U.S. Opens New Probe At Toyota

[question everything]

DECEMBER 7, 2009

U.S. Opens New Probe At Toyota
U.S. launches initial investigation of stalling by Corolla and Matrix models

By KATE LINEBAUGH
WSJ

DETROIT—U.S. regulators have opened an initial investigation into Toyota Motor Corp.'s Corolla and Matrix compact passenger cars for randomly stalling while on the road, the latest in a string of safety issues faced by the Japanese auto maker. The National Highway Transportation Safety Agency in Washington is probing 26 complaints from consumers alleging their vehicles stalled while driving, sometimes on the highway or in intersections, the agency said in a document published last week. Many drivers also had trouble restarting their vehicles, and at times the stalling would reoccur, the agency said.

The new investigation is the latest threat to Toyota's image as a safety and quality leader. It comes after Toyota's biggest ever recall this fall covering 4.26 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles in the U.S. amid complaints of sudden acceleration, which the company said was caused by improperly installed floor mats. Last month, the company announced a series of measures to fix the issue, including trimming the length of the gas pedal, changing the braking system, and in some cases altering the floor under the accelerator. The Corolla and Matrix weren't involved in that recall. Toyota also recalled 110,000 Tundra pickup trucks in November for corrosion problems that can make the spare tire come loose.

The probe comes after the company's decade-long expansion in the U.S. market. For years, the auto maker was aggressively growing in the North American market, opening new assembly plants and investing heavily in creating new models designed for the U.S., such as the Tundra pickup. Toyota like all auto makers has been slammed by the recent global drop in vehicle sales, which led the company to post its first annual net loss in 59 years for the fiscal year ended in March.

President Akio Toyoda is working to return Toyota to profitability and acknowledged that the company has drifted away from its core value of focusing on the customer. Mr. Toyoda in October apologized to the owners of the eight Toyota and Lexus models affected by the floor-mat recall.

(snip)

The latest investigation, which covers 387,000 of the Corolla and Matrix models from 2006 sold in the U.S., was opened by federal safety regulators in November and is in the initial stage to determine whether a deeper investigation is warranted. The probe focuses on the electronic control module — the computer system that operates many of the vehicle's systems — as well as a company bulletin issued in 2007 to remedy harsh shifting in the models.

Toyota officials were unavailable for immediate comment.

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page B1

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704825504574580091908742198.html (subscription)

[HopeHoops]

1. That "spare tire" problem on the so called "pickups" is frame rust.

The damn things have fallen out of the back of the vehicles at highway speed because the junk frame rusted out. Their "improperly stored spare" spin didn't last very long. The whole "floor mat" thing is a bunch of bullshit. That problem has hit a lot of cars that don't HAVE floor mats because the owners took them out. I guess they couldn't find a way to spin the stalling problem. Wait - I've got it - improperly dispensed gasoline!

[question everything]

2. I am having a stalling problem, but my car is not part of the cases

mine is a Toyota Camry 1998, and it started last year, in the cold Minnesota winter. I drive it to short destination, stay there for about an hour, meaning that the engine did not fully cool and then it would start stalling, the RPM goes down. In most cases, it regains its power, but I had one time where I had to stop and restart. Thankfully, it was light traffic on a weekend. But last week, right before the peak of the rush hour at a major road, it did scare me.

What I am trying to do is once I start the not-cold-enough engine, is to let it run for a minute, or so. Toyota mechanic ran a full diagnosis last year - at $100 plus tax - and found nothing wrong.

Will see. Winter just started.