Toyota to Recall 320,000 Priuses

[Richard Steele]

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-prius31may31,0,1146272.story?track=mostviewed-storylevel


Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday that it planned to begin a global voluntary recall of nearly 320,000 of its hot-selling Prius gasoline-electric hybrid sedans to repair a potentially faulty steering system component.

The campaign will involve about 170,000 vehicles sold in the U.S., said spokesman Sam Butto of the Japanese automaker's Torrance-based U.S. sales unit. That represents about two-thirds of the 268,000 sold since the hybrid's introduction here in July 2000.

Toyota, noting that no accidents or injuries had been reported, said it would begin sending letters in mid-June to owners of 2004 through early 2006 models of the popular hybrid. The company asked that owners wait to make service appointments until they received notices because not all Priuses were involved.

>snip<

Priuses built after November 2005 and sold as 2006 models will not be affected by the recall because Toyota changed suppliers and the later models don't have the faulty component, Butto said.

[Up2Late]

1. Now compare this to, let's say the Ford Explorer/FireStone Court ordered

...dragged kicking and screaming after several deaths and Lawsuits, involuntary recall.

"...Toyota, noting that no accidents or injuries had been reported, said it would begin sending letters in mid-June to owners of 2004 through early 2006 models of the popular hybrid...."

Now, this is the proper way to run a car company. Nice job Toyota.

[I_Make_Mistakes]

2. I have to agree. My Mazda and Honda both had seat belt

problems, both reported to respective dealers, denied and 5-7 yrs. out recalled. Don't get me wrong, I loved those cars, but they didn't recall until one was sold.

By the way, I think you can still get a federal credit of $3,150 on a Prius, still thinking about it myself!

[Ian David]

4. I have a Prius and I highly recommend it

And they don't call it a "recall" anymore.

It's a "Special Service Promotion."

Toyota is very good about fixing a lot of things for free, and extending the warrantees on various parts. They even give you a free rental car while performing warantee and recall work. Plus, the dealership has free wi-fi access and coffee.

By the way, I once got 65 MPG while "drafting" in the wake of a Hummer.

[4dsc]

5. Wait til you need some repairs

I've read a couple of reports that repairing these hybrid's is a very expensive adventure.. So be glad its a recall for now!!

[Ian David]

7. No more or less expensive than any other car I owned.

Actually, a real nightmare to repair was my old Saturn SL II.

I broke the front air deflector in a snowbank one winter, and it needed to be replaced.

The good news was, the piece only cost $50.

The bad news was, in order to install the new one, the entire engine had to be removed and would cost hundreds of dollars in labor.

I haven't had any problems like that with the Prius.

[jab105]

20. I have a Saturn SLII and a Honda Civic Hybrid

I love the Saturn cause I've treated it like shit and still, it runs...150,000+ miles...
But the Hybrid rox my sox...I'm averaging about 55mpg during the warmer months (does your hybrid hate cold weather also, mine goes down about 10mpg in the winter - and I'm in florida)

[still_one]

8. I have two Prius cars, first and second generation

and my experience is that it is NOT more expensive than standard internal combustion engine cars

[cyberpj]

12. We've had ours since 2002 - Repairs are no more expensive than

any other cars we've owned.

WE LOVE OUR PRIUS!

[momster]

9. Love mine

2003. One of the funky ones before they got all 'streamlined.' We've had one recall for some battery component which they followed up on with a phone call from a dealer when I didn't respond to the postcard. My friends who drive cars from other manufacturers only find out about their recalls when a story hits the papers.

[Richard Steele]

3. Yeah, actually fixing a problem without being FORCED to...

...and before anyone was even killed or anything.

That's the type of corporation I'd prefer to give my money to-
one that still has a few quaint notions about 'responsibility'.

[michreject]

6. Number has grown

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060531/BUSINESS01/605310426

The recall affects about 986,000 vehicles across 10 models with more than half of the affected vehicles in Japan, company officials said.

[Robb]

10. Quit posting bad news about the Prius!

People who have them all love them! LOVE THEM! :D

Kidding aside, it's like criticizing someone's puppy, or mom. The 2008 Prius will hover one half inch over water, and feature a water-wine converter. ;)

[Richard Steele]

11. I actually viewed this more as GOOD news about the company itself.

Dang LBN rules forced me to use the original, misleading, headline! :(

[Up2Late]

15. I'm STILL WAITING for the Flying Cars they said we would have by now!

I've got a great old Elementary School Library book from around 1965 that has "Future Car" pictures and dreams in it.

