Thank you, I didn't know if that was the case or not. My wife has a 2009 Scion xD and I was concerned; I'll call the dealer just to make sure though.
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Toyota halts sales of vehicles due to safety defect
- Thread starter DakotaGuy
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I think you're talking about when the brake pedal is hit, the ECU gives it priority over the engine and reduces the power. Toyota products do not have this at this time. Toyota though said newer models will have it and they will reflash the older models with it.
Not sure in this application but they were originally a feature of keyless integration (proximity door locks, keyless ignition etc) it's just another step in technology hand crank/key/keyless. The same cannot be said of Key/keyless combinations though.
One of the more mildy irritating side-effect of contemporary drive-by-wire systems, that results in decreased throttle sensitivity.
Though that's significantly less irritating than some new models ability to completely override the throttle as soon as any pressure is applied to brake pedal, meaning that you can neither heel-n-toe, nor left-foot brake.
You dont lose brakes in the event of, say, running out of gas at highway speed. Vaccuum pressure should keep your brakes nice and solid.
Havent you ever pushed a car and someone made it difficult by holding down the brake pedal while steering it?!
But, youd then notice that, yes, you do lose power steering. But plenty of cars had/have no power steering, and going from one lane to the next isnt the same as trying to turn 90 degrees.
In other words, turning off your engine isnt ideal, but it certainly wont make the car a flying death trap with no way to stop.
It was in an article on Left Lane News. Given the multitude of articles about Toyota the past few weeks, I've not been able to find it. It has something to do with Toyota wanting to prevent damage to the engine/transmission.
I like push button start. Not because it all race car like but because it is really conventite. No messing with getting keys out of my pocket, it is just sit down and drive. I can also argue it is a nice safety feature particlure for women and at night when going to their cars. No risk of them digging around in their purses to find the keys. Just having the purse on them is enough to get into their cars and start it.
As for keyless entry on my car. I miss it because I lost one keyfab and my other broke. It what i use to prevent myself from locking my keys in my car because I would only lock the car with the keyfab when I was out of the car. Plus I could lock it as I walk away.
Add to that leave your car in gear when you kill it it will reduce the amount of power loss to steering and brakes. Hell after you turn the car off you still have 1 full power brake hit and then each one after that gets weaker.
The reason leaving your car in gear is the transmission will force to engine to keep spinning and that turns all the pumps. Manual would suffer less losses than a auto but an auto would keep quite a bit of power for power steering and brakes.
GM is sitting on ~$38 billion. So it has the money to do it.
It isn't hard to shift into neutral. I guess panic hit these people and they didn't think? And if you hold the brake pedal it will stop the car even at WOT( IE: Hold the brake pedal down. Don't pump it. That will just wear out the pads without doing much in stopping you.....). C&D did a test on this. The brakes were able to bring a 550 HP Mustang to a stop at WOT.
And I agree with the education part...... Some idiot today in a 45 MPH going 50 MPH just randomly slowed down to 25 MPH when going through a green light.... I also love how people stop on the on ramp on a highway..... Yeah, going 40 MPH will make it easier for you to merge then going 0 MPH.......
Yes, $38 billion of which the GOVERNMENT OWNS MOST OF.
You're kidding? Our 1998 CR-V has this and new Toyota cars don't?
I don't mean you'll lose total control but I do remember last time I spun out in my RSX and the car randomly shut itself off that braking and steering was EXTREMELY difficult. Most modern cars do have power brakes, so while there is pressure that helps you slow down, it's not as effective (at least the feel, don't know the science of it) as with power... and I do believe an average joe/jane driver would do something dangerous in this type of situation... especially if they're panicking also.
Of course turning off the car isn't a death trap, but how bad is it for the engine or transmission to be running in gear and turning off the engine? Wouldn't that keep the car RUNNING since most modern engines actually turn off the fuel injectors when you let go of the gas? At least for my bike, I can shut off the fuel pump and the engine will still spark and cruise down the street, just can't accelerate, just slowly down to a stop, but that's with a manual/clutch system, not sure how the automatics would handle this.
The lag in most systems is annoying, but I'll deal with it because I can remap my throttle very easily.One of the more mildy irritating side-effect of contemporary drive-by-wire systems, that results in decreased throttle sensitivity.
Though that's significantly less irritating than some new models ability to completely override the throttle as soon as any pressure is applied to brake pedal, meaning that you can neither heel-n-toe, nor left-foot brake.
Ugh. I can at least heel-n-toe.
Well, sorta. My foots too big to actually use those parts, and my attempts at left foot braking in my current car have not gone well.
You know... it's not a particularly desirable feature to have IMHO. Well... unless you're currently driving a Toyota of course.
The lag in most systems is annoying, but I'll deal with it because I can remap my throttle very easily.
