I just found out 5 min ago,..2007 prius...

[beevul]

Our older daughter has a 2007 prius. She bought it new. I just found out 5 min ago, that she had the "acceleration problem".

She took it to the dealership, and...I shit you not...her exact words were "they told me I was imagining things".

I was just talking to my S/O about toyotas problems, and she told me about it.

I'll be talking to our daughter later to find out more.



This hits very close to home.

On edit:

I should have mentioned - the car is regularly maintained at a dealership, and she has no floormats in it.

[katmondoo]

1. That is the standard reply to a woman by a dealership

[Liberal_in_LA]

23. yup

[Trekologer]

24. I think its more the standard reply from Toyota if you question them

Toyota dealers seem to show a contempt for their customers if questioned about the recalls or possible other problems. A friend of mine inquired about a Toyota via email a couple months ago and the dealer recently followed up with him. The friend replied that due to the recent news he was unsure about getting another Toyota (his wife has a recalled one and they haven't been happy with the handling its recall). This is the reply from the sales manager:



I would like to say a few things about this whole recall business. Personal opinion, of course.

With regard to the recall, please understand that this was a voluntary recall on the part of Toyota. But, once they announced it, then the press jumped on it because they first of all feed off of negativity. Also, now that General Motors is now Government Motors, the government is jumping on the dog pile. It's all about $$$$. Ford has the same exact gas pedal. Did you hear anything about Ford? Do you know that they still haven't fixed the exploding gas tanks on a lot of the trucks that were supposed to be recalled? Do you know that they have the same braking system on their hybrid as Toyota? Why wasn't there anything said about a recall being necessary for them? Because Toyota is doing it voluntarily and not by government mandate.

The problem with the gas pedals was actually two problems. One was people putting all-weather mats on top of the regular floor mats and those weren't fastened down and were sliding onto the gas pedal and, in some cases, they weren't even mats that were supposed to be put into a Toyota. The other problem basically was a POSSIBILITY that there could be sluggish depression and return of the gas pedal on Camry's with more than 100,000 miles on them under certain climatic conditions.

Just think about this...Toyota has been known for quality and safety for 40 years or so. Do you think that they are going to let that reputation go down the drain? They have already fixed the problems on most of the cars.

I have 3 Toyotas and I don't plan on buying any other brand, ever. And, if I couldn't sell Toyotas I would not want to sell cars.

Again, this is my personal opinion, but, as a fellow Toyota owner and a person very involved in the current situation, I hope that this puts your mind at ease.

[SmileyRose]

36. AMEN

funny how when you show up and refuse to leave until the service manager (a man) takes a ride with you and vouches that there really truly is a weird noise coming from the back of the car they suddenly managed to figure out how to fix it before the warranty runs out.

[onecent]

2. That's JUST WRONG!!! Call your television channels...

for starters. I hope you get justice for this...It's about time these Toyota People wake up. Am saying a prayer for your daughter's safety.

Good Luck!!!!

[spinbaby]

3. Hmmm...I have a 2007 Prius

And I'm taking it to the dealer tonight for its 45,000-mile maintenance. I think I'll have a few questions.

[jsamuel]

4. 2007 Prius only has a problem with the floor mats, not the pedal

[beevul]

5. There are no floor mats in her car.

She lives in an urban area and never sees dirt roads with it. Other than the 2 times a year she visits us.

She keeps it vaccumed rather than using mats.

[jsamuel]

8. oh, I see

I thought you were saying that there was a recall and they told you their wasn't one. I see that you are saying that she personally experienced an issue.

[Boxerfan]

7. How the bleep can you say that on a factual basis?

Nobody knows for sure yet...It is supected there is a common failure with the electronic(vs cable) throttle control.
Floor mats & sticking pedals CAN NOT ACCELERATE a vehicle.
I use caps that time-Because that much is established fact.

[Tesha]

17. YOU ARE WRONG AND YOUR USE OF CAPS DOESN'T MAKE YOU CORRECT!

> Floor mats & sticking pedals CAN NOT ACCELERATE a vehicle.

