Does this make you rethink buying a Toyota?

Toyota in recent years has been rubbish at best.

Toyota needs to be more upfront about safety issues, and the spotlight they are in will surely make their vehicles safer hopefully.

All car companies need to make cars even safer though, if you've seen what a tree or telephone pole can do to a car... no one survives these wrecks.

This very accident happened just a few miles from where I lived I used the road that the car went down 125 mph. It was proven that this rental was not properly maintained. The government went after Toyota because they were #! just as they were taking GM under their wing That is the Chicago way of doing business. There were other copycat reports but nothing really proven. The victims were a retired police chief and his family very sad but more coverage then if it was just anybody, the 911 call was played on air.THIS PICTURE BELOW IS A VOLT GOT PRETTY HOT MANY TIMES THIS HAPPENED>

I've never really considered buying a Toyota,no I'm sticking with my Ford Pinto which will be up and running as soon as the fire burns out

First off fining Toyota is not a Christlike thing to do. That makes it harder on Toyota. Fining is evil. The devil would do that. Give the Money back to Toyota plus some to emphasize how sorry they were for taking it in the first place.

This is just a shakedown by the Obama Administration. Toyota is not the only car company that's been mugged over driver error.

I had a 66 Mustang long ago and the motor mount broke on it while I was accelerating. The car kept speeding up so, I simply turned the key off. The motor clunked back onto the broken motor mount and I coasted to the side of the road with no further drama.

There is NO EXCUSE to let a car get away from you. Just turn the damn key off but, not all the way so you accidentally lock the steering wheel.

My family bought a new Mustang. The accelerator would stick and speed up and the whole car would buck while trying to sit at a traffic light. It was returned for another Mustang that worked great :--)

Wow, that's messed up when NEW car acts up like that! Looks like Ford delegated Quality Control to the customers!

If I had the bread to buy a new Mustang, I'd buy a restored 1965-1973 Mustang instead! Super easy to maintain and people will stop and tell you how they once had a car like that long ago!

It was a '67. We didn't have it long because of the danger.

Wouldn't drive one if it was free.

Nope Would never by that Jap trash any way.

I never planned to buy one in the first place.

I'm not really a Toyota fan anyway

i can't really decide on that. in order to know. i would have to see how it is for myself.

Too many problems, too many recalls. I have no desire to own a Toyota.

Toyota is still the best automobile money can buy. I just bought a Tundra with the I-Force gas engine and I love it. Any car mat could jam any car's accelerator pedal, not just Toyota.
Isn't it a conflict of interest for the US Govt. to sue any car company since they (we) own GM and Chrysler?
FYI: Obama is selling 40% of GM stocks back to GM and we will lose several $ Billion dollars over the deal.

http://www.detroitnews.com/ar...

I bought a new Toyota and drove it for 12 years and almost 250,000 miles. I just had the normal upkeep costs. The car ran great :--)

I seem to recall hearing that Ford and GM have withheld similar information from the public in the past. That doesn't make it right but it is not unheard of. We have a Toyota and it has been great. I wouldn't hesitate to by another.

I never considered buying a Toyota. They should pay the 17 million to those people who got hurt driving their lemons.

No, but I've no desire for a Toyota anyway, I drive American cars.

I've got a Ford and two Studebakers.

I didn't know they still made Studebakers :--)

Sadly they don't, but us Studebaker fans are still out here!

The photo looks like Godzilla's footprint.

..I only buy Subarus..(well, that and my cheapie hail-damaged Porsche Boxster..)

I will never allow a loved one to buy or ride in a Toyota. It's not so much the cars errors but Toyota perpetrating "premeditated murder" by knowing the problem existed and consciously deciding it was cheaper to pay the death claims than pay for the recall......there by causing the deaths of over 79 people. No Xmas for them, no nothing!

If I had done that I would have gone to jail. If I bought one, Toyota might not tell me in time.

It reminds me of the computer error terms PEBKAC ("Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair") and ID-10T.

Still with the floor mats thing. I can't count how many American cars I've owned when I was younger with floor mats that moved all over the place. I don't remember Ford or GM paying fines.



I can't help but think all of this is related to the $73 million lawsuit from Toyota and the $360 million lawsuit from NUMMI brought against GM a few years ago for breech of contract.

Ooops. Voted wrong. We just bought our third Toyota--meaning we currently have 3--and will be a T family for a long time. Mechanic? What's that? Oh yeah...for those 100k mile timing belt changes. That's about it.

The Lexus at 170k miles just had its first non-routine maintenance repair...a couple of rods needed changed to enable an in-spec wheel alignment. $400 including the oil change.

We used to require mechanics several times a year. Now it's not even an afterthought.

why didn't you teach yourself how to fix your own car? i do all the maintenance on my car myself, and i save lots of money. i bet you also call someone to fix your flat tires for you, as well.

I used to do my own maintenance--mostly minor stuff, but since my income outpaced my expertise, just seemed better to pay and have it done right. It's maddening to go at a repair symptom several times before getting it right. I don't have that kind of time.

Funny you mention flat tire. The last time I changed a tire, I missed the chassis notch for the jack--it was pitch dark thirty. The jack rose up into the fender well and dislodged the fuel line. I couldn't see what was happening--though the smell of gas was a definite clue. Got the tire changed and still needed a tow. No gas!

Like you, I do love the GTO though. Classic without peer.

i won't buy a jap car. it's either American or European for me, preferably American muscle.

UPDATE: i refuse to buy cars from any company that built equipment for the japs during WWII. my great-grandfather was the same way; he fought in the pacific theater.
and i still celebrate VJ day.

In case you are not educated, jap is offensive. If you are educated and prefer to use offensive monikers, it kind of hurts your argument.

I remember that same discussion online before, one guy tearing into the other for using Jap, and it turned out the offended guy was white and the one using the term was Japanese. None of my Jap friends find it offensive. "Nip" will probably become neutral, too.

I'm not Japanese, but my wife is, and my children were born in Japan. I remember how upset she was when we moved to America earlier this year and she heard someone use the term.

I'm not tearing into the guy, just pointing out that it is hard to make a strong argument when referring to a people and not addressing them properly.

I agree with you, no class.

I wouldn't use it either, but the attack on Pearl Harbor was pretty offensive too!

Way to reach to the bottom of the barrel. Since you went there let's dig a little deeper.

I'm sure Japan had no problem in 1853 when MC Perry showed up to negotiate on behalf of the President. Previously, Japan was a neutral nation and entered no treaties nor traded with any foreign power. Perry was very persuasive, however. He gave Japan the choice of opening to the US, or being flattened by the guns of his warships.

Japan had lots of coal. Our warships of the time were fueled by coal. So you see, we had to exploit Japan and get our hands on that coal.

The Japanese government felt there was little choice and opened trade with the US. This was so unpopular that the government was removed from power by the people. It was replaced with a war machine bent on becoming an empire, and not being colonized like other recently opened nations in the region. That's right, we actually caused a peaceful government to be removed and replaced with a power thirsty monster. That didn't come back to bite us in the rear now, did it?

I'm not justifying Pearl Harbor, just pointing a bit of the history behind the attack.

I will end the history lesson there, and apologize to everyone for veering off the original topic.