The Upside Of The Toyota Recall Debacle
By Eric Peters, Automotive Columnist
Toyota has been reeling from the public relations fallout of tag-team recalls affecting millions of its vehicles, including the best-selling Camry sedan and Prius hybrid.
But does this mean Toyota vehicles are bad cars?
Not necessarily.
And, they may be very good buys these days — which is something to keep in mind.
First, let’s put things in context:
The recall reality is less severe than the non-stop media coverage might lead you to believe. Toyota sells more than 400,000 Camrys every year; millions of these cars on the road. But the number of specific complaints involving Camrys (and other Toyota models) is literally a fraction of this number. Accidents attributed to problems such as sticking gas pedals/unwanted acceleration number fewer than 100; serious and injuries (and deaths) under 25.
This isn’t to minimize the fact that some people have had problems; but the fact is most people — more than 99 percent of Toyota owners, to be precise — have not had problems.
Millions upon millions of them.
This is true of almost all recalls. Even the really alarming ones that still echo through history — such as the Exploding Pintos of the 1970s. Do you recall how many people actually died?
Twenty-seven.
How many Pintos were recalled? In excess of 1.5 million.
You do the math.
Again, this isn’t to say the Pinto didn’t have a design defect (it did) or that it wasn’t potentially dangerous (it was). But the point here is that the actual risk of any given Pinto driving being immolated or even injured as a result of this defect was extremely low — on the order of fractions of a percent.
With the Toyotas, the problem is even less potentially risky since the defect (sticky gas pedals/unwanted acceleration) is something the driver can easily deal with should it arise: If the car suddenly speeds up or won’t slow down because of unwanted acceleration, put the transmission in neutral. This will disconnect the racing engine from the drive wheels; the car physically cannot “accelerate” once this is done. The engine won’t be damaged (electronics will keep it from over-revving) and you will be able to slow/stop the car safely.
The relative handful of people who have been in accidents or injured as a result of unwanted acceleration were apparently never taught to do this. Had they been taught, it is likely the number of actual accidents involving Toyota vehicles would have been even smaller — and the number of injuries next to nil.
So, yes, there’s a potential issue with some Toyota vehicles. But, bottom line, it is extremely unlikely that your Toyota will suddenly accelerate on its own. And if it does, you can easily and safely deal with it by popping the transmission into neutral.
A potential hassle? Sure. But a very small potential hassle. And one that’s not necessarily dangerous, either — if you remember the part about just putting the gearshift lever into neutral.
On the other hand, you will almost certainly be able to buy a new Toyota for less than MSRP sticker — or negotiate a sweetheart deal on a lease. Very possibly, a lot less. Or an even sweeter deal on a lease than you might have ever thought possible.
Just three months ago, Toyota dealers were asking — and getting — full MSRP sticker, plus some more, on popular models like the Prius. Toyota rarely, if ever, offered significant financial incentives such as the thousand-of-dollars cash-back offers commonly advertised by American automakers like GM and Chrysler. They didn’t have to. Toyotas were popular — and accordingly, pricey.
And much of this was driven by perception, not reality. People believed Toyotas were better-built and more reliable than, say, GM cars. But much of this was smoke and mirrors. It’s not that Toyotas are bad cars; not by any means. But they’re not significantly better (or worse) than GM cars, if you go by the actual facts on the ground.
Now the shoe is on the other foot — and it’s Toyota that’s desperate to clear out fleets of unsold cars taking up space on dealership lots (and costing the dealers a fortune in monthly loan/interest charges). People now view Toyotas with suspicion, even though the Toyotas on the lot today are just as “good” as the Toyotas on the lot six months ago — when dealers were charging (and getting) full sticker price for them.
This means you, the buyer, are finally in the catbird seat — if you’re in the market for a new Toyota.
And there’s no reason you shouldn’t be — unless you just don’t like Toyotas.
Comments?
www.epautos.com
Other Related Articles
To change the picture next to your comments, sign up at Gravatar.com. Each picture is associated with a particular email address. (This is a third-party service not affiliated with NMA.)
The thing I don't like about the Camry recall is that Toyota is just modifying the defective pedal assembly. They should replace them.
