Americans To Try To Sue Toyota

[miss_d_bus]

As an owner with a car that did have a sticky accelerator, this news article made me chuckle:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13420798

Catherine (with a fixed and safe Aygo)

[Jan&tone]

OMG, what the h*ll is wrong with these people!!!!!

A car loses value rhe second you drive off the forecourt.

A car that has NOT had a recall, either immediate or 'next service' has not yet been built afaik

I sincerely hope that Toyota win this one, it would teach this litigious society that we live in a lesson...

... Go to court 'cos YOU put badly fitting carpets in a car and they got stuck.... Whatever next

[Cyker]

This is the price of doing business in the US sadly :(

I was watching a documentary sometime ago about a multinational company's experiences doing business in different parts of the world and one of the things that made me laugh was where the guy said they needed to spend something like 8x more on legal teams for things like filing patents, dealing with litigation, dealing with legal paperwork like permits etc. in the US compared to the rest of the world

They are so sue-happy it's amazing anything gets done there... what scares the hell out of me is that it seems to be creeping in here - All these ambulance chaser adverts for injury lawyers are just the tip of the iceberg...!

[miss_d_bus]

I DID experience the fault first hand but I haven't even considered sueing Toyota GB as I realise that a) the fault was with a US made part and not made by Toyota, and B) faults can occur with ANY car manufacturer so its not like any are guaranteed to be problem-free.

IMO, its very political to improve sales for American made cars.

[acetip]

I DID experience the fault first hand but I haven't even considered sueing Toyota GB as I realise that a) the fault was with a US made part and not made by Toyota, and B) faults can occur with ANY car manufacturer so its not like any are guaranteed to be problem-free.

IMO, its very political to improve sales for American made cars.

your correct it is politcal,did you see the toyota chap in front of a senate commitee,as with the BP chap,this commitee made up of a load half wits asking questions on subjects they know nothing about, so they coudd impress the idiots who voted them in.

as with the toyota pedal,the safety valve that blew on the oil rig was american made.the oil rig was american owned and american crewed.

[Parts-King]

I can't see it getting anywhere, other than making millions for lawyers

The unintended acceleration issue has already been to court and NOT PROVEN

Anyone wanting to make a claim is now going to have to prove their loss, something a little more difficult.

Kingo

[Daveyonthemove]

Idiots. That's all i have to say.

[miss_d_bus]

Its a real pity that US politics is so dominated by interest groups and financial backers. I've looked into this Toyota recall business and seems to me that Toyota was doing very well in the US prior to the recall and GM etc weren't doing too good but of course, this is just my opinion ;)

In theory Toyota could counter sue for libel/slander (or something to that end - not up on law that much) for those blaming Toyota over something not entirely their fault. There must be a measurable damage to the brand in the US and they could sue key people behind it.... !!

Personally, I will still buy a Toyota as lightning doesn't usually strike twice and at least Toyota did sort it (although a bit slow for my liking).

[Jan&tone]

My Sister lives in New York, she has done for over 25 years... (she won't forgive me for saying so, it rather gives away her rough age )

At the time of the brake debacle she was driving a Previa and asked me what I was driving (my Gen2). When I told her she wondered why 'with all the problems' I did point out to her that she was English, and despite her having a US passport as well she would do well to remember that we don't panic... Upshot is that she bought a Gen3 about the same time as I did last September. She is over the moon with it 'It's much better than the Previa, why are Americans so anal about Toyotas'

I reminded her that they were doing better in the US than GM or Ford and no further comment was needed.

[Cyker]

Personally, I will still buy a Toyota as lightning doesn't usually strike twice and at least Toyota did sort it (although a bit slow for my liking).

This is one of the things that has impressed me about Toyota; They actually do recalls, even for minor stuff like notchy gearboxes!

Try getting Peugeot or Ford to do that

Ford have had several random acceleration problems over the years in various models (Which were due to an ECU fault), but there was no news coverage and they basically ignored it saying it was driver error until they had pressure put on them because people were getting hurt.

Peugeot had a problem where the engine would just cut out at speed (Taking the power steering and brake boost with it!), and this happened to a friend of mine in her (IIRC) 207! Took it to the dealer and they said they'd look into it but said they had no reports of it and couldn't find a problem.

A month later and I saw on Watchdog they'd known about the problem for 6 months! No recall issued there either!

