While the latest Prius incident near San Diego raises questions thus far unanswered, Toyota is not changing its previous recall on the hybrid.
The Wall Street Journal started a media feeding frenzy yesterday when it reported, inaccurately, that Toyota plans to announce a new recall for the 2004-2009 Prius to attend to the potential risk for floor mat entrapment of accelerator pedals.
Toyota told me “no new recall being planned for the Prius to address this issue.”
Whether this ultimately holds remains to be seen.
For the record, the 2004-2009 Prius was part of Toyota’s November 2, 2009 announcement of a safety recall campaign to address floor mat entrapment in millions of Toyota and Lexus vehicles.
How a major news organization, apparently, ran with such a story without checking with Toyota, and before confusing or frightening hundreds of thousands of Toyota owners is a sign of just how out of hand the Toyota matter is. The story was then picked up by many outlets.
This mistake is nothing, of course, when compared with the now infamous ABC News false report on Toyota unintended acceleration, which aired just prior to a congressional hearing. In the demonstration aired by ABC on February 22, Professor Gilbert, assisted by ABC reporter Brian Ross, asserted that he had detected a “dangerous” flaw in the Toyota electronic control system that he alleged could lead to unintended acceleration. (Click Here. )
Other models involved in this previously-announced floor mat recall include 2007-2010 Camry, 2005-2010 Avalon, 2005-2010 Tacoma, 2007-2010 Tundra, 2007-2010 ES 350, 2006-2010 IS 250, and 2006-2010 IS 350.
On January 27, 2010, Toyota expanded the campaign to include the 2008-2010 Highlander, 2009-2010 Corolla, 2009-2010 Venza, 2009-2010 Matrix and 2009-2010 Pontiac Vibe.
The recall for these vehicles began at the end of 2009 and is occurring on a rolling schedule during 2010. Owners of the involved vehicles that have not yet been repaired are asked to take out any removable driver’s side floor mat and not replace it with any other floor mat.
Owners who have further questions should go to www.toyota.com or www.lexus.com or contact the Toyota Customer Experience Center at 1-800-331-4331 or Lexus Customer Assistance at 1-800-255-3987.
Seems like a driver training program is in order rather than a vehicle recall, considering Mr. Sikes in the California Prius said he was afraid to shut off the engine because he wasn’t that familiar with the car and thought it might flip.
Larry: That would involve, potentially, taking away the precious “right” to drive from voters. Far easier for politicians to blame makers, so bet on the snow ball traversing the infernal regions unmelted. KZ, editor.
The Toyota company has un-expectedly had so many alleged claims against it that it really makes me imagine will they ever be able to get themselves out of the microscope that they are in? And with this recent alleged scammer that said he could not reduce speed in his Prius… It just seems like consumers are coming out of the wood work making complaints, most of them are probably not even real. It’s just like people want to jump on the bandwagon. Seems like a perfect opportunity for some behind on the payments on the cars with Toyota to attempt to not make a payment.
While there seems little doubt there are folks using the headlines to justify scams or who are the equivalent of automotive hypochondriacs, one shouldn’t dismiss the majority of claimants. In fact, one might argue that many owners, who had long believed Toyota’s reputation of near-infallibility, are only now taking a more open look at their vehicles and recognizing problems. I experienced just such a situation with a Chicago friend who had a 2008 Prius suffering from the known problem with its HID headlamps blinking out. He insisted there were no problems with his vehicle until I pointed out the way the light would go on and off, alternately, when he’d shut off his car. Toyota has since repaired his vehicle and he now notes a couple other issues he wouldn’t discuss before.
Paul A. Eisenstein
Publisher, TheDetroitBureau.com