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Old 30th January 2010, 11:32   #46
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Originally Posted by mrkanitkar View Post
I contacted the dealer, they say this problem is not in India. They also suggested to send car for check, if I have doubt.
I sent a message to TKM thru their website. Received an ack but no response. I am sure their senior mgmt is in a huddle on how to respond to such queries in India.

This only affects the Altis which has a DBW throttle control. The 9G Corolla has a cable operated throttle. The 'defective' part is made by CTI Corp of the US. The part made by Denso is not reported to have this problem. I will be checking what part my car is fitted with and report back here.

BTW, you may have also seen Honda making headlines for all the wrong reasons with their Jazz/Fit/City cars being recalled for a defective power window switch.

It seems both Jap auto giants have run into sudden problems related to minute electrical parts that have a large impact on safety.

Regards,

Update - Spoke to a TKM Customer rep on their toll free line. She put me on hold for a minute and she returned with a confirmation that cars manufactured in India have no issue.

Last edited by R2D2 : 30th January 2010 at 11:51. Reason: Update - Post my telecon with a TKM CSR
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Old 30th January 2010, 11:40   #47
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Originally Posted by sary View Post
Well guys, all said and done !

I am definately considering HONDA Civic now for replacing my so called "TOYOTA" Corolla !!!
Honda is facing issues of its own with power window switches. Its on the front page of the newspapers today. These parts are common in many models incluing the Jazz/Fit and City. They are recalling 650,000 cars globally.

Solution? Buy a Skoda. Its easier to handle spurious parts, crappy after sales and screwball dealers than a runaway car or a car that is on fire.

Rgds,
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Old 30th January 2010, 11:41   #48
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Todays newspapers have a report which says that Toyota have found the reason for the defect and will be able to rectify... Toyota is definitely going through bad times since becoming the largest carmaker-first loss ever ,first large scale recall - they are loosing their name for quality which they were famous for.
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Old 30th January 2010, 17:39   #49
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Altis Accelerator Pedal

Guys,

Received a call from TKM again to explain that the issue is not related to cars manufactured in India. She could not confirm if the assembly would be sourced from CTI or Denso as I am told they are purchased from different vendors.

I did appreciate the promptness with which they answered my queries.

Just to be sure I checked my car's accelerator assembly. It is made by Denso. Phew! This is on a car manufactured in late Sept 2008. Other Altis owners on TBHP may want to check their cars. The label is on the left hand side of the assembly body (adjacent to the brake pedal).

Hope this helps.

Rgds,
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Old 30th January 2010, 17:53   #50
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Originally Posted by R2D2 View Post
Honda is facing issues of its own with power window switches. Its on the front page of the newspapers today. These parts are common in many models incluing the Jazz/Fit and City. They are recalling 650,000 cars globally.

Solution? Buy a Skoda. Its easier to handle spurious parts, crappy after sales and screwball dealers than a runaway car or a car that is on fire.

Rgds,
Well said, Sir. Very well said!

I wonder what's happening to Japanese car companies all of a sudden! Bullet-proof or not, their reliability has taken a major hit as of now! It's funny because I was just thinking of my post in another thread that dealt with the comparison of Jap cars, European cars and American cars! And I'd said that the automotive scenario would change the day Japanese cars become unreliable!
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Old 30th January 2010, 19:02   #51
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Originally Posted by R2D2 View Post
Just to be sure I checked my car's accelerator assembly. It is made by Denso. The label is on the left hand side of the assembly body (adjacent to the brake pedal).
Hi guys. Photo attached for your reference.

Cheers!
Attached Thumbnails
Toyota announces major recall in the US (Sudden Unintended Acceleration)-accelerator-assembly-label.jpg  

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Old 31st January 2010, 00:11   #52
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Originally Posted by Amartya View Post
I believe Toyota should be sued for billions of dollars for something like this.
It will start now. That is one reason they stopped sales and production. It will be exactly like the Ford Explorer - Firestone issue in the past. But look what happened, Ford improved its quality considerably after the incident..Toyota will be a better car once all these are settled.
Another point to note is the resale value of 2007-2009 Toyota cars will be reduced considerably, there wont be any takers for these models..
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Old 31st January 2010, 11:51   #53
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Originally Posted by teamveevee View Post
It will start now. That is one reason they stopped sales and production. It will be exactly like the Ford Explorer - Firestone issue in the past. But look what happened, Ford improved its quality considerably after the incident..Toyota will be a better car once all these are settled.
Another point to note is the resale value of 2007-2009 Toyota cars will be reduced considerably, there wont be any takers for these models..
I think we need to stop overreacting to this.

None of us have stopped flying in an Airbus after the Air France A320 crash off the coast of Brazil that was caused by off kilter speed readings as result of defective/iced over Pitot tubes.

It is good that Toyota has finally acknowledged the problem even if (as some say) it was forced by the US govt. Very interesting insights on international Toyota forums if any TBHPians wishes to read.

Cheers!
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Old 1st February 2010, 13:58   #54
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Toyota's acceleration problems may very well decelerate their sales

OMG , never knew Toyota had such a big quality lapse . Was toatlly shocked reading about an accident that took place in the US.

The 911 call came at 6:35 p.m. on Aug. 28 from a car that was speeding out of control on Highway 125 near San Diego.

The caller, a male voice, was panic-stricken: "We're in a Lexus ... we're going north on 125 and our accelerator is stuck ... we're in trouble ... there's no brakes ... we're approaching the intersection ... hold on ... hold on and pray ... pray ..."

The call ended with the sound of a crash.

The Lexus ES 350 sedan, made by Toyota, had hit a sport utility vehicle, careened through a fence, rolled over and burst into flames. All four people inside were killed - Mark Saylor, an off-duty Highway Patrol officer, and his wife, daughter and brother-in-law.

