I love what you do for me.

[m21sniper]

Another recall.

Toyota Sienna spare tire holders that rust out and drop the tire onto the road this time:

Toyota recalls 600,000 Sienna minivans - Yahoo! Finance

The Lexus GX 460 SUV is also looking at a potential fleet buyback (or at least another major recall) after failing roll over tests. Toyota is mulling fixes.

[gprsh924]

The suv one is complete bs. They threw the car sideways at speed then lifted off the throttle and were upset that the electronic nannies didn't do enough to prevent the skid. Electronics can't overcome basic physics.

[Vipergrün]

Conspiracy theory, the US owns GM and wants to squash Toyota by any means necessary?

[fintstone]

Toyota knows that the Government Motors is after them (since GM cannot afford to make a competitive car with union labor) so they must be overly sensitive to this crap. Just BO's way of "leveling" the playing field.

[ZLP]

If things get bad enough maybe they will do more deals and I will be able to afford a new Land Cruiser!

Originally Posted by Vipergrün

Conspiracy theory, the US owns GM and wants to squash Toyota by any means necessary?

You nailed it, Brad. It's a conspiracy. It always is!

Under the Consumer Reports testing protocol, my '88 911 is a deathtrap. Trailing throttle oversteer, and NO stability controls.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by madcorgi

You nailed it, Brad. It's a conspiracy. It always is!

Under the Consumer Reports testing protocol, my '88 911 is a deathtrap. Trailing throttle oversteer, and NO stability controls.

Blame it on Reality TV. Many folks have boring, ho-hum lives, but they see all the fun and drama that Reality TV stars have and naturally want to emulate it, so they create whole narratives that they can participate in, just like "real" TV stars.

People are "living" the news these days, they want to be part of something bigger than themselves. I can see that it would be fun, and comforting, being in a like-minded group discussing all the possibilities, drama, "speculation-as-fact," and intrigue, mentally fortified with a preconceived narrative. You can set up whole "us-against-them" scenarios, creating a set of bad guys, just like WWE/pro wrestling. The dueling monologues are endless, the hyperbole is exciting, the story-lines advance. Who will win? Tune in next week...

The future of this country is a combination of Hatestream Media, where speculation is presented as fact to push emotion and Reality TV/Wrestlemania, where you can live the drama, follow a narrative and fight against the bad guys.

[flatbutt]

I dunno fellas. I've been driving Toyota for years but this is not looking good. Ever heard of death from a thousand cuts?

Originally Posted by flatbutt

I dunno fellas. I've been driving Toyota for years but this is not looking good. Ever heard of death from a thousand cuts?

Me too. I think they'll take a hit, but recover. Audi did, and they made a far less ubiquitous product.

At least I hope so--they make great stuff.

[BeyGon]

I am not afraid of buying Toyota, we bought a new car last month, we looked at Toyota and if they had something we liked better than the Golf we would have bought it. They have enough money to fight this. It's hard to beat the Golf for under 20k.

[BGCarrera32]

Originally Posted by fintstone

Toyota knows that the Government Motors is after them (since GM cannot afford to make a competitive car with union labor) so they must be overly sensitive to this crap. Just BO's way of "leveling" the playing field.

And it will likely come back to bite him in the rear too as Toyota will learn a lot from all of this and end up with yet again a better product than GM.

[speedracing944]

Being a hungry underdog is what made Toyota what is today. Most of the US companies are playing catch up trying to instill Toyota Production Methods. Knocking Toyota down will only make them stronger. Try to beat that GM!

Speedy

[m21sniper]

Originally Posted by gprsh924

The suv one is complete bs. They threw the car sideways at speed then lifted off the throttle and were upset that the electronic nannies didn't do enough to prevent the skid. Electronics can't overcome basic physics.

The SUV one involved rollover testing failures (and a consumer reports "DO NOT BUY" rating) according to the article, it may be a different issue than the one you're thinking of.

Originally Posted by madcorgi

Me too. I think they'll take a hit, but recover. Audi did, and they made a far less ubiquitous product.

At least I hope so--they make great stuff.

In an honest comparison, one would have to point out that Audi was not hit with major recall after major recall after major recall.

It's hard to recover when every week you have another major recall to contend with.

[fintstone]

Originally Posted by m21sniper

The SUV one involved rollover testing failures (and a consumer reports "DO NOT BUY" rating) according to the article, it may be a different issue than the one you're thinking of...

Nope. That's the one. See for yourself:

[gprsh924]

Sniper watch that video and tell me that you honestly believe that the GX460 is unsafe and shouldn't be sold. My Nissan Xterra should get a "don't Buy" rating because it doesn't have any electronic stability control at all.

What a retarded statement at the end. "If its sliding out of control and strikes a curb or a wheel goes off pavement, it could rollover." Yea so could any car if you drive in the manner depicted in the video. If anything the fact that it held the slide and stayed pretty flat was impressive.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Consumer Reports is owned by Pakistani's living in Kenya.

[1990C4S]

...when pushed to its limits the rear slides way out...

I think if they put that in their new ad campaign sales should improve.

[mattdavis11]

And no one hears about GM problems anymore....

I wouldn't be here right now if it weren't for Toyota's ability to make a solid vehicle when they produced the Land Cruiser. It is (was) a 91 model though. I'm not very fond of the lesser cars they have produced over the years, especially the Prius. The company provides one for me to drive, I'm trying to kill it.

I think a lot of what is going on has to do with what has been going on at Denso (Government Motors is pulling all the stops, but it still doesn't change that they are simply providing an inferior product), or who we would know as formerly Nippondenso. Most P cars use their ac compressors, and the quality is down since 2000 or so. The Cobalt (GM) is not being sold in very many places, in fact many dealerships (GM) will not take trade ins, offer rebates, etc... to move the vehicles. They are sitting on lots by themselves. The reason behind this decision is heavily weighted on the steering rack, which is manufactured by Denso.

Last time I checked, GM was still putting a Denso AC compressor on most of their vehicles, and they should, and probably do know it's only going to be a couple of years before it's kaput.

The problem is with Denso, they need to ditch contracts with American made vehicles, plain and simple.

Getting back to Toyota, I don't think there is any way any other manufacturer could tell me that their product could withstand the abuse I put on my own, or my company Toyota vehicle.

A GM product would be spent.

[TGTIW]

Couldn't the dropping spare tire be used as an anchor when the throttle sticks open?

[mattdavis11]

Look at where the part is made, figure out what is going on, and why.

As a challenge, go buy a vehicle that has a J at the beginning of the vin and run it as hard as you can, then compare it against any vehicle you want and record the results. I bet the competition won't make it that far.

I don't work for Toyota, but it wouldn't take me long to tell them why and how they're messing up if I did.