After seeing what happened to Audi (reputation crushed, and almost put out of business) when they CORRECTLY denied that there was anything wrong with their autos, I believe Toyota has made a conscience decision to take a very different route with their “sudden acceleration problemâ€. Just like with Audi, there is NO actual problem with ANY of the Toyota models. And just like Audi, Toyota is now in the position of having to defend a problem that just doesn’t exist. Therefore, they have made up a “problem†that they can “fix†in an effort to appease an American (and global) public that has been propagandized by the media to believe that Toyotas can break basic laws of physics. That’s really the bottom line. Do you remember the stories from the Audi drivers? Do they not sound as familiar and as physically impossible as what we are now hearing from a tiny set of Toyota drivers? The Audi “drivers†all said the same thing – “I stood on the brake, yet the car accelerated out of control!†That simply cannot happen – it breaks some very basic laws of physics. The brake will stop EVERY car EVERY time regardless if the accelerator is wide open - EVERY CAR – EVERY TIME. If you don’t believe me, just try it one time and you will understand. It does shock me that some very bright people can’t understand this very basic idea. However, given Audi’s experience, it doesn’t shock me at all to see Toyota’s approach to this bogus “problemâ€. -Brad
Exactly my thought. I think Toyota know what the problem is. They just can't say it. In the meantime, the government continue to pressure them to find the root cause and fix it. They can't do it because nothing good will come out of blaming it on the driver (customer). The government has done the investigation with Audi back in the 80s. There are statistics about older drivers reporting UA magnitude higher than younger drivers. I think our government should come out and straighten things out because they are the only one in the position to do so.
Interesting.How do you know this? Well, on properly operating vehicles this is expected but how do you guarantee this when they have system problems??? Where are the experiments? Wasn't the Audi brake pedal too close to the accelerator and moved?
The solution to the audi "problem" was the interlock that made it impossible to shift out of park unless the brake was pressed. This interlock ended up on every car with auto transmission eventually.
That rings a memory bell, I think. But wasn't there a location issue with the brake pedal, how close it was to the accelerator? Why didn't other cars have similar instances of running into the garage walls?
It really bothers me how easily some of the public assumes that Toyota is the villain and requires it to prove a negative (not possible). Toyota is in the bind of proving that it is NOT responsible when there is no evidence (just claims) that it IS responsible. There have been many bad actors in the automotive world before so perhaps there is a basis for it. But if there is no defect in Toyotas or if there is a defect and Toyota has yet to discover it, Toyota has spoken and acted properly. Only if Toyota actually knows of a defect and has failed to take action does it deserve the scorn it is getting. I do not for a minute believe that Toyota is so foolish as to walk voluntarily into such a trap. So, I believe that Toyota is getting a "bum rap". Because it is a "bum rap" it is not focussed on a specific which can be the subject of action which only increases the scorn. This can not lead to a good outcome and can do a lot of damage to, among other things the value of our cars. At the worst, it could lead to international complications with a damaged Japan. It is a good thing that this has our attention. Hopefully, the fuss will just fizzle. Audi lost a bundle but is back.