |
