Sudden acceleration: Prius joins Camry, Solara

Oops. Bad enough for Toyota that government investigators have been looking into allegations of unexpected speedups in Camrys and Solaras. Now it seems that Toyota's much touted Prius is yet another model with a mind of its own. Worse yet, customers say the Prius also has a nasty habit of ignoring those frantic stabs at the brake pedal. Just keeps going, and going, and going. Ask the guy whose Prius wound up taking him inside a convenience store and then exploded. He has filed a lawsuit against Toyota.

Leave it to Toyota to blame its customers. When the problem is an outrageous number of engine failures, Toyota says its because their customers don't change the oil regularly. When the problem is unstoppable, sudden acceleration, Toyota says its customers can't distinguish between the gas pedal and the brake. Toyota has also suggested - with a straight face - that some of those pesky customers have even jammed floormats underneath the brake pedal. Comforting to know that Toyota thinks folks who purchase its products are so highly intelligent.

Horror stories galore:
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2009-04-23/news/hybrid-hell-the-toyota-prius-can-be-a-devil-to-drive

Video: victims of oil sludge speak out

Take a look at oil sludge, hear interviews with Toyota's victims, and check out an automotive expert's opinion regarding what caused the problem. He calls Toyota's response to customers "demeaning." Hear about someone who accepted Toyota's "one time goodwill offer," only to have her engine stop running again after less than 300 miles. Click "more info" for a written summary of the problem, and links to other websites.

Apparently, Toyota's engine failure/oil sludge issue isn't going away anytime soon. Customers are still complaining, at least one lawsuit is in progress, and hopefully there will be class action lawsuit number two, including models not initially listed. Hear some howlin' at
http://youtube.com/watch?v=fs7WI2s-CVw

More bullying from Toyota

Update 10/30/10 -
This week, documents surfaced showing that on two occasions, Toyota service personnel drove vehicles to investigate customer complaints of sudden acceleration and verified that the customers' claims were correct. Toyota repurchased the vehicles and urged both customers to keep quiet, even requiring one of them to sign a confidentiality agreement.

Yahoo News censored my comments about this matter, and is now refusing to publish any comments I submit, regardless of the topic.
  
On 5/12/09, which was less than a week after I began directing people to this blog, I got a telephone call from Mr. Dave Adams - Southeast Toyota's "Customer Loyalty" guy - claiming he wanted to "help me get some of my money back." But it turned out to be exactly the kind of bullying I've come to expect from Toyota. Specifics - if you can call them that - were kept verbal (the trademark of someone who's tryin' to scam you), I would be expected to accept considerably less than my expenses, and I would be required to tow the line in terms of loyalty to Toyota. They don't call him the "Customer Loyalty" guy for nothin'. To ensure that Toyota was making a "good investment," I would "say nice things" about Toyota when I visited their dealerships, and this blog "might have to come down." Seems I also needed to "learn how to be a gentleman." Any more picketing, and the Customer Loyalty rep would see to it that I didn't get a dime. Even gave me a couple of days, he did, to "think things over." Yessir, he put on quite a performance. Flogged me good n proper for darin' to criticize Toyota, and simultaneously whined that my remarks about Toyota had "hurt his feelings."  Touchy folks, these "Customer Loyalty" guys. But things could have been worse. At least I wasn't required to buy a new Toyota...

Since Toyota refused to offer bonafide specifics and put them in writing, I finally made my position crystal clear. Sent 'em an e-mail stating that I better not settle for anything less than reimbursement for all of my expenses. Reminded 'em, I did, of the continuing problems I'm having with the engine they rebuilt. Unfortunately - as I've noted elsewhere on this blog - multiple engine failures are not uncommon. And incidentally, when it comes to hurt feelings, my feelings were also a wee bit challenged when I had to fork over thousands of dollars due to Toyota's improperly designed engine.

Point is, Toyota shouldn't profit from their design defect, and potential reimbursement shouldn't be held as a club over a customer's head. C'mon, Toyota. Clean up your act.

Engine failures in MR2 Spyders

6/11/2014 - Updated the original post by entering direct links to reference material, and added remarks about the legal issues involved with removing pre-cats. Also, the Toyota Center has moved into new digs under the name Fred Anderson Toyota.

