Autoblog

Sounds like a recall to me...oh wait, it's Toyota, and it's the Prius -- the most perfectest car ever -- so there's no way it could be a recall.

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Sounds like a minor glitch to me.
Its not even close to a common problem and has caused no deaths because its just an occasional stall happening to a handful of cars.
Its such a simple repair that makes it even less of a "recall" and more of a "software correction".
If it was mechanical in nature or was a total computer failure, then I could see this being a real "recall".
This is nothing to worry about.
What about true recalls, like Ford cruise switches catching on fire, or the occasional Ford having wheels break off thier lug nuts?
How about the recent transmission fluid fires that Chrysler has been dealing with?
GMs exploding gas tanks in thier pickups in the 73-87 Pickups?
The list goes on and on.
Imports are not excluded however.
Toyota makes mistakes too.
This one is very, very minor for Toyota, but I would never go as far as saying Toyotas are "perfect".
No way.
Thats a farce in the extreme.
I think your feelings about that are a bit over the top dude.
Nobody can say a Toyota is perfect and if they do, they are on crack.
They do make great rigs, but Id never go as far as say that.
Ive known plenty of Toyota owners. (Ive owned 2 myself).
They are not exempt from flaws.

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NHTSA's involved? Sounds like a recall to me!

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A minor glitch???? If the frickin' thing shuts down in the middle of an interstate that semi up your butt is minor??!??!

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"Toyota announced the �it�s not a recall� "

If it looks like a duck...

I'm inclined to say a software glitch that stalls out the car is major problem, especially when you're the one experiencing it.

Not all recalls have to involve the potential of death and serious damage, but they are recalls none the less. Didn't Chrysler have to recall some minivans last year because something in the owner's manual was misprinted? A misprint sounds minor to me, but it is still a recall.

By the way, the link does not go to any story about the Toyota Psuedo-Recall. I looked through the recent stories on the site, but didn't find any headline about Prius.

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If GM recalls cars because taillight bulbs look funny, then it is because they are a poor company not committed to details. If Toyota "recalls" their flagship model due to a failure in the most important part of the vehicle, then it is a minor glitch, growing pains, etc, whatever they have to say to justify.

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I knew about these (very few) reports before I bought my Prius and had confidence that Toyota would either have it fixed by the time my '05 arrived (unfortunately not the case) or would do a fix. Recall? Not recall? It's all semantics.

Not even Rolls-Royces are perfect, so as someone here said - if you think Toyotas are absolutely flawless, you're on crack.

My '02 Hyundai has had a couple of also minor recalls (one for the accerometer in the door which - if slammed - could cause the side air bag to go off - and here I was with a teen-age son.... say no more). No biggie.

I'd rather have a recall than have problems hidden like Mitsubishi did in Japan for years. Nearly cost them their business....

Can I mention now that just from what I've seen, Asian manufacturers seem to be more willing to step forward (in our country) than the big 3, with regards to recalls?

Anyone else old enough to remember the infamous first major US vehicle recall of millions of Chevys built in the 1960's and 1970's? Chevrolet V8 engine mounts were weak, would break, the engines would rock and throttle would stick open - sometimes, wide open. GM pretended it didn't exist for years.

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By the way - the "fix" that GM gave to dealers for the busted motor mounts on millions upon millions of Chevrolets? Not new motor mounts. They were leaving the torn/broken motor mounts in. Bolt-down chains for the engines.

But of course it was early days in the recall business - now, they'd have to actually replace the bad part with a proper component, not jerry-rig something.

Ironically, that paragon of virtue (not) John Z. DeLorean in his autobiography about his life at General Motors and early days of trying to start DeLorean motors, stated that when he moved from VP in charge of Pontiac to VP in charge of Chevrolet, he tried to get GM to use the better motor mounts as Pontiac used and was turned down for cost reasons. He also knew what a total piece of crap the Vega was, and knew that GM's big boss wanted that car (which was developed by GM not by Chevrolet) because the engine was "high tech" aluminum - even though the alternative car developed by Chevrolet division was better - in fact, the very first Vega prototype broke in 1/2 within a few miles of being on the test track. And people wonder why GM is where it is now....

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I just looked online at the Detroit Free Press where the Prius recall was mentioned, and Toyota did not shy away from "the word" in that article. Also it clarified that only 2004 and EARLY 2005 cars were affected.

My car may already have the program fix, I'll have to wait and see.

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See also http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2005/10/14/145517.html

where it says that Toyota is being very responsible and recalling all 160,000 2004 Prius and 2005 Prius cars built up until February - WORLDWIDE. The "word" (recall) is used there, too.

Here's a portion of the artcle as a quote
"The company began investigating the problem after the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration received reports of Prius engines stalling. But the problem is not an immediately safety problem because drivers can count on the hybrid's electric motor to steer to the side of the road, Fujii said.

NHTSA closed its investigation after Toyota said it would voluntarily recall the vehicles"

There's that "recall" word straight from Toyota, huh?

