Does all of this seem confusing? Opinions everywhere, pieces of facts here and there. Even suggestions of possible fraud in some cases have now surfaced in regards to some of the crashes. From a technicians viewpoint, I have to draw the line at personal experience with these cars and this problem. I have not observed a throttle sticking on one, so therefore I have not had the chance to actually search for the cause on my own. All I can do is rely on the information that basically everyone is getting to hear both from on the news and snippets from techs around the country. Remember all of these are also going to dealers to be fixed under warranty, the aftermarket (independent technicians) are not involved at all with this. One Toyota tech even did a video of how the repair is done and you can find it on YouTube which essentially amounts to removing the pedal assembly. The tech then measures a gap between two portions of the pedal assembly, and then he/she installs a shim to take up that space and that causes more spring return pressure in the pedal assembly. The push for years has always been to have techs that would robotic-ally simply identify a failed (failing) part, remove it and replace it. Remember its all about price, no matter how expensive one may think auto repair labor fee's are, I've said it many times it's under priced by a significant margin. Six months ago, the repair would again have been to replace the part if they found one sticking, and this may well have happened many times. I have never seen information to support or deny how often that may have occurred if it did much at all. The diagnosis and replacement of the pedal assembly likely paid a technician about 1/2 an hour's time for the job. I could very well imagine someone else at another time looking at that pedal assembly, and if they could not prove that it was faulty, they would back flag the dealership for the repair, who would in turn take back the pay that the technician got for doing the repair back off of him/her. Many people would take the position that the tech ultimately not being paid for that repair isn't their problem, and in a direct fashion that would be true on that day. But eventually these actions erode the technician talent pool, and is the fundamental cause of many of the anecdotal stories of poor service you have ever heard of, read or told. Lastly, there have been many times that I have seen people condemn American car manufacturers about quality, and they point to recalls as their proof. It really was just a numbers game before one of the imports suffered a big issue, Toyota's quality hasn't changed because engineering underestimated what appears to be the spring tension required on one specific part. GM and Ford especially were never as bad as consumer reports wanted to make them look. JMHO. Now the Prius brakes issue where there can be a delay under certain circumstances due to a rough road? I can picture what is occurring, the rough road bounces a wheel up and and immediately locks with almost no braking pressure. That would look like a need to begin an anti-lock function to the computer. This isn't something that a dealer technician could fix on his/her own. The fix would have to come in the form of software for the HV, and ABS computers. They could in some cases require a redesign of, or potentially add a yaw sensor if the car didn't come with one. They could even incorporate suspension height sensors to help detect road surface conditions. The wheel speed sensors alone do allow for detection of rough road conditions. There is a resonance to the lock-up that is occurring the system will recognize as not matching the anti-lock systems function, and be scored as road surface, which results in less ABS activation. In Toyota's case that time period must be significantly long which is allowing the drivers to observe it.

Hi, I've had a tundra for the past 4 years and also have a T-100 that I've had even longer. Although I think toyota reliability and quality has yet to be beat, there are some things about the tundra that I'm not all that fond of. I will paste below my review that I submitted to edmunds.com I suggest you look over the other reviews there too. Review: Owned since aug 03 and now at end of lease term. Chose to keep. I'll skip what has been covered. Turn radius is awful, 45 feet... takes 4 and a half lanes to make a U turn. Still just too small. Add 5 more inches it will make a world of diff. Gas mileage on my v6 is not very good. Very comfortable. I use for long hwy trips and never need to stop to stretch. A serious work truck? Yes. Work truck capabilities? No. Styling on 03 looks too imported. Paint not too good. V6 is SLOW! No mech probs. No chk eng. No plastic parts falling off. As good as it gets. Favorite Features: Comfy w/ cap chairs. I like suicide doors. Height above ground is very good. Smooth ride. Actually handles well on windy mtn rds. Crossed a river and engine continued to run! Storage space is great w/ console. Fun. Fuel tank decent size despite poor mileage. Interior well laid out. Nice big buttons. Suggested Improvements: Turning circle, HP on V6 bad. Go back to previous body/grill style. Better A/C, Make a v8 with 5 spd manual. Make an access or crew cab with 8 ft bed. Add a few inches. I'm pleased to see that model of tundra that is coming out is supposed to be very large, comparable in size with dodge ram and increased capacities. I can't wait til they get to my local dealership so I can go look at them. It's like toyota read my comments and started making a truck for the North American market.