And most recently I've discovered that certain Ford Focuses, apparently 2002-2004, have a fault where the whole dash will just stop working and requires complete replacement - The dealer were all "Oh, first we've heard of it! That'll be £300!" but while trawling Ford forums I stumbled across uncountable numbers of people with the same problem and even that Ford had, after much pressure, set aside a small good-will discount for people who had the problem... only they stopped it 2 years ago. No recall there either!

So say what you will about Toyota; When there is a common problem at least they will do something about it after the fact rather than ignore it!

[acetip]

wHAT £300 for a whole dash,if that had been a toyota dash anyone had to pay for it would have been £3000.

if i remember correctly by law any recalls have to be putin national papers and customers contacted were possible.

lots of cars,and it seems VOLVO are the worst at the present with possible car fires.but it not blown out of preportion like toyotas pedal problems.

.

[acetip]

do a search for vehicle & operator recalls to see whats happening to all cars.

[Cyker]

The dash as in the thing with the speedo etc. :)

It is not that expensive a part; The garage he normally uses to service the car (i.e. not Ford) got him a pattern part for £75 and it took like 10 minutes to swap it out!

Only thing is the Odo count is apparently stored in the dash and not the ECU on the Focus so he now has a 53-plate Focus that's done 3000 miles according to the Odo

But I get your point that Toyota parts can be expensive... this is likely because they rarely break :D

[acetip]

The dash as in the thing with the speedo etc. :)

It is not that expensive a part; The garage he normally uses to service the car (i.e. not Ford) got him a pattern part for £75 and it took like 10 minutes to swap it out!

Only thing is the Odo count is apparently stored in the dash and not the ECU on the Focus so he now has a 53-plate Focus that's done 3000 miles according to the Odo

But I get your point that Toyota parts can be expensive... this is likely because they rarely break :D

rarely break,i like you sense of humour.

[Cyker]

Well I haven't had anything break in mine yet

I have to say, out of all the cars me and the rest of the family have owned, this has been by far the most reliable.

Every single Ford we've owned has developed a problem, the worst being a blown head gasket on a Granada, and the Merc my dad had before his Focus suffered a total electrical failure before he got rid of it for the Focus. In the year he's owned that, it has so far had the instrument panel and air-con radiator replaced.

Brother had an Astra hatchback, exhaust fell off, got his Corolla now and despite a huge amount of abuse it's not skipped a beat :)

Friend had an 06 Golf TDI, engine seized up and had to be replaced. Another friend had a Peugeot 207, had the engine cut-out problem I mentioned in another thread.

[ihpj]

Good luck to the American Consumers I say.

Toyota trade on their reputation for 'reliability' and if their decision to buy a Toyota is based on this factor then you can see why they'd be ubiked if the value of their car was prejudiced by Toyota releasing a product onto the market that harms their product causing them to suffer greater depreciation - I can see the logic in that.

However, whether it can be proven is a different matter entirely - but in the US I think they have a good chance.

[Jan&tone]

Well I haven't had anything break in mine yet

I have to say, out of all the cars me and the rest of the family have owned, this has been by far the most reliable.

Every single Ford we've owned has developed a problem, the worst being a blown head gasket on a Granada, and the Merc my dad had before his Focus suffered a total electrical failure before he got rid of it for the Focus. In the year he's owned that, it has so far had the instrument panel and air-con radiator replaced.

Brother had an Astra hatchback, exhaust fell off, got his Corolla now and despite a huge amount of abuse it's not skipped a beat :)

Friend had an 06 Golf TDI, engine seized up and had to be replaced. Another friend had a Peugeot 207, had the engine cut-out problem I mentioned in another thread.

When you are out driving, when did you last see a Toyota at the roadside waiting for the breakdown truck?

Other manufacturers from Ford to Audi on the M25 last week , but not one of Mr T's machines

[Cyker]

Yup. There is a reason why Toyota have a deal with the AA to give max level coverage (Not the basic level, which is what you usually get in such deals!) for less than half of what it normally costs to Toyota drivers

To my knowledge no other car manufacturer has such a deal

[acetip]

Well I haven't had anything break in mine yet

I have to say, out of all the cars me and the rest of the family have owned, this has been by far the most reliable.

Every single Ford we've owned has developed a problem, the worst being a blown head gasket on a Granada, and the Merc my dad had before his Focus suffered a total electrical failure before he got rid of it for the Focus. In the year he's owned that, it has so far had the instrument panel and air-con radiator replaced.

Brother had an Astra hatchback, exhaust fell off, got his Corolla now and despite a huge amount of abuse it's not skipped a beat :)

Friend had an 06 Golf TDI, engine seized up and had to be replaced. Another friend had a Peugeot 207, had the engine cut-out problem I mentioned in another thread.

