Toyota Troubles!

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We have had several threads like this. Whenever they turn into Domestic vs Foreign they get long and heated.

It is really a silly debate.

Domestic cars are full of foreign parts but mostly assembled in America by American workers. The quality of the cars is low but executive compensation is very high.


Foreign cars are full of foreign parts but mostly assembled in America by American workers (KIA even has a plant in the USA now). The quality of the cars is High but executive compensation is normally capped at a reasonable level.


In the end…..

Buy a Domestic hunk of crap so people can get overinflated bonuses.

Or.

Buy a reliable Foreign car that still supports the american worker……..


Some find this a hard choice.
 
I haven`t even looked at our `09 Corolla yet but from what I`ve read this accelerator is a "drive by wire" part, meaning instead of a throttle cable there`s a potentiometer or something similar that sends a value to the throttle in order to open and close the butterflys. The odd thing is that they`re saying the problem is in the mechanical part of the device and not the electrical part. Sounds like they need to order up 2.3 million accelerators from Denso post-haste. Lol! In defense of Toyota, every manufacturer has it`s recalls and if you look at Toyota as a whole compared to American manufacturers you`ll find that their cars have much fewer problems and a higher delivered quality. American cars are catching up, Ford builds a pretty good car now but GM and Chrysler are still working out the bugs. We`ve had three Corollas now and have logged 1/2 million miles among the group with nothing more than routine maintenance.
 
whatever happens, i will always buy a chrysler product as long as they exist.unfortuneatly the next one will be a minivan now that im getting another addition to the family in september. that will make 2 kids in boosters and 2 in car seats, just cant see it working in my quad cab dodge pickup. bottom line, is that i feel that my family will be safe in a dodge. they always have been so far!
 
Hey,buy whatever you want but i know this AMERICAN will always own nothing but AMERICAN based automakers products..on a side note i have 2 friends that are TOYLETE mechanics and they both drive AMERICAN based automakers trucks,and make a bunch of money fixing all the TOYLETES,especially those rusted out frames something my FORD truck,made right here in the good ole'U.S.A. does not suffer from,just say "NO" to foreign trash!!!:bootysha::bootysha::bootysha:

Oh almost forgot, Ford posted a $2.7 billion dollar profit yesterday..thats probably how much its going to cost TOYLETE to fix their crap products..lol.....
 
Its no different than any other product recall. Baby cribs, food, drugs,
who knows what will get bashed next ?
 
mikedevore said:
I'm glad to see one professional driver on here. You might try reading instead of SKIMMING! You really need to look at the details. To me it should be hard to form an opinion without the facts. Its easy to blame it on the "idiot" drivers, I'm glad to see are not one of them.
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Oh cut it out.... On second thought, YOUR right. There's no such thing as an idiot.it's ALWAYS someone elses fault.:-D
 
My 09 dodge truck was made in ST,louis MISSOR, thank you And for as toyota taking the blame my *** they've tried blaming it on simple stuff that they knew wasn't the problem, look how long it took for them to take action, And then only because the goverment made em. Buy what you want but don't come on here saying that toyjunk is superior to amercian cars what a crock,I'll never buy are own any of there JUNK don't care where there built the profit goes back to japan taxfree that way obama can borrow more money, money that americans made them. SAVE AMERCIA JUNK A TOYOTA now that would be a bumpersticker i'd put on all my dodges,
 
mikedevore said:
Well It Looks Like The Car Company That Could Do No Wrong Has. So Much For Quaility! They Have Stopped Production On 8 Models, Including The Camery. The Reason Was, Unattended Acceleration. I Knew When I Heard The 911 Call From The California Family That Crashed & Were All Killed During The Call, That This Was Going To Be Hard To Cover Up.
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The toyota company did their best to help kill Americans during WWII. I guess that they are continuing their old ways.
Get America back to work.
Be a Patriot.
Buy AMERICAN.
 
