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I heard on the radio (npr) that Ford as now joined GM in offering a $1k trade-in bump for Toyota owners...
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Michelle Krebbs, senior analyst for Edmunds.com, said that, if not for this week's problems, Toyota's sales would have been up at least slightly for the month.
The expected drop could send Toyota's market share below 15 percent, which would be its lowest level in nearly four years.
Most of Toyota's rivals are expected to post higher sales compared to a year ago. Ford Motor, which last year reported its first market share gain in the United States since 1995, is expected to pass Toyota in market share in January, according to Edmunds.com.
Ford has joined General Motors and other automakers trying to capitalize on Toyota's problems, offering $1,000 to buyers who trade in Toyotas when purchasing a new car.
That could be a big problem for Toyota. "People buy Toyotas for their bullet-proof reliability," said Krebbs. "That was their main selling point, and that's taken a huge hit."
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Fishy indeed.
Funny, the initial fix from Toyota for the floor mat thing
was to attach a simple ty-wrap to the mat and to the stay on the floor.
I've actually detached the mat from the stay and tried to push the mat under the pedal and could not see a way it could cause the accelerator to depress or stick, as the pedals are hangers.
I am now wondering if there is a similar problem with the
clutch squeak I mentioned? As many others are experiencing
the same thing in hot weather?...
More here.This is the recall announced last week following months of insistence that the root cause of a runaway Toyota or Lexus that could kill you and your family was floor mats jamming under accelerators and pinning the pedal to the metal. Now it turns out the accelerator pedal can just plain stick on its own.
Toyota, which has been running ads lately touting its safety record, is still selling new vehicles subject to the recall. It explains that the accelerator won't stick until a critical part wears down. It won't say how many miles it will take before that could happen.
To help understand how Toyota became enmeshed in this nightmare, it's worth examining its three-year journey as laid out in a Jan. 21 letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. First, here's exactly what Toyota says is going wrong:
Due to the manner in which the friction lever interacts with the sliding surface of the accelerator pedal inside the pedal sensor assembly, the sliding surface of the lever may become smooth during vehicle operation.
In this condition, if condensation occurs on the surface, as may occur from heater operation (without A/C) when the pedal assembly is cold, the friction when the accelerator pedal is operated may increase, which may result in the accelerator pedal becoming harder to depress, slower to return, or, in the worst case, mechanically stuck in a partially depressed position.
In addition, some of the affected vehicles' pedals were manufactured with friction levers made of a different material (stuff called "PA46"), which may be susceptible to humidity when parked for a long period in hot temperatures. In this condition, the friction when the accelerator pedal is operated may increase, which may result in the accelerator pedal movement becoming rough or slow to return. In light of the similarity with one of the symptoms described above that are associated with the PPS material, Toyota has decided to include these vehicles in the defect determination.
Then Toyota lays out the chain of events leading up to the recall:
March 2007-June 2008 Starting in March 2007, Toyota received field technical information regarding reports of accelerator pedals demonstrating symptoms such as rough operation or being slow to return to the idle position. These reports were limited to one model (Tundra), and the accelerator pedal assemblies in those vehicles contained a friction lever made of the PA46 material. Toyota's investigation found that the PA46 material was susceptible to humidity, which could cause the friction lever to absorb moisture and swell. Environmental testing was conducted in order to understand the full impact of the swelling of the friction lever due to humidity.
In February 2008, the material of the friction arm was changed to (another kind of composite called) PPS while investigations continued. In June 2008, Toyota concluded that while accelerator pedal feeling could change under certain conditions, Toyota considered it to be a drivability issue unrelated to safety.
December 2008 -August 2009 Toyota received field technical information from the European market which indicated reports of accelerator pedal sticking on vehicles equipped with pedals containing the PPS material. The reports predominantly involved right-hand-drive versions of the Toyota Aygo and Yaris vehicles.
Toyota began a detailed investigation with an evaluation of returned accelerator pedals in March 2009. Internal inspection of the sliding surface of the friction lever and the pedal arm was found to be partially smooth. Toyota conducted some duplication tests, and it was found that the internal friction could increase if moisture was attached to the sliding surface of the friction lever as the surface became smooth. This made the accelerator pedal stick in a partially depressed position under the condition where condensation occurs on the accelerator pedal (i.e. for several minutes during heater operation after the engine is started in cold temperatures). In addition, in the condition where A/C is operated, the phenomenon did not occur.
At this time, it appeared to be a phenomenon predominantly limited to right-hand-drive vehicles, without A/C equipment, based on the location of the accelerator pedal and the heater duct. Based on the investigation results above, Toyota lengthened the arm of the friction lever and changed its material to prevent smoothing on all vehicles produced in Europe with the subject accelerator pedals starting in mid-August 2009.
October 2009- January 2010 Toyota received field technical information from the U.S. and Canadian markets which indicated reports of sticking accelerator pedals had occurred. Toyota recovered parts in order to evaluate the phenomenon. The returned accelerator pedals have the same material friction lever as previously used in the European models (PPS) and, as a result of the internal investigation, Toyota decided to conduct a voluntary safety recall of all vehicles with the subject accelerator pedals. This recall will include vehicles equipped with friction levers made with PPS material, as well as with the PA46 material, which was associated with the rough operation or slow to return symptoms.