Nonsense. If the throttle sticks down, the car can accelerate. If the
throttle is depressed by anything (including a floor mat), the car can
accelerate. This is really, really basic physics.

Tesha

[jmowreader]

18. The cars are accelerating past what one would expect by pedal position

If the car will go 100 and the pedal's linear, the car will go 50 with it halfway down and once it hits 50 it won't go any faster. These cars are jumping up to 90 with the pedal still at half-mast.

[high density]

19. What?

If I'm going 65mph and I go 50% throttle, I am definitely going to accelerate beyond 65mph. The transmission is likely to downshift, leading to even quicker speed. Yes, the car will hit a speed where it eventually won't go faster at that throttle position, but that's a speed significantly above 50mph. It might even hit the speed limiter of the car if it's powerful or the road is flat or down hill.

[jmowreader]

28. But if you're already at 50% throttle and the car has leveled out at 65...

and then suddenly goes faster WITHOUT you getting any deeper into the gas?

[Tesha]

20. The throttle position doesn't directly relate to the car's speed.

The throttle sets, more or less, the engine output power. The car
then accelerates (or decelerates) until its velocity "uses up" all of
the output power of the engine in the wind resistance, rolling
resistance, and work done climbing whatever gradient the car
happens to be upon.

And given the astoundingly over-capable engines that cars
are fitted with nowadays, combined with the fact that wind
resistance rises as something like the cube of the car's velocity,
it wouldn't be at all surprising that a car could get to ninety
even with the throttle set to the "halfway" point.

Tesha

[jmowreader]

29. I was just using plugged-in numbers

But basically, the cars are either getting up to a certain speed, leveling off, then accelerating again, like the driver mashed the gas to the floor without actually doing it.

I think it's happened with the driver's foot off the pedal too--there was one where a guy drove off a cliff.

[Romulox]

11. Forgot this:

:sarcasm:

[dixiegrrrrl]

6. Interesting that the CEO of Toyota is, at this minute, testifying

to Congress, and getting his ass whupped for his lying.
And the OWNER of Toyota, in Japan, is to testify tomorrow.

Interesting that your daughter was told STILL a lie.CEO says they take all complaints seriously.

You might want to call a member of the House Ways and Means comm. and let them know that the lies continue.

and here is link to live blog of the Toyota hearing, it may have info. you can use:
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2010/02/live-blogging-of-toyota-hearings-toyota-us-president-jim-lentz-testifies/1

[beevul]

9. Thank you, dixiegrrrrl.

"You might want to call a member of the House Ways and Means comm. and let them know that the lies continue."

Thank you, I think I may just do that.


Right now, I am trying to get ahold of her...to make sure theres no misunderstand between her saying it and it getting to me.

I also don't know exactly when this happened - her going to the dealership I mean. She told my other half about it a number of days ago, so I don't want to jump the gun, iether.


My other half says she didn't want to tell me about it because she thought I'd drive 4 hours to Omaha where our daughter lives, and go to the dealership and chew their ass.

I'd be lying if I said that thought hadn't crossed my mind.

[dixiegrrrrl]

12. I gave you the wrong committee name

It is the Energy and Commerce Committee, Chairman Henry Waxman.

Live hearing continues, here is link:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/35538073#35538073

[beevul]

15. TY again dixiegrrrrl. N/T

[1776Forever]

10. Check this post out for some good info & hearing tomorrow link:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=7775102&mesg_id=7775102

[Brickbat]

13. But but but! But! Toyota is a company that CARES! About QUALITY!

:eyes:

I am sorry to hear about your daughter's problems. That's scary shit. It's surprising to me that a Toyota dealership would say "you're imagining things" to someone about a concern at this point, when their brand is in the toilet, but maybe not all that surprised.

[beevul]

14. In fairness...

It may have been some time now since this happened.

I am still unable to contact our daughter to find out when this all went down.