1MeanA said:
I haven't read every post so maybe this has been said but...all car mfgs have their problems. How they deal with them is what differentiates them. I can tell you that some stick their head in the sand (BMW, Ford). They might eventually issue a fix but will never admit a flaw. At least Toyota owned up to it. Perhaps it was too obvious to ignore. The big 3 and others could learn a few lessons here. That said, the fallacy about the Japs being higher quality might be broken. I have never been able to bring myself to pay up for the Jap car premium for the supposed higher quality and higher resale.
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TOYOTA DIDN'T EXACTLY OWN UP TO IT. THE FEDS REQUESTED THAT THEY SHUT PRODUCTION DOWN. I GUESS ITS A LUCKY THING IT HAPPEN IN THE USA, IF IT HAD BEEN THE JAPANESE BUILT CAMRYS, THEY WOULD HAVE STILL BEEN SELLING THE DEATH TRAPS. I KNOW SOME PEOPLE THINK THIS IS A USA QUAILTY THING. WELL WHEN I WAS WITH TOYO. WE HAD A RECALL FOR THE STEERING WHEEL RETAINING NUT NOT BEING TIGHTEN. IT ONLY AFFECTED THE JAPANESE BUILT CAMRYS AT THE TIME. I GUESS YOU COULD SAY IF THE STEERING WHEEL CAME OFF WHILE YOU WAS DRIVING TO BE A PROBLEM. THEY NEVER DID STOP PRODUCTION FOR THAT CONCERN.
 
So, instead of buying something worth the money, reliable, and sourced with over 75% american made parts, someone should buy an inferior product, made with more Chinese and Mexican and South American made parts, assembled in Canada and Mexico, and all the while put fellow Americans, your neighbors and mine, who assemble the car with a Japanese companies name on it OUT OF WORK.

Yep, makes lots of sense to me, but only if I was narrow minded or stubborn or some combination of both, seeing as the car itself is more "American" than 99% of the cars the once used to be "American".

Maybe some people should do their homework as to who owns these "American" companies where they buy all of their products from, it is a real eye opener.

So, say XYZ company is a traditional American company, been here 75 years, stil majority American owned. But they contract out 70% of the parts of what they make to foreign countries, and assemble the product outside of the borders of this country, how does that qualify "buy american"???

FF
 
Rob said:
Why are you yelling? Do you actully know definitively that it was a design flaw not a manufacturing flaw? I don't, all I heard was there was something faulty with it. If you have something in writing explaining precisely what the problem was I'd like to read it :read2:
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I'M NOT YELLING, MY KEYBOARD HERE AT WORK IS SET ON CAPS LOCK. YOU CAN TELL WHEN I'M NOT AT WORK. NO CAP LOCKS ON WHEN AT HOME.
ALL I'M SAYING IS, THE MANUFACTURE IS PROVIDED WITH BUILD SPECS FOR THE PARTS FROM THE CAR MANUFACTURE. WILLYS JEEPS WERE BUILT BY WILLYS & FORD DURING WWII, THEY WERE ONLY USED TO KILL THE ENEMY THEN. IF ANY CHANGES ARE MADE TO COMPONETS, IT HAS TO BE APPROVED BY THE CAR COMPANY. THE CAR MFG. SPENDS ALL THIS MONEY ON ENGINEERING, & WHEN THE HAVE TESTED & CONFIRMED IT TO BE A RELIABLE COMPONET, THEY THEN SHOP IT AROUND TO HAVE IT MANUFACTURED BY AN OUTSIDE VENDOR. NOW IF THE VENDOR TAKES A SHORT CUT SOMEWHERE, THATS WHEN HEADS WILL ROLL. IT IS STILL UP TO THE CAR MFG. TO SPOT CHECK QUALITY.
 
So many people rising to defend a FOREIGN automaker..i sure hope you rise as quickly to defend the American flag...
 