Toyota should explain to the American public that the part that was sourced from a US supplier was defective. The Japanese & Canadian parts were okay.
Oh, and the Fox News opening piece (3/8) about Chicago's too short yellow lights was good.
Could have been better on Fox' part, say referencing the ITE standards, or mentioning adding mutual red time.
http://www.shortyellowlights.com/standards/
I just wonder if Eric would recommend buying one of these Toyota models for his elderly parents or 16 year old kid that just started driving? Yes there may be few accidents but it is not as easy for most people to determine what to do in an emergency situation when you are trying to hit the brakes and steer the best you can when you may have a very limited time to do anything. Most people in an emergency situation react by hitting the brakes and steering. Their first reaction is not to move the car into neutral if it is even possible while driving those cars. It is more of an instinctive reaction if you drive a stick shift.
Eric feels like many on this board do. If there are not 10s of thousands of deaths caused by something it does not need to be corrected.
This appears to be a boring comment from the Troll.
I understand what you are saying randy, you panic, slam on the breaks and go ahhhhhh!!!!! But i have read many articles on people having the pedal stick and no one even mentions going into neutral. You think the news would say something too, no. Automatic transmissions are made so you can just push the stick and it goes into neutral. Not hard. I read an article on fox news the other day about the prius with the stuck pedal. The CHiP's talked the guy to a safe stop, they didnt even use neutral, they slowed him down a little somehow and had the guy turn the car off. Even the cops didn't think to use neutral and they weren't even in the car. http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2010/03/08/stuck-a...
also one number I have to question here is the 25 deaths/injuries, according to NHTSA 52 people have been killed in crashes linked to Toyota's acceleration problems.
http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2010/03/03/drivers...
Randall if you had read the article you referenced it said the car stopped on a steep incline with brakes fully on and turning the ignition off. Turning the ignition off is usually a last resort because it usually locks the steering and reduces braking power. Since I do not own or have ever ridden in a Prius I do not know if it is possible to easily place the car in neutral when the car is driving forward. I also question the number of deaths and injuries. How do they know that more were not caused by defects rather than the police thinking the accident was not just caused by excessive voluntary speeding.
yeah I did read that part, just couldn't remember it, that's y i put the article ass. True I've never been in a prius either so i couldn't tell you. Th number I was questioning is the NMA's numbers, I'm not questioning the NHTSA's numbers, i suppose your never going to get an acurate count of anything, whether it be murders, stabbings, things caused by a defect, for all we know it's less than what they are reporting. Another good example, the census, do you really think we are going to get an accurate number of people in this country? My brother basically told me I'm gonna have to fill out the census because he wouldn't take the ten minutes (if that) himself to answer ten questions. lazy ass.
Finally an article that says the 911 lady told him to put the car into neutral: http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2010/03/11/toyota-...
Now it seems that the guy isn't trust worthy and that he might be making it up:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,589090,00.htm...
He must be a member of NMA if he is.
yeah I did read that part, just couldn't remember it, that's y i put the article ass. True I've never been in a prius either so i couldn't tell you. Th number I was questioning is the NMA's numbers, I'm not questioning the NHTSA's numbers, i suppose your never going to get an acurate count of anything, whether it be murders, stabbings, things caused by a defect, for all we know it's less than what they are reporting. Another good example, the census, do you really think we are going to get an accurate number of people in this country? My brother basically told me I'm gonna have to fill out the census because he wouldn't take the ten minutes (if that) himself to answer ten questions. lazy ass.
Why does the NMA continue to lie all the time?! You know that they were behind this acceleration problem, because they want EVERYONE to speed all the time. It's the NMA's fault!
My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with the girl who saw Ferris pass out at 31 Flavors last night.
I KNOW it's because his Toyota accelerated uncontrollably and was speeding through a school zone!
<Sarcasm>
It is about time someone called them on this.
I am sure this is why they are against stop signs and speed limits. It prevents people (and Trolls) from traveling as freely as possible.
If they reclassified all school zones as rural then the speed limit could be raised to 50 or 55 mph. A more reasonable limit.
(Kids should be more aware of their surroundings. If a few do not make it to adulthood then the gene pool is improved.)
Is that the 31 flavors in downtown Chicago near the river?
</Sarcasm>