Posted on 12/30/2009 4:18:22 PM PST by Reaganez
Toyota has built a solid reputation for quality and reliability over the past several decades, but that streak hit the skids in 2009. Marking a first for the Japanese automaker, Toyota lead the industry in safety recalls during 2009.
According to the Detroit Free Press, Toyota’s 9 safety recalls involving 4,872,583 was tops in the industry this year. Toyota narrowly beat out Ford’s 4,521,993 recalled vehicles to take the title of most recalled automaker for the first time in company history.
Of those 4.87 million recalls, 4.3 million were a direct result of an unintended acceleration problem with some Toyota and Lexus vehicles. Toyota was forced to issue the recall after a fiery crash tragically claimed the lives of four family members.
On the whole, the industry saw a marked increase in the number of recalls. Last year saw just 8.6 million recalls whereas the industry combined for 15.2 million recalls in 2009.
The Detroit Three also saw an increase of recalls this year, although the story is a bit skewed. Ford’s second highest recall rate was due cruise control issue that plagued older vehicles, but absent of that, the Blue Oval would have set a company low for recalls.
Toyota also took home one other company first in 2009 – the company’s first operating loss.
No, that is for the Japanese Government to handle.
But I guess you knew that already.
Toyota's definitely slipping in quality. My 1990 Corolla went 199,000 miles before the (original) clutch went out. My 2000 Corolla's (original) clutch is starting to slip at only 178,000 miles! And I did need to have an engine sensor replaced on the newer Corolla at 115,000 miles.
That's quite a percentage increase in the number of expensive service calls: From 0 for the 1990 to 1 for the 2000!
Mark
Yeah,lets put it in perspective. Those floor mats that have killed more than 16 people. Sounds serious enough for a recall.
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The point is that ALL OTHER MAKES have accidents related to floormats getting kicked up into and under the pedals... Toyota got hit with a recall because they generally have snaps on the floor to retain the floormats ... on your GM or Ford you don’t ... therefore if you bunch the floormats up in a GM and jam the pedals IT’S YOUR FAULT and not a problem for the manufacturer.. On a Toyota since they have snaps that makes it a recallable problem..
I don’t own a Toyota but this is the AUDI “uncontrollable acceleration” problem all over again .. if you recall the problem was found to be people pushing the gas pedal instead of the brake but it nearly put Audi out of business.
No word, of course, from the millions and millions of Toyota owners who know how to drive their vehicles.
Here’s one hint - your gas pedal won’t get stuck if you don’t floor it. I haven’t done that since I was 16 and there’s really no reason to. Today’s “nothing is your fault” society will make sure Toyota bears the blame for most any driver error at this point.
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