No winners in this argument...People who cringe at the thought of a foreign-engineered car (OMG, the horror!), and those like myself who have had nothing but good luck with Toyotas. I wouldn't even consider buying a Chrysler product these days...Quality/reliability seems to be crap IMO.
 
mikedevore said:
I'M NOT YELLING, MY KEYBOARD HERE AT WORK IS SET ON CAPS LOCK. YOU CAN TELL WHEN I'M NOT AT WORK. NO CAP LOCKS ON WHEN AT HOME.
ALL I'M SAYING IS, THE MANUFACTURE IS PROVIDED WITH BUILD SPECS FOR THE PARTS FROM THE CAR MANUFACTURE. WILLYS JEEPS WERE BUILT BY WILLYS & FORD DURING WWII, THEY WERE ONLY USED TO KILL THE ENEMY THEN. IF ANY CHANGES ARE MADE TO COMPONETS, IT HAS TO BE APPROVED BY THE CAR COMPANY. THE CAR MFG. SPENDS ALL THIS MONEY ON ENGINEERING, & WHEN THE HAVE TESTED & CONFIRMED IT TO BE A RELIABLE COMPONET, THEY THEN SHOP IT AROUND TO HAVE IT MANUFACTURED BY AN OUTSIDE VENDOR. NOW IF THE VENDOR TAKES A SHORT CUT SOMEWHERE, THATS WHEN HEADS WILL ROLL. IT IS STILL UP TO THE CAR MFG. TO SPOT CHECK QUALITY.
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Sorry about the yelling comment, I saw a few of your other posts and figured that must be the problem. While your theory is all well and good I would be very interested to go through that whole process from the 1st step through to the last. That's the only way to find the correct place to point the finger and I'm not saying you're wrong.

stroked 340 said:
So many people rising to defend a FOREIGN automaker..i sure hope you rise as quickly to defend the American flag...
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It's not so much that as some of you guys run around shooting at anything that moves before finding out what it is. I like the idea of finding out what it is and if it really is what I thought, then, and only then do I shoot it :-D
 
As I stated much earlier, I had an Intrepid that was problmes from day 1, to call it a piece of crap is demeaning to crap. I'd love to have aChanllenger, but cannot afford it, and, frankly, for what I need a car for, it ain't worth it.

The car I care about is my 64 Barracuda, anything else is a tool to do my job. I had to endure a Lumina and an IMpala, both of which were junk by 100k miles, rattle traps, something breaking on weekly basis. And in the middle was the Intrepid, car was a dead body by 120k, no power, worn out, and, once again, I maintained these cars impecably.

The Camry I have been @ the helm of for the last 6 years has given me absolutely NO trouble whatsoever, and has ~180k miles on it.

Sure, I'll look @ Honda, Toyota, Ford, but unless Chrysler finds some kind of divinity and starts making reliable, well built cars, will shy away from them, sad to say.

That and the fact that my Toyota is more American than 90% of Chrysler products, AND was built by fellow Americans.(a cousin of mine, for one)

We all have our preferences, just like beer, liquor, foods, clothing, and we will continue to buy what we are comfortable with, and avoid that which we are not. I don't chastise anyone for only buying what was once American cars, if you are okay with that, and feel you get proper value for your hard earned $$$, then fine, it's your choice, do what you wish, but don't chastise me for doing the same with my choice.

FF
 
Fstforward said:
As I stated much earlier, I had an Intrepid that was problmes from day 1, to call it a piece of crap is demeaning to crap. I'd love to have aChanllenger, but cannot afford it, and, frankly, for what I need a car for, it ain't worth it.

The car I care about is my 64 Barracuda, anything else is a tool to do my job. I had to endure a Lumina and an IMpala, both of which were junk by 100k miles, rattle traps, something breaking on weekly basis. And in the middle was the Intrepid, car was a dead body by 120k, no power, worn out, and, once again, I maintained these cars impecably.

The Camry I have been @ the helm of for the last 6 years has given me absolutely NO trouble whatsoever, and has ~180k miles on it.

Sure, I'll look @ Honda, Toyota, Ford, but unless Chrysler finds some kind of divinity and starts making reliable, well built cars, will shy away from them, sad to say.

That and the fact that my Toyota is more American than 90% of Chrysler products, AND was built by fellow Americans.(a cousin of mine, for one)

We all have our preferences, just like beer, liquor, foods, clothing, and we will continue to buy what we are comfortable with, and avoid that which we are not. I don't chastise anyone for only buying what was once American cars, if you are okay with that, and feel you get proper value for your hard earned $$$, then fine, it's your choice, do what you wish, but don't chastise me for doing the same with my choice.

