My car just crashed.

[PT]

http://money.cnn.com/2005/05/16/Autos/prius_computer/index.htm?cnn=yes

Picture it, pull into your dealer to get patch 1.2 installed.

 

[Luis G]

I always have reluctance about toyotas, I see them as built with poor quality.

Yet another reason to stay away from those.

 

[Professur]

Hybrid owners were asked today by the transport ministry to stay off the highways.

 

[catocom]

http://money.cnn.com/2005/05/16/Autos/prius_computer/index.htm?cnn=yes

Picture it, pull into your dealer to get patch 1.2 installed.

I can get the page to pull up.
Got a different link?

 

[A.B.Normal]

If there any copyright probs with me putting the article ,I'll delete it.

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - A software problem is causing some Toyota Prius gas-electric hybrid cars to stall or shut down while driving at highway speeds, according to a published report.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the problem involves Priuses from the 2004 model year and some early 2005 models.

The newspaper reports the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has logged 13 reports of the engine shutdowns, while Edmunds.com, a popular vehicle-information and shopping site, has had 13 individuals post complaints in a Prius forum. Some of the cars that shut down had to be towed to the shop before they could be restarted.

The newspaper quotes an official from Toyota as saying the stalling problem is due to a software glitch in its sophisticated computer system.

The car has both a gasoline engine and an electric motor, which is set to provide it with power during certain driving conditions, particularly in city driving. The gasoline engine is supposed to be shut down or run at a very low level when the car is driving slowly or idling but provide most of the car's power when it is cruising at highway speeds.

The report said no injuries or fatalities have been linked to the problem, but it did not say whether there had been accidents due to the problem.

A NHTSA spokesman said the agency is monitoring the complaints, but no formal investigation has been initiated.

Toyota spokesman Sam Butto told the newspaper the auto manufacturer identified a "programming error" in the computer systems of 23,900 Prius cars last year and sent owners a service notice advising them to bring the cars into dealers for an hour-long software upgrade.

He couldn't say how many Prius owners got the upgrade and whether the latest problems involve buyers who never got the upgrade or if an altogether different glitch is shutting the car down.

 

[Professur]

Thanks for the software, Bill.

 

[SouthernN'Proud]

Hybrid owners were asked today by the transport ministry to stay off the highways.

They were asked by other drivers on every other day to stay off the roads. I've seen mopeds going uphill pass these hunks of junk.

 

[unclehobart]

The Prius is the far and away most demanded vehicle right now... which of course makes for uncontrolled ramp up in productions ... leading to lesser quality in hte outcome because of the mass influx of semi-skilled labor and hastiness of production of third party suppliers.

 

[Professur]

Toyota Will Build Hybrid Camry in Kentucky By BRUCE SCHREINER, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 15 minutes ago



GEORGETOWN, Ky. - Toyota Motor Corp. on Tuesday announced plans to begin producing a gasoline-electric hybrid version of its popular Camry model in late 2006 at its largest North American plant.

The Japanese automaker said it will have capacity to build about 48,000 of the environmentally friendly vehicles each year. It represents Toyota's first hybrid auto production in North America.

"Once the decision was reached to make a hybrid version of our best-selling vehicle — the Camry — the Georgetown plant was the natural choice," said Gary Convis, president of the plant.

Toyota said it plans a $10 million investment in the Georgetown plant, but said it expects capacity and employment to stay the same. The plant 12 miles north of Lexington employs about 7,000 workers and can build up to 500,000 vehicles per year.

Hybrid production will take place on the plant's existing lines, the automaker said. No new construction is planned. The $10 million will go mainly for equipment modifications and employee training.

Toyota said specific details about the Camry hybrid will be released later.

California and Canada also made a push to land Toyota's first North American hybrid production.

Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher, who is on a trade mission to Japan, participated in Toyota's announcement by satellite.He said Kentucky will now be making the most technologically advanced automobile in America.

"Kentucky is first in thoroughbreds and will now be first in hybrids," Fletcher said.

Toyota opened the Georgetown plant in 1987 and it sparked a boom in automotive suppliers in the state. Toyota President Fujio Cho ran the Georgetown plant for its first seven years.

The 7.5 million square foot plant produces the Camry, Avalon and Solara models. Toyota's North American headquarters is in Erlanger, which is in the northern Kentucky suburbs of Cincinnati.

Hybrid cars get better mileage than regular gasoline powered cars because the hybrid switches back and forth between an electric motor and a gasoline engine.

Kentucky lawmakers passed tax legislation earlier this year allowing a manufacturer of hybrid vehicles to recover training and some equipment costs.

Lisa Garrett, 34, of Georgetown, has been a Toyota employee for 16 years. She expects to be painting bumpers on the new hybrid Camrys. She said the announcement was a vote of confidence in plant workers and would help guarantee job security.

"It shows us the faith the Japanese in our workers in Kentucky. We've proved we can produce a quality vehicle," she said.

Besides the planned hybrid Camry, Toyota also produces the hybrid Prius and Lexus RX400h luxury hybrid sport-utility. Next month the Toyota Highlander hybrid midsize SUV goes on sale in the United States.

Toyota, however, said Tuesday it is investigating complaints from hybrid Prius owners about the cars stalling in the United States.

Jim Press, a Toyota Motor Sales executive who joined the news conference from Washington, D.C., said the company was checking into reports of about 13 vehicles with stalling problems.

"We don't have any concrete information," Press said.

The hybrid Prius has been a hugely popular model, with some people buying used cars and paying above the advertised prices for new ones. Automotive experts have said it is the first economy car with a higher resale value.