I hear Toyota was ignorant of the problem at first and was not ready to accept this was a major quality lapse. I just pray and hope this lapse has not been carried on here to our Indian products. So next time if you feel your car is over accelerating just jump off of your Toyota's. This problem is seriously going to dent Toyota's sales in India now.

Here's the news link : Despite fatal crash, Toyota reacted slowly

Last edited by stanjohn123 : 1st February 2010 at 14:01.
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Old 1st February 2010, 14:19   #55
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Atleast in a M/T you have the option of shifting to neutral and comming to the halt. Not sure if this can be done on an A/T.

Shan2nu

Last edited by Shan2nu : 1st February 2010 at 14:25.
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Old 1st February 2010, 14:24   #56
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IMHO this is a one off incident and the sales will not slide down for Toyota. Yes, if there are many such incidents then probably we could see some change. RIP to all those who lost their lives through no fault of theirs.
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Old 1st February 2010, 14:33   #57
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A related article picked up from HBR

Long the quality and efficiency standard-setter, Toyota now has an ostrich-sized egg on its face — a problem with sticking accelerator pedals that led to global product recalls and a suspension of production and sales.

There are important lessons to be learned from Toyota's stumble: Competitive success is fluid. It depends on continuously discovering better ways to do work. The capabilities to do this are powerful but fragile and need constant reinforcement. Relentless attention to their development can lead to great success; conversely, a loss in attention can have grave consequences.

Toyota's success over the decades was rooted in generating and sustaining broad-based improvement and innovation. For instance, Toyota's first U.S. model (introduced in 1959) was a failure: The Toyopet had the distinction of going up hills more reliably backwards than forwards and took many labor hours to make.

However, relentless improvement and innovation transformed Toyota into the benchmark for its industry. That drive enabled Toyota to close the productivity gap between its operations and those of its American rivals in the 1960s; earn a reputation for quality and reliability in the 1970s; and expand its product line to include cars of various sizes, trucks, vans, and SUVs in the 1980s and 1990s, when it went up-market with the successful Lexus and down-market with its entry-level Scion line. Despite industry protests that fuel-efficiency and performance were irreconcilable, it introduced hybrid cars, whose sales now easily exceed 1 million. Last but not least, it converted itself from being a Japanese exporter to a truly global company with design, production, and sales in its regions.

Toyota's current woes are a reminder that developing capacity for improvement and innovation takes time. In order to expand variety, volume, and complexity and still maintain an edge in quality and reliability, you have to consistently develop and reinforce the problem-solving skills of people throughout the organization.

This had been a Toyota hallmark, which I witnessed firsthand. While studying Toyota, I met with front-line teams charged with solving problems related to quality, productivity, and safety. They were often given many months to find solutions, and, in a few cases, their work was extended beyond a year so they could master the skills of problem-identification and resolution.

When I asked longtime senior managers at Toyota about exemplary leadership, they would regale me with stories of company leaders who invested time in mentoring and developing their capabilities for pushing the boundaries of quality, efficiency, safety, and responsiveness, and taught them how to build those capabilities in others.

But as we are now sadly seeing, the capacity for developing people can be overstretched. It was not recognizing this and succumbing to the temptation to make growth its first priority that led to Toyota's current problems.

The flush of catching up to Ford and General Motors, coupled with a boom in demand, led Toyota's leaders to put sales growth above quality. Senior leaders became focused on becoming first in sales with a 15% share of global sales. This meant that new products had to be introduced more quickly, new plants had to be opened more rapidly, and supply networks had to be expanded more aggressively. We're now seeing the consequences of those decisions.

It will take years of hard work to climb out of the ditch that Toyota has dug for itself, but there is cause for optimism. The most glaring is making the hard decision to stop production and sales until quality of its products can be ensured. Another is the company's current leadership. Toyota's new president, Akio Toyoda, cut his teeth in the production settings of China and California, and from his first days in charge has made clear his view that Toyota grew too quickly and has to make quality its top priority once again.

Obviously, Toyota now faces the challenge of regaining consumers' confidence — of making "Toyota" once again a synonym for quality and reliability in their minds. That won't happen overnight, which may be a good thing: Hopefully, it will keep Toyota's attention fixed on rebuilding its capabilities to sustain continuous improvement and innovation.
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Old 1st February 2010, 14:34   #58
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"
Toyota now believes that the trouble with its cars is twofold - a combination of loose floor mats that can interfere with accelerator pedals, and a pedal that itself can stick when a driver depresses it"

Let's see. If it indeed was a manufacturing issue/ product issue, I bet a company like Toyota would have sorted it long ago.
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Old 1st February 2010, 14:59   #59
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Really sad state! I always looked upon Toyota for the quality and reliability of their cars.

This is a rude shock and needs lot of damage control from Toyota!

On a side note, this makes a interesting scenario for the biggies in the states for 2010

GM - Should be bouncing back from their bankruptcy days with competetive products and build customer confidence

Ford- Just posted a full year profit after a long time. Keep up the revs and move the game to the next level.

Toyota - Resurrect from this accelerator pedal fiasco
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Old 1st February 2010, 15:04   #60
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Shan2nu View Post
Atleast in a M/T you have the option of shifting to neutral and comming to the halt. Not sure if this can be done on an A/T.

Shan2nu

In A/T vehicles too one can bring the gear lever to "N" while driging in order NOT to pass the Engine power to the wheels.

However if NO brakes working bringing down from 125 speed to stop takes huge distance of un interrupted run for the troubled vehicle.

Totyota, Honda's quality and premium tag is in big question now.
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