The TCC List: The 7 Most Important Recalls Of the Decade
Safer driving starts with a driver's skills, but it also begins with the vehicle itself--one that's engineered and manufactured to operate in a predictable, reliable way.
When the best-laid plans of car companies go awry, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration gets involved. As part of its mandate, the NHTSA patrols repair and crash records for vehicles to find flaws and defects. When it decides a vehicle isn't safe to operate, due to a mechanical defect, it issues a recall.
And sometimes, seeing the writing on the wall, car companies issue their own "service actions"--a recall in some ways, but less legally severe than an official NHTSA mandate.
The long history of car recalls has saved thousands of lives, and tarnished some nameplates in the process. Ford's Pinto fell victim to its own design flaws, called out by the safety agency.
Sometimes, companies have turned around recalls in their favor. In its early days, Saturn recalled its first cars and not only offered loaner vehicles, but also picked up and returned owners' cars as a sign of its committment to customer service. The Ford Focus endured nine recalls in its first few years on the market, spurring the company to increase its quality across the board--and today its lineup is among the most reliable, according to many surveys.
The list of recalls from the past decade includes some whoppers--and some smaller ones that had a greater impact on the carmakers involved. Not exclusively the biggest recalls on record, the seven most important car recalls and service actions of the past decade start with a duo from the very recent past:
2009: Toyota floor-mat and accelerator-pedal recalls
A dramatic expansion of its lineup had elbowed GM aside, but Toyota's legendary attention to quality had suffered in its race to become the world's largest automaker. A string of recalls ended the decade with a thud. The most notorious included its halo vehicle, the hybrid Prius, and its Lexus brand, too. In two separate actions, Toyota recalled 4.3 million vehicles in the U.S. for loose floor mats and another 2.3 million vehicles for sticking accelerator pedals. Its golden reputation dented, Toyota lost its automatic recommendation from Consumer Reports for a time, and may have lost up to 200,000 sales as a result.
Six Months After The Recalls: Toyota Bruised, Lexus Less So?
It's been a tough and trying year for Toyota—and Toyota owners.
There had already been a few isolated claims of accelerators sticking. But it was the news of an incident, last August—a family (and off-duty cop) in an ES 350, who sped out of control to a fiery death—that punted Toyota's apparent issue with unintended acceleration into the national spotlight.
By late September, Toyota (NYSE: TM) responded, issuing a safety advisory for mismatched floor mats. As part of a full-fledged recall initiated in November, the automaker announced plans to shorten 3.8 million accelerator pedals and install an override system in cars with push-button ignition. Surprisingly, at this point, sales hadn't hiccupped severely. But they sure did in January, when Toyota announced a second recall, of 2.3 million vehicles, for sticking gas-pedal mechanisms, and lawmakers started following. Overall, with a late-January extension to more than a million more vehicles, a total of 5.1 million vehicles—many different models—are affected in some way by either recall. And by then, some safety-worried shoppers had started crossing Toyota off their lists.
To cut to the chase, since then we've had congressional hearings, some unanswered questions, plenty of apologizing from Toyota, and an automaker with a very bruised reputation.
And then in March Toyota put everything on sale.
Suddenly, with the help of the biggest, most comprehensive incentives program Toyota had ever offered, it managed to boost sales 41 percent versus the previous year, reclaiming the market share that it had lost. The deals were great, including thousands off, as well as two years of free maintenance to those who already owned a Toyota, Lexus, or Scion model.
With A Glass Of Water, Save Ten Percent On Your Fuel Budget
Getting leadfoots to improve gas mileage can be a challenge, and we've heard plenty of novel techniques over the years. "Drive like there's an egg between your foot and the accelerator," is probably the most common.
But here's a new one: Drive like there's a glass of water on the dash. And to improve mpg but avoid the costly electrical damage or broken glass, Toyota in Sweden has produced a handy glass-of-water simulator app for the iPhone—which, it says, could reduce your consumption by ten percent.
You simply place your iPhone on the dash, in the cupholder, or on the passenger seat. The simple, elegant iPhone app shows drops splashing over the rim of the glass when you accelerate or brake too quickly; the droplets then "evaporate" within a few seconds to give you a chance to improve. However, since you should keep your eyes on the road, you can register for the app and login to the site afterward for an analysis of your driving.
"By planning your driving and driving calmer, you use less fuel and emit less CO2," says the info section for the app. "That's the simple key to ecodriving."
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
All U.S. Honda Vehicles To Get Brake Overrides By Next Year
American Honda has announced that it will be installing a brake-override system on all of its Honda- and Acura-brand vehicles for the North American market by the end of 2011.
The device would, quite simply, allow the brake pedal to override any throttle input returning the engine to idle or near idle to permit safe braking if the accelerator pedal is either stuck or accidentally simultaneously pressed.