When you are out driving, when did you last see a Toyota at the roadside waiting for the breakdown truck?

Other manufacturers from Ford to Audi on the M25 last week , but not one of Mr T's machines

no they never made it of the B roads.where did you buy your rose tinted glasses.i think they may stop you reading these post of people who do have problems with their toyotas.no make of car is perfect.but not having a go at you but there are people who have posted they would never buy another toyota after their experiances.this as ive said applies to all makes.

[Jan&tone]

Well I haven't had anything break in mine yet

I have to say, out of all the cars me and the rest of the family have owned, this has been by far the most reliable.

Every single Ford we've owned has developed a problem, the worst being a blown head gasket on a Granada, and the Merc my dad had before his Focus suffered a total electrical failure before he got rid of it for the Focus. In the year he's owned that, it has so far had the instrument panel and air-con radiator replaced.

Brother had an Astra hatchback, exhaust fell off, got his Corolla now and despite a huge amount of abuse it's not skipped a beat :)

Friend had an 06 Golf TDI, engine seized up and had to be replaced. Another friend had a Peugeot 207, had the engine cut-out problem I mentioned in another thread.

When you are out driving, when did you last see a Toyota at the roadside waiting for the breakdown truck?

Other manufacturers from Ford to Audi on the M25 last week , but not one of Mr T's machines

no they never made it of the B roads.where did you buy your rose tinted glasses.i think they may stop you reading these post of people who do have problems with their toyotas.no make of car is perfect.but not having a go at you but there are people who have posted they would never buy another toyota after their experiances.this as ive said applies to all makes.

25 years of driving Toyotas, the only time I've ever had to call the RAC was when I left the tailgate open on a Carina many years ago and flattened the Battery over a weekend. "doing mostly motorway driving I have never seen a broken down Toyota, (hoping I'm not talking too soon here) but I do wonder if those cars we see at the roadside have been serviced regularly, after all these days there is no need for a car to break down 'suddenly' afaik but then I wouldn't know even where the spark plugs are these days! I've still only found one on our Aygo gawd know where the other two are!!!

As for the rose tinted glasses, maybe I've just been lucky.

[Cyker]

We're not saying they're totally invincible, but remember people tend to post more when they have a problem. But even so, comparing the relative # of problem posts on here vs. e.g. the Ford sites I was going to when researching my dad's dash problem, in some cases there was a dedicated problems sub-forum for some of the cars because there were so many posts!

I do feel Toyota have slipped a bit in recent years on some models; The old Yaris and Corolla are built much more solidly than their successors, but if I was to say who I reckoned makes the most reliable cars at the moment I'd still say it was Toyota! :D

[Jan&tone]

We're not saying they're totally invincible, but remember people tend to post more when they have a problem. But even so, comparing the relative # of problem posts on here vs. e.g. the Ford sites I was going to when researching my dad's dash problem, in some cases there was a dedicated problems sub-forum for some of the cars because there were so many posts!

I do feel Toyota have slipped a bit in recent years on some models; The old Yaris and Corolla are built much more solidly than their successors, but if I was to say who I reckoned makes the most reliable cars at the moment I'd still say it was Toyota! :D

Indeed, joe public is quick to complain, but slow to praise!

[acetip]

We're not saying they're totally invincible, but remember people tend to post more when they have a problem. But even so, comparing the relative # of problem posts on here vs. e.g. the Ford sites I was going to when researching my dad's dash problem, in some cases there was a dedicated problems sub-forum for some of the cars because there were so many posts!

I do feel Toyota have slipped a bit in recent years on some models; The old Yaris and Corolla are built much more solidly than their successors, but if I was to say who I reckoned makes the most reliable cars at the moment I'd still say it was Toyota! :D

Indeed, joe public is quick to complain, but slow to praise!

youve never posted a truer word.ive had many cars over the years,fords,vauxhall,vw etc.

ony once has the any of them failed on the road.that was a mk111 cotina,i had fitted a electronic ignition to it,i was out of proper wiring connectors so connected the wiring by twisting and insulation tape,i kept putting off doing the job properly and one day the engine died.it was my temp wiring job.it only took a a few moments to fix.but i did a proper after picking up the wiring connectors.non of the cars i had gave any trouble other than the golf td brought new,drive shaft seals,water pump,door lock,alternator,roof lining fell off.kept it 6 months,changed it for a passat 1.6 td they gave the same money for it as i paid for it,so cant complain.as for the passat,faultless,and bullet proof.