FF
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WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU PURCHASED A LATE MODEL CHRSLER PRODUCT? I CURRENTLY OWN AN 2005 MAGNUM R/T W/70K, AWSOM CAR, THE ONLY PROBLEM I HAVE WITH IT, IS SMOKING THE REAR TIRES WITH THE TRACTION CONTROL OFF. 2004 HEMI QUAD CAB THAT MY COLLEGE SON DRIVES, 140K NO CONCERNS AT ALL, GREAT TRUCK, 2003 3500 Q/C DIESEL 104K, GREAT FUEL MILAGE, TOWS ANYTHING, JUST CHANGE THE ORIGINAL TIRES @ 90K, & MY DAUGHTERS 2005 CROSSFIRE 45K, IT DOES HAVE A BROKEN CUP HOLDER. THIS IS A FUN CAR. THE ONE THING THEY HAVE IN COMMON, THEY ARE GREAT CARS, THAT HAVE ONLY REQUIRED MAINTNENCE. NO MAJOR CONCERNS AT ALL.
IT SEEMS THAT THIS DAY & AGE, EVERYBODY SCREWS TOGETHER A GOOD CAR. BUT TO SIT BACK & SAY CHYRSLER BUILDS JUNK. GIVE ME A BREAK. YOU GOT TO BUY THEM FIRST.
 
mikedevore said:
WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU PURCHASED A LATE MODEL CHRSLER PRODUCT? I CURRENTLY OWN AN 2005 MAGNUM R/T W/70K, AWSOM CAR, THE ONLY PROBLEM I HAVE WITH IT, IS SMOKING THE REAR TIRES WITH THE TRACTION CONTROL OFF. 2004 HEMI QUAD CAB THAT MY COLLEGE SON DRIVES, 140K NO CONCERNS AT ALL, GREAT TRUCK, 2003 3500 Q/C DIESEL 104K, GREAT FUEL MILAGE, TOWS ANYTHING, JUST CHANGE THE ORIGINAL TIRES @ 90K, & MY DAUGHTERS 2005 CROSSFIRE 45K, IT DOES HAVE A BROKEN CUP HOLDER. THIS IS A FUN CAR. THE ONE THING THEY HAVE IN COMMON, THEY ARE GREAT CARS, THAT HAVE ONLY REQUIRED MAINTNENCE. NO MAJOR CONCERNS AT ALL.
IT SEEMS THAT THIS DAY & AGE, EVERYBODY SCREWS TOGETHER A GOOD CAR. BUT TO SIT BACK & SAY CHYRSLER BUILDS JUNK. GIVE ME A BREAK. YOU GOT TO BUY THEM FIRST.
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Seems like their is no need for him to buy a Chrysler product as he is happy with his 180k trouble-free Camry ;)
 
wedgie said:
The toyota company did their best to help kill Americans during WWII. I guess that they are continuing their old ways.
Get America back to work.
Be a Patriot.
Buy AMERICAN.
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AHAHAHAAAHAHAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!

Ok I got a question? Did you buy a Chrysler/Dodge/Plymouth between the years 1998 and 2007? At that time Chrysler was owned by the Germans. Where were the profits going? Overseas to Germany! What is the first thing Daimler did when they bought Chrysler? The took the $10 Billion rainy day fund that Chrysler had saved and sent it overseas to Germany! So did any of you great patriotic Americans buy a Chrysler product from 1998 to 2007? Did ya? If ya did, good on you for supporting a foreign car company!

And what were the Germans doing during WWI? I'm sure ole Hitler himself would send ya a big sloppy wet kiss from beyond the grave for buying a Daimler/Chrysler product from 1998 to 2007.

And now we got Fiat owning part of Chrysler. And who's side of the war was Italy on during WWI?

Buy American indeed! I just love that arguement.

Wylde1.

