Transportation Secretary LaHood: Stop driving your Toyota now.
Update: Lahood says earlier comment on Toyota was “misstatement”
They’ll be studying this in business school for years to come. What not to do when you have product safety problems.
Federal regulators are investigating whether electronics, not floor mats, are the cause of the unexpected acceleration. If so, then Toyota’s credibility will be damaged even more.
“It really appears that there is a problem in the electronics,” said former NHTSA administrator Joan Claybrook. “There have been incidents of acceleration when the floor mats were already taken out.”
Apple co-founder Wozniak says his 2010 Prius has unexpected acceleration when using cruise control. No one can say he’s not geeky enough to operate cruise control correctly.
I own a 2001 Prius (that is not part of the recalls.) It’s been a reliable car. We recently bought a Ford Escape and are way impressed with it. It’s solid, well-thought-out, and everything works fine. Our next hybrid will probably be a Ford, especially after these Toyota recalls. Doubtless others feel the same about Toyota now too.
PS. From those suspicious minds at Zero Hedge, “US tries to maximize its equity return in bankrupt automakers, tell Americans not to drive recalled Toyotas”
When I started looking at cars a few years ago I was looking at a small set, being the Smart, the Prius, and the Fit. Even 3 or 4 years back I was seeing several complaints about stuck pedals in the Prius (and other Toyota based cars) and Toyota blaming car matts or operator error.
This is not a new issue, it’s just one they’re starting to acknowledge after years of people making noise about it. Just google for blogs on the topic and you can easily find them dating back as far as 2005, which is well before any of the models Toyota is currently recalling.