Straight outta the "it couldn't get any worse" dept

 

[K62]

I always have reluctance about toyotas, I see them as built with poor quality.

Yet another reason to stay away from those.

Toyota, built with poor quality? Compared to what?!?

 

[unclehobart]

It is the Mexican market. Theres no telling what gets pushed off on consumers down there.

 

[Luis G]

Toyota, built with poor quality? Compared to what?!?

Interiors, the way doors are assembled, it looks bad quality. The materials used doesn't feel like quality ones. If they can not even built decent interiors I wonder how they build the engine.

Hondas are built much better, the seats and just the way the car feels screams they have far better quality than Toyota.

 

[A.B.Normal]

Interiors, the way doors are assembled, it looks bad quality. The materials used doesn't feel like quality ones. If they can not even built decent interiors I wonder how they build the engine.

Hondas are built much better, the seats and just the way the car feels screams they have far better quality than Toyota.

Toyota recalls more than 750,000 SUVs, trucks
Problems with front suspensions may hinder steering

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7887155/

 

[tommyj27]

my 15 y/o sable started leaking a half pint of oil / mile last weekend, i wonder if that can be blamed on a software glitch?

 

[PT]

Probably not. I do have an interesting story about my Eclipse though. For almost six months I was getting concerned about the amount of oil it was using, about a quart a week, or a quart every 500 miles. So, I would put cardboard under it at home to see if it was leaking there, nothing. Put cardboard under it and left it run in the driveway for an hour, nothing. So I figure it's just burning it up, but at that rate I should have some pretty blue smoke coming out the exhaust, right? Nothing.

So this weekend I get under it again and notice the oil sending unit has a drop of oil hanging on it. That was my culprit. It wouldn't leak until I got the rpms up to around 3000. That is my normal cruising rpms. SO all that oil is somewhere between home and work, my car isn't burning oil, and it was leaking. The funny part is that where it was leaking, it would just drip out onto the ground, no running down the pan, no getting other parts of the engine oily so you could tell where it was coming from. If that drop hadn't been hanging there, I don't think I would have figured it out.

 

[Inkara1]

my 15 y/o sable started leaking a half pint of oil / mile last weekend, i wonder if that can be blamed on a software glitch?

Is it leaking out or is it just disappearing? Does it have the 3.8 V6? If so, is it on the original head gasket? If you've gotten more than 80,000 miles out of a head gasket on a Ford 3.8 V6 then consider yourself exceptionally lucky.

 

[Luis G]

http://money.cnn.com/2005/05/16/Autos/prius_computer/index.htm?cnn=yes

Picture it, pull into your dealer to get patch 1.2 installed.

Imagine driving through the highway and having your car telling you to pull over to download the latest patch and upgrade the firewall.

 

[chcr]

Imagine driving through the highway and having your car telling you to pull over to download the latest patch and upgrade the firewall.

Turn the ignition, grasp the antenna and honk the horn.

 

[PT]

[font=arial,helvetica]If Cars Were Like Computers [/font]

[font=Verdana,arial,helvetica]At a recent Computer Expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated: "If GM had kept up with the technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon." [/font]

[font=Verdana,arial,helvetica]In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating: "If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics: [/font]

1. [font=Verdana,arial,helvetica]For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day.[/font]
2. [font=Verdana,arial,helvetica]Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.[/font]
3. [font=Verdana,arial,helvetica]Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull over to the side of the road, close all of the car windows, shut it off, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.[/font]
4. [font=Verdana,arial,helvetica]Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.[/font]
5. [font=Verdana,arial,helvetica]Only one person at a time could use the car unless you bought "CarNT," but then you would have to buy more seats.[/font]
6. [font=Verdana,arial,helvetica]The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single "General Protection Fault" warning light.[/font]
7. [font=Verdana,arial,helvetica]New seats would force everyone to have the same sized butt.[/font]
8. [font=Verdana,arial,helvetica]The airbag system would ask "are you SURE?" before deploying.[/font]
9. [font=Verdana,arial,helvetica]Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.[/font]
10. [font=Verdana,arial,helvetica]GM would require all car buyers to also purchase a deluxe set of Rand McNally Road maps (now a GM subsidiary), even though they neither need nor want them. Attempting to delete this option would immediately cause the car's performance to diminish by 50% or more. Moreover, GM would become a target for investigation by the Justice Dept.[/font]
11. [font=Verdana,arial,helvetica]Every time GM introduced a new car, car buyers would have to learn to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.[/font]
12. [font=Verdana,arial,helvetica]You'd have to press the "Start" button to turn the engine off. [/font]

I remember reading this a couple years back. Not so funny now.

 

[tommyj27]

Is it leaking out or is it just disappearing? Does it have the 3.8 V6? If so, is it on the original head gasket? If you've gotten more than 80,000 miles out of a head gasket on a Ford 3.8 V6 then consider yourself exceptionally lucky.

leaking out of some seal above the filter, all over the cat. we hauled it over to the shop and got it up on a lift, about a minute later the consensus was that it wasn't worth fixing anymore. went car shopping and ended up with an 01 galant. i've got pics here. the great thing is, i paid $225 for the sable 3 years ago, and the dealer gave me $200 for it on trade-in. that's some pretty good depreciation.

and no, the sable wasn't on the original head gasket, it went on me shortly after i bought it, around 130k (i'm guessing). i don't know if that was the original gasket or if had been done before. other than that, and it's leaky death, that motor was great, i barely did anything to it besides oil changes and it ran like a top.