One even has a Nuclear Reactor as it's power plant. :rofl:

One of these days, when it's slow, I'm going to post some of the pictures here.

[eppur_se_muova]

18. Oh, my ... be sure to post in Energy/Environment, for maximum flamage.

Did you know they even considered nuclear-powered AIRPLANES ?

[boise1]

13. Or should that be 320,000 "Prii"? n/t

[Richard Steele]

14. Probably not, but I'm gonna start calling them that anyway!

The improper use of the "i" suffix to denote plural form
has always amused me for some reason...


Like "Elvii":

[dmallind]

17. Close...

Well remember not all "pseudo-Latin" plurals are -i. That would just be second declension masculine nouns. Elvis would probably be pluralized as a third declension noun and be "Elves" (two syllables, rhyming with "hell bays")

You also have to consider that "prius" is not a noun in Latin - it means "before" or "earlier" and is not declined or conjugated.

Heck if you accept the idea of a Prius as a noun it could be a fourth declension in which case the plural would be ....well, Prius actually. I am not an exceptional scholar of Latin however but I confess I cannot immediately recall a fourth declension noun ending in -ius though. Manus, domus, tribus come to think of it are the only ones I remember at all!

OK pedantic rant over. Enjoy your cars. :-)

[eppur_se_muova]

19. But Pentia is/are correct, right?

Bacterium --> Bacteria
Pentium --> Pentia

And why "Pentium II", not "Sexium"?

[dmallind]

28. Sure...

Again if you "nounify" Pentium and assume a normal Latin declension you would get a plural of Pentia.

I think the reason I would avoid declining Prius is because it's very likely the preposition is what Toyota had in mind whne they named it - being that it is soemwhat ahead of the curve in its market. This would be like Audi using the French word "Avant" for some of their models.

Again if you want to "nounify" Prius the most likely plural would be Prii. Bit silly to me, but not exactly a mortal sin. Actually the GS450h idea is quite appealing to me - try and Latinize that one ! :-)

[lindisfarne]

25. But Latin certainly added words and declined them as appropriately.

It's not impossible to have a noun which is homophonous with a preposition. It would be very strange to treat a word which in all respects was a noun, and had the same ending of a certain declension, as not a member of that declension. Unusual, but not impossible, however.

[slackmaster]

16. +1

Prii.

[WhiteTara]

21. Toyota recalls nearly 1 million vehicles

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8HUB0M00.htm?sub=apn_home_down&chan=db

MAY. 30 4:50 P.M. ET Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday it is recalling nearly 1 million vehicles across the globe to replace faulty parts that could cause drivers to lose control of the steering wheel.

The recall affects about 986,000 vehicles across 10 models, including its popular Prius hybrid car. More than half of the affected vehicles are in Japan, company officials said.

The intermediate shafts and sliding yokes in the recalled cars lack the necessary strength and could distort or crack under strong pressure, causing drivers to lose control of the steering wheel, the Japanese automaker said in a statement.

more...

[Blue_Tires]

22. lol...

well honestly; how many chances will i ever get to laugh at toyota?

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

23. Is that the part that is made...

in the U.S.of A???

[skids]

24. Very interesting... shame on LA times, Ford shill.

Isn't it interesting how Toyota is recalling a million vehicles of many makes and models, and the LA Times prints an article specifically about the Prius which is only one of the effected models.

Things that make you go hmmmmm....

(That is if you weren't already fully aware that major U.S. media has been badmouthing the Prius at the behest of their corporate masters for years now.)

It'll be interesting to watch which papers focus on which models and their headlines for the news:

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=&q=Toyota+recall&btnG=Search+News

[cmutt]

26. They're getting more headlines

..because they are getting more recalls. Toyota's had multiple recalls this year (like their new 6-speed transmission that "loses" the use of 2 gears). Specifically, the new Avalon and the new Camry are supposed to be problem-riddled.

Toyota's are supposed to be known for their reliability; therefore it's more newsworthy when they make a mistake, as opposed to a supposedly lesser brand. You take the good with the bad. IMO, you can't really go wrong with any of the major auto manufacturers anymore. Quality has increased all across the board (except for VW: which still seems to be at the tail end of every auto quality/dependability study). You can certainly thank Honda and Toyota for that: competition is good for the consumer.

Here's an autoweek article detailing problems on the Avalon:
http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060501/FREE/60501002&SearchID=73243279592052

[skids]

27. I was referring specifically to the Prius, not Toyota...

...I know why a Toyota recall is a big deal -- but this very same recall is not just the Prius. Many models have the same part and are also being recalled.