PS. If I could afford a new Plum Crazy SRT8 Challenger, I'd be all over it in a heartbeat.
 
casey70dartreed said:
Seems like their is no need for him to buy a Chrysler product as he is happy with his 180k trouble-free Camry ;)
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Lets put it this way, the car was a company car, I got an unbelievable deal on it, so I bought it. My goal is to get between 250k and 300k out of it, then get rid of it. @ that time, because I get paid mileage(and do ~20-25k business miles/yr), I should have enough in the car account to pretty much pay cash for my next work vehicle. My goals will be, in no certain order, fuel mileage, comfort, enough room to carry the computer parts I need, space 4 5 people, reliability, quality. I will look @ whatever vehicles fit this bill, regardless of manufacturer. Then peruse the ratings on the vehicles.

I almost bought a Caliber last year, but decided do hold off and run this car into the ground. One of my co-workers bought one, and I drove it, noisy, almost couldn't hear myself think. Cheaply made, dash was cheap, and rattled, fit and finish maybe a 6 on a scale of 10, made me glad I rethought my plans. Now, most of the reviews, and reliability reviews on them are coming out and what is showing up ain't good. SO, if it has that track record, as does the Avenger, has an absolute putrid track record. Why should I rush out and buy one so I can make up my mind, while pouring my money down the drain? I've test driven one and know I couldn';t hack being in that vehicle for 1 year, let alone 6-8 years I need to get out of a vehicle.

FF
 
mikedevore said:
WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU PURCHASED A LATE MODEL CHRSLER PRODUCT?
IT SEEMS THAT THIS DAY & AGE, EVERYBODY SCREWS TOGETHER A GOOD CAR. BUT TO SIT BACK & SAY CHYRSLER BUILDS JUNK. GIVE ME A BREAK. YOU GOT TO BUY THEM FIRST.
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How about my '05 Grand Caravan that now has 173,000 kilometers (107,000 miles).

Turn signal switch broke - replaced under warranty. Feb. 2007
Power steering leak - Dealer could not find leak. Feb. 2007

Problem with airbag lights - replaced module under warranty. Feb. 2007
Worn out driver's door striker - replaced under warranty. Feb. 2007
Passenger door weatherstrip falling down - replaced under warranty. Feb. 2007

Air bag light problem again - dealer replaced sensors in passenger seat, computer, bumper sensors. Finally took out the carpet and found corroded wires. All done under warranty. Feb. 2007

Coolant leak #1 - replace water pump. Warranty work. Sept. 2007
Power steering leak - replace rack. Done under warranty at the same time as water pump. Sept. 2007
Driver's door weatherstrip falling down - replaced under warranty. Sept. 2007
Broken left front CV joint - I told the dealer to look at it when doing the water pump and rack. CV joint was making the *clack*clack*clack* sound when going around a corner. I was told everything was fine. The next day the CV joint broke. Replaced under warranty. Sept. 2007

Check engine light - cam and crank sensor out of sync. - Broken flywheel - replaced under warranty. Feb. 2008

Driver's arm rest broke - replaced broken bolt. March 2008

No brake lights. all bulbs were blown. - broken wires near driver's door. Repaired May 2008

Coolant leak #2 - Coolant transfer tube rotted. Replaced by me May 2009

Can't keep brakes on this van. 4 wheels disc. Between the front and rear there's been 14 pad changes. Finally was able to get ceramic pads and they're lasting longer now but time will tell.

On my to-do list:
Driver's door window won't go down. Needs a regulator assembly.
Check engine light - Needs an egr assembly. Part is $250 from Dodge.
Coolant leak #3 - looks like the rad has started to leak.
Intermittant electrical problem with gauge cluster, dash lights, front and rear wipers. From the codes there's a communication problem with the dash and computers. Will need a new cluster assembly. About $500 from Dodge.
Air bag lights are on again.
And there's a few more things to do that I can't remember right now.

Does this van qualify as a quality vehicle or a lemon? I bought it because of the stow-n-go seats. Don't know if I'd buy another.


Wylde1.
 
This is getting pretty heated... these are multinational companies, and I'm pretty sure there not trying to kill us. The company who made/designed the pedals (CTS, based in Elkhart IN) is a North American auto parts supplier who also supply the assembly to Ford and GM. It will be interesting to see what those guys do.

By the way, keep in mind that our domestic manufactures are big player around the globe were we are the 'foreigners'.
 
Wylde1 said:
How about my '05 Grand Caravan that now has 173,000 kilometers (107,000 miles).