Starting last year, I began picketing in front of the Toyota Center and Dick Dyer Toyota after these two dealerships and Toyota's corporate headquarters refused to make allowances for a design defect in Toyota's MR2 Spyders. Although Toyota has yet to include Spyders in the sludge fiasco, engines suddenly lose oil, disintegrate, and the exhaust system can also be ruined. I've been out $8,500 in repair bills - $2,000 to Dick Dyer and $6,500 to the Toyota Center - and all Toyota does is stonewall. For a multitude of cases like mine, visit this forum on SpyderChat.com. My Post is number 128. Notice that some customers have lost several engines in rapid succession, and some folks don't have the money for repairs, which leaves these unfortunate souls making payments on a car they can't use. Since Toyota refuses to address their design defect, I have been unable to obtain any assurance that the defect was corrected when my engine was rebuilt, such that my engine will not suddenly disintegrate again.

For an in-depth technical discussion of Toyota's design defect in MR2 Spyders, visit this forum on the British website, MR2 Roadster Owners Club. Like SpyderChat, the British club also features documented cases of engine failures in Spyders, and there are several other pre-cat related forums.

Note the legal issues encountered in Europe as well as this country when tampering with emission control equipment, such as removing pre-cats. Owners are placed in the untenable position of either risking a blown engine or violating the law in an effort to prevent losing thousands of dollars.

I accidentally discovered "the rest of the story" about engine failures in MR2 Spyders while browsing the Internet. It's way past time for a class action lawsuit aimed at forcing Toyota to satisfactorily resolve the outrageous number of engine failures in MR2 Spyders. If the problem is oil sludge, MR2 Spyders - and probably a number of other models - need to be included in the initial class action.  Spyder owners are a relatively small group compared to the number of folks who own other models, so class action lawsuits are less feasible. Apparently, this is the sort of thing Toyota relies on. Talk about a bully.

Toyota problems?  Here's a FANTASTIC website for registering complaints:
http://www.ToyotaProblems.com/

Update 12/24/2014 - There's still hope for Spyder owners who got ripped off: Per today's blog post, send your story to jenn.strathman@wptv.com if your engine disintegrated.

Center for Auto Safety versus Toyota

For further evidence of Toyota's lousy products - with an attitude to match - visit the Center for Auto Safety's website at http://www.autosafety.org/ and click on the Center's various campaigns. Given Toyota's glitzy advertising, you'll no doubt be surprised when you get the rest of the story.

In addition to directing people to this blog, the sign I'm holding up in front of Toyota's dealerships says UNFAIR TO CUSTOMERS. The wording is certainly appropriate, but I'll admit, its a bit of an understatement.

"Mr. T" must stand for thuggery

Dealership employees have complained to local law enforcement about me exercising my right to picket, have used four-letter filth, and have threatened me with bodily harm. Around midnight, about 48 hours after I complained to Toyota regarding Dick Dyer's sales manager (!) suggesting that I "get the f... outta here," I received two obscene phone calls emphasizing the f-word. Toyota's position on this sort of thing is that they have no control over their "independent" dealerships.

After I stopped picketing last Wednesday, two Toyota Center employees had hemmed in my car with two vehicles, and refused to allow me to exit, even after I told them I needed to get home to take my Alzheimer's stricken father to the bathroom. Instead, they sauntered around in close proximity. I finally managed - just barely - to get my car out, checked on my dad, and returned to picket some more. After a few minutes, someone with the Toyota Center came to talk with me about the risks of standing close to the road, during which time two or three cars barreled by and suddenly swerved toward me, abruptly cutting back to avoid a collision. Just another strange coincidence, I guess. Like those obscene phone calls...

Update 5/3/2011 - Management at the Toyota Center has changed hands since this was posted.  Current management has been sincerely concerned about incidents of this kind and has taken appropriate measures to to ensure that such encounters will not happen in the future.   

Forced arbitration, courtesy of Dick Dyer Toyota

Seekin' service at Toyota's largest dealership in South Carolina? Take note of your repair order, which informs you that "THIS TRANSACTION IS SUBJECT TO ARBITRATION PURSUANT TO THE SOUTH CAROLINA UNIFORM ARBITRATION ACT." Read the fine print, and you'll discover that once you sign, if things go wrong, you'll be required to submit to the arbitration process before you can take the matter to court. Worse yet, Toyota selects the arbitrator, which turns out to be the so-called Better Business Bureau. How many people do you know who won their case in front of an "arbitrator"? The process is exactly what you would expect from a bully like Toyota: its a deck stacked in favor of big business, which tends to wear the consumer down and discourage further action. 'Course, when folks take their vehicles in for service, they're usually in a bit of a bind - over a barrel, you might say - and don't have time to consider a mess of legal niceties. Which brings us to the crux of the matter. Why does Toyota's largest dealership in the state find it necessary to hamper a consumer's right to have their case heard in court? Must have tons of unhappy customers...