It's particularly noticeable on turbo'd VAG cars... brake>blip the throttle>nothing>clunky down change... try again brake>punch the throttle>lag>rev's increase>turbo kicks in>airbag deploys.
Well, sorta. My foots too big to actually use those parts, and my attempts at left foot braking in my current car have not gone well.
I wouldn't worry... I can only heel-n-toe in certain cars as well because I can't manipulate my foot to suit all pedal placements... though Converse All Stars help enormously (flexible, good grip).
Left foot braking is nothing other than practice.
Have you tried using both feet on the brake pedal? Same principle as when you learn to drive in a dual-control car, with the examiner helping articulate the pedals. Actually... I was thinking about this last night, I wonder what the potential legal ramifications are if you knowingly drive a Toyota model (or a PSA and possibly Lexus soon too) that is subject to the recall, and are then involved in an accident that was caused by the known fault.
Certainly brings new meaning to their old strapline though... The car in front is a Toyota... well let's hope so.
Certainly brings new meaning to their old strapline though... The car in front is a Toyota... well let's hope so.
In the left lane thinking they are civilian cops trying to get everyone else to slow down.......
Everyone is making this out like a giant catastrophe.
Sure, I agree it is bad. It will inconvenience a lot of people, some people will doubtlessly get into accidents, and it will be a SNAFU for insurance companies and legalese folks to wrangle out the implications on paper.
But, I am still buying a Toyota for my next car. Unless someone can convince me (with relevant non-anecdotal data and facts, of course) that a Prius is not a good buy.
This is egg on the face to Toyota, but I will remain a loyal customer. My Camry is a battle-hardened unstoppable tank. Can't say that about my past Dodge, Ford, Pontiac, or Chrysler.
Keep making awesome cars, Toyota! I don't care if people think they are boring. Cars are a piss-poor investment anyway, I want reliable and good value for the dollar.
Sure, I agree it is bad. It will inconvenience a lot of people, some people will doubtlessly get into accidents, and it will be a SNAFU for insurance companies and legalese folks to wrangle out the implications on paper.
But, I am still buying a Toyota for my next car. Unless someone can convince me (with relevant non-anecdotal data and facts, of course) that a Prius is not a good buy.
This is egg on the face to Toyota, but I will remain a loyal customer. My Camry is a battle-hardened unstoppable tank. Can't say that about my past Dodge, Ford, Pontiac, or Chrysler.
Keep making awesome cars, Toyota! I don't care if people think they are boring. Cars are a piss-poor investment anyway, I want reliable and good value for the dollar.
The thing that bothers me about all of this is not that Toyota had a problem (everybody does) but that they did not seem to take it seriously for 8 years and basically swept it under the rug. I am not saying that other companies aren't just as bad, but other companies don't Have Toyota's reputation for quality and reliability. I have never owned a toyota but would have definitely considered them on my short list for my next car; now I am not so sure.
They did the same thing for the engine sludge problem.
When this issue has been going on since at least 2004 and Toyota knowing of this problem, this is a black mark on them. What is even worse is the NHTSA also had complaints and didn't investigate it( which rumors say that is due to an ex-NHTSA employee now working at Toyota managed to get them ignored).
Now I realize every automaker is guilty of trying to hide major defects before( GM with the Corvair, etc), but they were rightfully scrutinized. But, I have been reading people going and saying that we are blowing this out of proportion, gov't conspiracy due to them owning GM,etc trying to downplay this issue. Fact is quality at Toyota has fallen with some of it due to their rapid growth. IMHO, the interior of the current Camry is cheaper then the last-gen's interior. We had a 2004 Camry as a rental, while bland the interior used decent materials and were certainly better then the American counterparts. When I was my local autoshow in 2007 and stepped inside the 2007 Camry, the interior had hard and cheap plastic. Same with the 2007 Tundra( not to mention the horrible placement of the HVAC and radio controls). The fact of the matter is that their customer base can ignore these issues without criticism will lead Toyota to not care much like the Big 3 ignored the customers back in the 80's. What these people need to learn is the best critics of a company comes from their fans. If they won't criticize Toyota, Toyota won't change.
Well said. Although Toyota has always been know for plain and bland cars, at lest they were well made with generally quality materials and I always admired their cars. I happened to be at a Toyota dealership about a year ago and checked out a few of the cars in the showroom while I was there. I was shocked at how cheap everything seemed compared to the rentals that I had driven in years past. I think part of the issue like you said is that Toyota has been growing too fast to control and using cheaper materials in their cars so that now they look/feel cheaper than 80's Detroit cars; at least they still have the fit and finish that Detroit never had back then.
While us Charger drivers have not
Toyotas are nice but if you want bigger and power forget it. I think it sucks that they did sweep these problems under the rug for so long and now the prius issue just makes you wonder about how these corporations let their lawyers think for them. These are massive recalls.