"Toyota’s sacrificed quality in favor of rapid growth, abandoning the principles that made it one of the most admired companies in the world. And now, suddenly, the problems are coming home to roost. Testifying in front of congress, even Toyota’s CEO Akio Toyoda linked complaints of unintended acceleration to Toyota’s growth, saying that the safety issues resulted from growing the business at a pace that exceeded Toyota’s ability to develop its organization and people."

More at: http://www.cnbc.com/id/35603129/

 

Shame on them. And that's BS on their excuse that they grew too fast to keep up with quality.

They need to follow GM's lead and have a 4 sensor system controlling the Drive By Wire System. GM's system puts the vehicle into Reduced Power when the sensors see something they don't like.

I know a lot of people post about how inconvenent it is when the vehicle goes into Reduced Power, but it's better than going full open throttle, with a set of brakes that won't stop the car.

GM tested the Vibe in a full open throttle scenerio and the Vibe brakes were able to stop the vehicle.

 

I never had issues with the old styled mechanical linkage with my old cars. The current cars available. although fuel efficient, have so many sensors monitoring everything, are not repairable by the shade tree mechanic. These sensors, when they fail are very expensive to replace. The sensors/computers should be warrenteed for the life of the car.

Todays car manufacturers want you to drive a disposable auto which is worth nothing after three years so they can make lots of profit on the next disposable car you purchase.

I always wonder, will the air bag work in a car after 10 years of service.

 

rapid growth = rapid greed....
Good that Toyoda is finally being inspected under the microscope, hope all the cover-ups come to light..

He says I'm sorry..(yea, sorry he got caught).. I say sorry isn't good enough for the families that have buried loved ones..

 

I read an article about 6 months ago when the last CEO of Toyota was replaced with the current one who is from the original family (Toyoda). When the new guy took over he had a big meeting and called out the old guy for being greedy and over extending toyota. The old CEO was focused on being #1 car maker in the world, a goal that he reached temporarily. Unfortunately they clearly let a few things slide in doing so.

Toyota has enjoyed a false sense of quality for a long time but they have been found out. The Prius has had issues from day one, but they hid the problems behind the hype. If you did your research on a Prius you would never buy one.

Here is 57 pages and growing of owner complaints with multiple issues.
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/autom...ota_prius.html

These HHR's aren't too bad!