It may not be accurate to characterize them as saying it "at this point"...but...


What pisses me off, is that it would be said at all under any circumstances.

[old mark]

16. VW dealers do the same thing if you have a problem with one of their cars -

actually, we never had serious problems with it till a few weeks after we took it to a dealer for recall work...it never ran right since, stopped completely within a month. We traded it in for a used Hyundai.

mark

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

21. Letter to the editor time. If Toyota wants to commit Hari Kari, why not help them along.

[beevul]

22. Update.

This did not happen when she was moving. It happened when she was stopped at a busy red light.

She had her foot on the brake and the car revved up and started to creep out into traffic.

She stood on the brakes with both feet, and was able to keep it from creeping all the way out, but had she been distracted it could have been ugly.



I am HOPPING mad at this point.

[dysfunctional press]

25. if she was stopped, why didn't she shift into park or neutral when it happened?

:shrug:

[DemoTex]

27. FWIW: Prius gear shift is totally shift-by-wire.

[dysfunctional press]

31. does tha mean that it can't be put into park or neutral when stopped...?

:shrug:

[DemoTex]

32. Maybe, maybe not .. if the problem is in the CPU

I was mainly pointing out that the Prius gear shift is not traditional mechanical, opening up other issues.

:shrug:

[dysfunctional press]

33. just one more reason why i'd never consider owning one.

[DemoTex]

34. What do you own and what do you know about it's inner workings?

I'm not trying to be confrontational, just pragmatic. I love my Prius. I loved my Boeing 737s, but they would kill you and 146 others in a heartbeat if you did not understand them. Why do auto owners refuse to understand all aspects of their vehicles?

[dysfunctional press]

35. a chrysler mini-van.

it's my third one, and i can't think of anything that i don't understand about it's workings.

[DemoTex]

37. Good. Glad to hear that.

You are in the top 1% of auto owner-operators (by my reckoning).

[DemoTex]

26. I have a 2007 Prius, too.

I've warned Dr. DemoTex about the lurching when shifting into reverse. That happens when the Prius is on battery power and switches to gasoline engine when a load is introduced. It is not overwhelming - just disconcerting. But it is significant enough for me to warn her, an infrequent driver of the Prius.

[rufus dog]

30. People should start demanding they replace the CPU

It is very expensive and Toyota and all other dealers hate to spend the $ to replace. This assumes Toyota has found and corrected the problem and just hasn't owned up to the issue.

My wife had a Honda that kept having the check engine light come on. (New car) They shined her on a couple of times then I took it in, the shined me on and about a week later I figured the sequence that was causing the issue. I got the light to come on and drove it over to them. Service Mgr was somewhat of a weenie when I told him how to recreate the problem and when I told him he should write it down he shined me on. Picked up the car later and they said they fixed it, but couldn't tell me what exactly was the fix, so I took the car out, recreated the issue and took it back with the light on. Service manager again wouldn't write anything down and he told me he wasn't a Secretary, at that point I am beyond pissed and told him I wasn't a fucking car jockey either but I keep having to return the car every week. Luckily the Head Mechanic was walking out and came over, I told him how I could recreate the failure and he told me that helps identify the issue. Anyway they had to replace the whole CPU at a cost of about 2k which pissed the Service Mgr off because I am sure they had compensation tied to warranty costs.

Based upon some other reports out there, it sure points to the CPU and not the mats, and the pedals seem like a long shot also. (from what I read, none of the deaths were in cars with the suspect pedals)

BTW the problem with the Honda was a rapid sequence of braking then accelerating at speeds greater than 40. Figured it out the third time my wife called, each time was in a hilly area with high speed limits, she would get up to about 50 coast a bit, brake at the base and then accelerate again. And yes, Brakes in her car last 1/3 less than normal.

[Tesha]

38. If it actually *IS* a firmware problem or a hardware design problem, then "replacing the CPU"...

Won't solve anything; you'll just have fresh copy of the
but still defective firmware or hardware.

Tesha