"Wow OAA9898 you called me a lier and a retard in one post LOL.Sure its just one case and I said they make them better today then they did back then.But it is a true story.I guess you just do not believe everything you read.Just every thing Consumer Distorts and JD powers writes?Still its a fact you do not see 20 year old Rice burners on the road.Thats a fact.Maybe up on blocks.Even this retard can see that." Actually they did make them good, even back then. Why do you think the imports were so popular? American cars in the '70s were gas hogs of substandard quality. All cars built back then were of abysmal quality in comparison to todays cars. I'm not suggesting imports were perfect at all; however, every car in the 70s had rust problems. The problem with imports back then was that very few mechanics would touch them, so dealer maintenance was necessary and expensive (and therefore often left undone). Guess what happens if you don't change the timing belt on an interference engine? It snaps and the pistons hit the valves, and well, you can guess the rest. If your car has over a 100,000 miles on it, and the engine is ruined due to a snapped timing belt (due to poor maintenance) you could put a couple thousand dollars into an eight or nine year old car, or cut your losses. What choice do you think a lot of consumers made? BTW, in 1985, Honda and Toyota sales were growing but were far from being at the volume of domestic cars sold at the time. Of course you see more domestics; thats simply due to the fact that more domestics were sold. Japanese car companies concentrated their sales in markets were demand was the highest, like on the West coast. You live in Illinois, the demand for gasoline was and is much higher in California, and probably always will be; therefore, there was a greater demand for fuel-efficient vehicles. Hence, more Hondas and Toyotas were sold there as opposed to where you and I live, the Midwest. Despite what you may believe, everything is not the same everywhere, johndeere. And thanks to competition cars today are far better then they would be without Japanese Imports. Thanks, Japan. Don't knock Consumer Reports. Unlike J.D. Power & Associates, they are one of the only non-for-profit consumer advocacy groups left in the country. They accept no advertisements, corporate donations, and don't allow their name to be advertised by manufacturers. Say what you will, that they're biased towards foreign cars, or other garbage like that - but it will be completely unfounded.

Welcome -- and I hope no one was hurt in the accident. What is the "usual" price? It's only been recently that many people quit paying sticker price or higher for the car. Your handle ("organic_smallhome") indicates that you're willing to pay more for something you perceive as "greener" (that's not a slam, BTW; I do that, too). But what are your goals in buying a Prius? Lowest possible tailpipe emissions or carbon footprint? Fuel economy? Something else? Are you planning to drive the car into the ground or hold onto it for several years before trading for the next advance in "green" technology? Fact of the matter is that you can get a better deal than a Prius for a lot less money. If you're after fuel economy and interior room, you could buy one of the larger GM models (Chevy Impala, Buick LaCrosse) and get an honest close-to-30 mpg highway (hybrids are notorious for not hitting their EPA numbers) in a car that's cheap to insure and fix. If you're after pure mileage, you could go for a Honda Civic (which is now the size of the "old" Accord) or Fit, or the Toyota Yaris or Corolla and get 85-90% of the mileage of a Prius without the purchase price and the expensive maintenance. If you're really concerned about the carbon footprint, you'll go for the Civic or Corolla (both manufactured in North America) or -- even better -- a good-quality used version of either. Keep in mind that the Prius contains two drive systems (electrical and gasoline-powered) and lots of complicated electronics to make everything work. To Toyota's credit, it works well and Toyota has effectively mass-marketed a new technology without much of a hitch. (I know, Honda was first with its Insight, but it didn't sell like the Prius has.) However, most aftermarket service facilities and parts vendors don't yet see enough of a market to invest in equipment almost exclusively for the Prius, so you will be back to the dealer (at dealer labor rates) for all but the most routine parts and maintenance. And the battery pack is still a huge question mark -- how long will it last in real life? How much will it cost to replace? What will a Prius be worth without a good battery pack? In addition to the extra money it costs for all the pieces-parts, you're gambling some money on future repairability and resale value. Hope that helps....