Posted on 07/14/2010 7:01:05 PM PDT by La Enchiladita
Shares of Toyota Motor (TM) are up $1.10, or 1.5%, at $72.82 after the company this morning said it found no fault with the electronics in its autos that had been involved in sudden acceleration incidents and that some of those incidents were caused by driver error, according to the Financial Times.
Funny enough, Toyota’s announcement follows the leak by The Wall Street Journal yesterday of U.S. Department of Transportation data that suggested some incidents of sudden acceleration may have resulted form driver error, rather than faulty design or assembly of the vehicles.
Hmmm.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.barrons.com ...
I don’t hear any apologies from any Congress people for beating up Toyota over this.
or some freepers who called Toyota “Rice Burners”..
I knew it all along and I am not a Toyota fan. The treatment Toyo received is criminal.
You have to wonder about someone who would think that a Plastic Pig is the Great American Sports Car.
Another job-killing, corporation-hammering “Oopsie!” courtesy of the Marxist Media and our Dear Leader’s cabal.
I expect the next round of contribution reports to show $$$ sliding in their direction.
It figures, bad drivers drive Toyotas.
Were any of these drivers, SEIU members?
When will GM be forced to testify about their cars losing power steering?
I know someone with one of these cars and she can hardly turn the wheel when it stops working. Not fun when trying to get off the interstate.
It looked a lot like a meme gone viral getting more attention than it deserved in the context of all known automobile problems. The big US automakers all cross-license their technologies by an ancient agreement, and by now all have drive-by-wire models. Why weren’t we seeing this plague happen in Fords or Chryslers... or even in the much-derided Scions?
Um, usually when power steering assist quits, the most difficult steering is when at a crawl or stopped, not while moving at highway speeds.
Um, just because slower speeds are more difficult; that doesn’t equate to it being easy at higher speeds. She said she was having problems changing lanes and getting on the ramps.
Petite woman, SS car - might not be easy for her. Over the weekend a bunch of us went to lunch, she was parked at the back of the parking lot. Too hard to turn out of parking spots when it shuts off. (that’s how I found out about the recall)
My first car didn’t have power steering but it did have what seemed like a three foot steering wheel. A little extra leverage helps. She doesn’t have that.
The leftist press loves the word "some," In this case it is 74 of 75. That's not what people usually think of as "some."
It’s too bad business doesn’t have a body or council that could call congresspeople onto the carpet for a grilling.
Was it really 74/75? If so, it doesn’t surprise me a bit.
Ask your self does this make any sense? Why were all the claims with one car maker, and hardly any with the others who used a better software design. And first hand testimony(Of the event and attempts to stop) does not support this. You would have to believe that all of these people made it all up. Could it be user error in some cases...Sure. But far from all of them. And keep in mind that this report does not claim that the sticking gas pedals were a non issue. The question is over the software(and computer hardware). Even if the software functioned as designed then that is no comfort. Because the software was suicidal as designed. No brake override. No instant kill of the ignition, and the ignition could only be killed in several seconds while holding down a button for 5 seconds. Most people had no ideal of that...And it is too long and difficult under stressful conditions anyways. And software that would ignore a command to shift to neutral under high torque or high RPM or whatever it is.
And don’t tell me about how the brakes could overcome the engine. That only works if you slam them on hard and hold them until you stop(and then hopefully). You have one shot at that. If you don’t do it exactly right then you get brake fade, and that is all she wrote. Brake pad surface area on modern cars are too small. Brake fade can be amazingly swift. Tell me why the surface area on set of Citation brake pads was larger than that of a modern full size Buick(a heavier car)? And where you could count on your brakes with the first then you had better not count on them in the second in a stressful situation like going down a steep hill full speed(with a stop sign at the bottom) and waiting to break till you get to the bottom. The old car would handle that. The new one won’t. I mean have you ever looked at how small brake pads are now? Cost cutting at its finest.
If I ever end up with any car that does not have key switch that mechanically disconnects the ignition from power then I intend to install one. Because that one device is the main one that you need. And anyone who cannot stop there car without power steering and brakes, but a dead engine...Does not belong behind the wheel. And they better not take away the mechanical ability of those systems to respond without power or we are all doomed. But watch them- They will.
It isn’t true that all the claims were with one manufacturer, and the Toyota claims spiked after all the media attention. Also, You;d expect Toyota to get the most claims, because they sell the most cars.
See Audi 5000...
Completely unexpected!
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