More anti-hybrid rhetoric, anyone?

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My question is why didn't this happen sooner?

Yes, I agree that every car maker has recalls, it happens, and IMHO it is not a real reflection on the car makers quality. It could happen for many varied reasons.

That said, has anyone else noticed that a Toyota or Honda recall is often dismissed as a "service bulletin" or "consummer campaign", while a Big 3 recall is just that a recall and the media and many on this blog take great joy in beating the drum.

The fact is that we all should be KILLING Toyota on this. Not for the problem, but for how they have once again stonewalled the fix or tried to PR their way around a hit to their "high quality" marketing reputation.

As Glenn Arlt says in his posts, he knew about this problem before he bought his Prius. Many of us on this blog knew about this problem for the last 7-8 months, yet Toyota has dismissed this problem as operator error time and time again. For the poor folks who bought these cars and did not have the knowledge that Glenn had I feel very very sorry, because your car company lied to you.

No, I don't judge a car company on recalls, they all have recalls....how I judge a car company is how they fix a recall problem and if they own up to the problem....in this case Toyota has failed. And that's the facts.

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"But the problem is not an immediately safety problem because drivers can count on the hybrid's electric motor to steer to the side of the road, Fujii said."

Yeah, it's not a safety problem until you have a big truck crawling up your ass at 75 MPH on
I-95.

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I was waiting for this. To be honest, I am surprised that it didn't happen sooner. It does seem that whenever Toyota/Honda has a recall, everyone says "It's only a minor fix!", but if the same thing happened to a Chevy or Ford, it would be because they are crappy domestics that catch fire, blow up, and commit genocide in third world countries.

There is a political science theory called "Immage of the Enemy". It states that in certain cases, people develop an image of the enemy, and it colors all of their perceptions of that enemy. If the enemy does something bad, it is because they are inherently evil. If the enemy does something good, it is because they have an ulterior motive, and they are really doing something evil, we just don't know it yet. This line of thinking saturated all of America's relations with the USSR during the Cold War. I see a similar line of thinking that has developed within the Import vs. Domestic debate. Really, its just silly. Looking at things objectively, EVERY full-line car company today makes at least one great car and at least one car that fails against its competitors. The only exceptions that I see to this rule are companies such as Porsche, Ferrari, and other makes that produce a very narrow range of vehicles.

All of that aside, the Toyota RECALL here is not a big problem. All cars have minor glitches when they are completely new designs. And to expect a car as complex as a hybrid to have no problems is just silly. I for one would not be any more or less reluctant to buy a Prius based on this RECALL. I do have a problem with Toyota not calling it a recall, though. If you have to bring a car in to have a manufacturer defect fixed, its a recall. Plain and simple. That they are trying to not call it a recall only makes them seem underhanded, and opens them up to criticism.

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This is clearly a major black eye in the hybrid movement. I wonder if this "fix" will also include the hybrid systems in the Lexus SUV and the Highlander. I know how much the auto industry hates the word "recall" just like the words "hatchback" and "station wagon." At least Toyota is trying to take care of the problem. Hopefully for Toyota, they won't have to buy back the affected models like GM had to do with the EV-1 and Nissan had to do with the Axxes minivan a few years ago.

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It's not "reboot", it's "recall". Prius should bear a warning sign on it's rear side when travelling in a super highway which says "THIS MACHINE WILL STALL ANYTIME WITHOUT WARNING."

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Is it just me or does it seem like Toyota has an awful lot of recalls lately.

There is a search thingy here on Autoblog, plug in Toyota and recall and see the list you get. Much longer than even I would have imagined, and I'm a cynic.

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I was waiting for this aswell, waiting for all you GM lovers to pick at Toyota as their most debated vehicle comes down with a recall, and yes it is a recall. If the vehicle needs to go back to a dealer for a glitch or imperfection in the factory that comprimises safety, it can be classed as a recall.
Everyone must understand that this hybrid technology is in the infancy stages of its developement, so yes this is where the trial and error stages are at its peak. There are probably going to be several recalls on these types of vehicles, but as some of you are saying as long as the manufacturer stands by its product and fixes it, its fine.

Let me get this right here??
The Domestic lovers are smiling and loving the fact Toyotas little money making machine has a flaw, and laughing at the fact their hybrid tech may not be perfect or whats its cut out to be.

Just remember this, Ford & GM have been making cars and motors since their early stages of infancy for over 100years (approx) and they get bombarded still with huge amounts of flaws in engine/car dynamics, while producing cheaper products.
Actually Gm and Ford combined probably have more recalls every year then every automotive company on the planet combined.
Laugh all you want at Toyota, Im sure their laughing all the way to the bank, while GM and Ford are crying all the way to bankruptcy lane.

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Total Recall...is not a very good movie.

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Ha - just wanted to see the outpouring of whining I knew I'd see in this thread.

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I don't see any GM loving here. What I do see are some defensive Toyota backers.

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