Turn signal switch broke - replaced under warranty. Feb. 2007
Power steering leak - Dealer could not find leak. Feb. 2007

Problem with airbag lights - replaced module under warranty. Feb. 2007
Worn out driver's door striker - replaced under warranty. Feb. 2007
Passenger door weatherstrip falling down - replaced under warranty. Feb. 2007

Air bag light problem again - dealer replaced sensors in passenger seat, computer, bumper sensors. Finally took out the carpet and found corroded wires. All done under warranty. Feb. 2007

Coolant leak #1 - replace water pump. Warranty work. Sept. 2007
Power steering leak - replace rack. Done under warranty at the same time as water pump. Sept. 2007
Driver's door weatherstrip falling down - replaced under warranty. Sept. 2007
Broken left front CV joint - I told the dealer to look at it when doing the water pump and rack. CV joint was making the *clack*clack*clack* sound when going around a corner. I was told everything was fine. The next day the CV joint broke. Replaced under warranty. Sept. 2007

Check engine light - cam and crank sensor out of sync. - Broken flywheel - replaced under warranty. Feb. 2008

Driver's arm rest broke - replaced broken bolt. March 2008

No brake lights. all bulbs were blown. - broken wires near driver's door. Repaired May 2008

Coolant leak #2 - Coolant transfer tube rotted. Replaced by me May 2009

Can't keep brakes on this van. 4 wheels disc. Between the front and rear there's been 14 pad changes. Finally was able to get ceramic pads and they're lasting longer now but time will tell.

On my to-do list:
Driver's door window won't go down. Needs a regulator assembly.
Check engine light - Needs an egr assembly. Part is $250 from Dodge.
Coolant leak #3 - looks like the rad has started to leak.
Intermittant electrical problem with gauge cluster, dash lights, front and rear wipers. From the codes there's a communication problem with the dash and computers. Will need a new cluster assembly. About $500 from Dodge.
Air bag lights are on again.
And there's a few more things to do that I can't remember right now.

Does this van qualify as a quality vehicle or a lemon? I bought it because of the stow-n-go seats. Don't know if I'd buy another.


Wylde1.
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My `03 Dakota 4.7 had two gas caps, most all of the vacuum lines replaced, thermostat (overheating), radio broken, and A/C leaking in the cabin, all by 17K miles.
 
I have to chime in on this one. I do believe the car that crashed on the 911 call was a Lexus with a push button start. I remember seeing a news clip informing you that you have to hold the ignition button in for 2 seconds to get these to shut off. If I had one before I saw this and my car was accelerating quickly with my family in it and I am on the phone with 911 I might not have known this. Who reads their owners manual?

I worked as a Quality Manager for a company that made electronic throttle controls or ETC's from 2001 until 2008 until they shut our plant down and moved it to Mexico. I remember we bid on these jobs but our ETC wasn't cheap enough. Something like $8+ instead of $6+.

We made ETC's for GM including the Malibus, Buicks and Cadillac DTS's. The testing on an ETC is extreme with millions of test cycles under extreme conditions. I also made many other safety parts for Toyota in the past and would be surprised if their testing wouldn't have shown an issue. Hopefully CTS tested the parts correctly and reported the results correctly.

I would hate to work for CTS right now. I couldn't imagine the pressure shutting down a customers plants for its top products, replacing them and the lawsuits that are following would cost. If I worked for them I would be looking for another job. They will be bankrupt in the next couple weeks.
 
mikedevore said:
I'm glad to see one professional driver on here. You might try reading instead of SKIMMING! You really need to look at the details. To me it should be hard to form an opinion without the facts. Its easy to blame it on the "idiot" drivers, I'm glad to see are not one of them.
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<sigh....> Yeah, I should ready every word some of you guys type. And your right, I should get my facts right....

Did it ever occur to you I know people at Toyota? Before I went back to Infiniti I worked for a Nissan/Toyota store for 5 yrs. and I know the scoop. People are idiots. Plain & simple.

And as for TRYING to twisting my tail, type in the COMPLETE sentence before you make an *** of yourself.I just wish one of you guys would blame Obama for this so I can toss it where this thread belongs: In the Politics Section.
 
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