Starting about seven or eight years ago, Toyota (and other auto manufacturers of scale) become embattled with recall hysteria.
Rightly or wrongly, who can forget the story of the off-duty police officer who's family was killed when the floor mat got wedged under the accelerator, which started a near witch-hunt on unintended acceleration. All but one of those complaints were dismissed as driver error, but that never makes the news.
Back in 2011, Toyota recalled hundreds of thousands of 4Runners for this so-called pedal entrapment issue. (story: 4Runner SUVs – Toyota Recall | Toyota Truck Club)
In May of 2013, Toyota recalled just over 1 million vehicles for issues related to faulty airbags or poor connections for windshield wipers. Did you catch that? (here's that story: Toyota recalls 1m vehicles over safety concerns | Toyota Truck Club).
Little did we know that years later the fallout from the Takata airbag scandal would cover most major auto manufacturers who were looking to shave a few dollars off each vehicle and didn't ask questions like 'what's inside the airbag'? This story is about a year old from the last major news that I've heard, but it's got to be a huge liability that the manufacturers would love to see come to an end. (story: Takata Toyota Airbag Recall List | Toyota Truck Club)
Just this year, Toyota announced another recall dealing with 2016 and 2017 Tacoma trucks that tended to stall. (story: Toyota Tacoma Recall Stalling June 2017 | Toyota Truck Club).
It seems that with the rise in social media, in community websites like Toyota Truck Club, and the ability to share information in detail, we're finally at a point in which the power from vehicle owners can converge to help make change. Given this new power, we must make the decision to not abuse it, but harness it for the good of the average owner who through no fault of himself/herself, is stuck with a lemon or otherwise faulty product that needs repair or fixing to be safe.
Rightly or wrongly, who can forget the story of the off-duty police officer who's family was killed when the floor mat got wedged under the accelerator, which started a near witch-hunt on unintended acceleration. All but one of those complaints were dismissed as driver error, but that never makes the news.
Back in 2011, Toyota recalled hundreds of thousands of 4Runners for this so-called pedal entrapment issue. (story: 4Runner SUVs – Toyota Recall | Toyota Truck Club)
In May of 2013, Toyota recalled just over 1 million vehicles for issues related to faulty airbags or poor connections for windshield wipers. Did you catch that? (here's that story: Toyota recalls 1m vehicles over safety concerns | Toyota Truck Club).
Little did we know that years later the fallout from the Takata airbag scandal would cover most major auto manufacturers who were looking to shave a few dollars off each vehicle and didn't ask questions like 'what's inside the airbag'? This story is about a year old from the last major news that I've heard, but it's got to be a huge liability that the manufacturers would love to see come to an end. (story: Takata Toyota Airbag Recall List | Toyota Truck Club)
Just this year, Toyota announced another recall dealing with 2016 and 2017 Tacoma trucks that tended to stall. (story: Toyota Tacoma Recall Stalling June 2017 | Toyota Truck Club).
It seems that with the rise in social media, in community websites like Toyota Truck Club, and the ability to share information in detail, we're finally at a point in which the power from vehicle owners can converge to help make change. Given this new power, we must make the decision to not abuse it, but harness it for the good of the average owner who through no fault of himself/herself, is stuck with a lemon or otherwise faulty product that needs repair or fixing to be safe.