Several other automakers, including Mazda, have announced plans to incorporate brake overrides on all their future models, ahead of a potential federal requirement for them. Currently, Nissan is the only automaker to use them across its entire lineup, though Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, and Chrysler already have the feature on many of their models.
Toyota is also planning to install a brake override on a number of models for 2011, and the 2010 Toyota Camry and 2010 Toyota Avalon already had the feature.
At the time Toyota was dealing with its stuck-accelerator recall, Consumer Reports helped bring stuck-accelerator strategies to light, clearly demonstrating—when accelerators were floored—the stopping difference between vehicles that did and didn't have brake overrides.
The first application of the so-called Brake Priority Logic will come to market this August, Honda says.
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
Ford Is February Sales Champion, GM and Toyota Left In Dust
Well, here's one recipe for success in the U.S. auto business: Introduce a rapid-fire sequence of new and thoroughly revised vehicles with best-in-class fuel efficiency, then quickly roll out a widely-acclaimed voice-activated infotainment system across all your lines.
Oh, yeah, and ... don't take government bailout money.
Ford sales up 43 percent
Which is a long way of saying that Ford's February sales put the Dearborn automaker solidly in first place among automakers, squeaking past General Motors by 471 units and solidly trouncing the beleaguered Toyota.
Ford's U.S. sales rose 43 percent against this month last year, while GM's rose just 12 percent and Toyota's fell 9 percent, due in part to several models having been pulled off sale until they could be fixed to resolve accelerator design problems that led to a massive recall.
The nature of Ford's achievement is illustrated by the last time its monthly sales beat GM, in July 1998--when GM production had been shut down by a United Auto Workers strike.
It's all about product
Ford [NYSE:F] is riding a resurgence of well-reviewed products, including its 2010 Fusion and Fusion Hybrid midsize sedans.
Ford is swiftly launching more fuel efficient and smaller engines--with direct injection and turbocharging--under the EcoBoost label, fitting them first to the 2010 Lincoln MKS sedan and MKT crossover and to the Ford Flex crossover and Taurus SHO performance sedan.
Its revamped 2011 Edge crossover will offer a 2.0-liter EcoBoost four, and it has already shown its subcompact 2011 Fiesta and compact 2012 Focus--both offered as four-door sedans and five-door hatchbacks--to great acclaim.
No government dollars
Then there's the fact that unlike GM and Chrysler, Ford did not go through bankruptcy and receive billions of dollars of government loans to enable it to survive and restructure.
Instead, in 2006, then-new CEO Alan Mulally took out "the world's largest home equity loan"--$23 billion--to pay for a total overhaul of the company's product lines and technology. The results of that investment are now showing up in showrooms. And they're paying off.
Place your bets now...
GM has been first in U.S. annual sales for 78 consecutive years, though it lost its global sales crown to Toyota in 2008.
But after bankruptcy, shedding four brands, and several management shakeups, it sells only slightly more than half the units it did three years ago. Whether its sales slump will be permanent or it can fight its way back to dominance seems a very open question, this month.
Can Ford keep up the pace? Could it even beat GM for the year? We're placing our bets here at High Gear Media office pool for year-end sales results.
But tell us what you think in the Comments, below.
[Automotive News (subscription required)]
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
Toyota Issues Recall For Sticking Gas Pedals, Affects 2.3 Million Cars
As many suspected, it turns out there's more to the claims of unintended acceleration at Toyota than some problematic floor mats. Unfortunately, also like the floor mat issue, Toyota appears to be taking voluntary action only after widespread complaints about the issue. The recall affects 2.3 million vehicles spread across eight model lines.
According to Toyota, the problem has emerged in the past several months as a completely separate condition from the existing floor mat recall, which affected 4.2 million vehicles. About 1.7 million vehicles are subject to both problems.
"Our investigation indicates that there is a possibility that certain accelerator pedal mechanisms may, in rare instances, mechanically stick in a partially depressed position or return slowly to the idle position. Consistent with our commitment to the safety of our cars and our customers, we have initiated this voluntary recall action," said Toyota Motor Sales group vice president Irv Miller in a release today.
The eight models affected include:
2009-2010 RAV4,
2009-2010 Corolla
2009-2010 Matrix
2005-2010 Avalon
2007-2010 Camry
2010 Highlander
2007-2010 Tundra
2008-2010 Sequoia
While Toyota says the condition is rare, when it occurs it presents in worn pedal mechanisms that become harder to depress and slower to return, potentially becoming stuck in the depressed position. With the throttle then stuck wide open, the car can continue to accelerate even while braking. Toyota advises drivers experiencing a stuck accelerator pedal to apply the brakes steadily and firmly, and to shut off the engine at the nearest safe location.
Toyota says no Lexus or Scion-brand vehicles were affected by the recall, though the Toyota Matrix shares its design and construction at California's NUMMI plant with the Pontiac Vibe, so it's possible that more cars yet may fall under the recall.
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
