Feb 9, 2010 10:33 pm US/Central
Another Bump In The Road For Toyota
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
-
-
A Toyota Prius passes in front of a Toyota dealership in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture on February 8, 2010.
Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP/Getty Images
Toyota is announcing its third recall in just six months. This time it's the popular hybrid Prius because of
problems with the brakes.
It's another bump in an already bumpy road for Toyota. Now the Japanese automaker is recalling 437,000 of its Prius hybrid vehicles to fix serious brake problems. There have been complaints from drivers about a scary delay in stopping.
First there were those sticky accelerators and faulty floor mats on 10 Toyota models. Now it's the Prius brakes. Going or stopping, Toyota's reputation for quality is taking hit after hit. Dealers have another techno-mechanical problem to fix.
CBS 2's Roseanne Tellez took a ride in a Prius on Tuesday to see if she could notice a problem with braking, because many Prius drivers who went for repairs, haven't actually experienced the problem.
Brian Weinberg, general manager of Grossinger Toyota, said plenty of Prius owners were showing up in response to the recall.
"This morning we did eight to ten already and it's a good response. No one is really upset. They just want to get it fixed," Weinberg said.
Weinberg said the fix for the 2010 Prius brake problem involves a computer download that takes about 15 minutes from start to finish. It's meant to correct a delay in the anti-lock brake system that one customer told us felt strange to him right away.
Jonathan Kirscher said, "I actually noticed a problem within the first two weeks of having the car. I was driving down a Chicago street and hit a pot hole. I thought someone hit me from behind. I quickly went on the Internet and found other people having the same problem."
Kirscher was dropping off a Prius he says he wouldn't have bought had he known about brake issues beforehand.
Tellez took a quick test drive, but didn't notice anything unusual herself. Then again, she said she didn't want to slam on the brakes in the snow.
"You do stop, just not as quickly as you'd like. I'd say I may lose 10-15 feet when I hit the brakes," Kirscher said.
And as CBS 2's Mike Parker reports, there's more: a steering recall of Camrys Tuesday and the Lexus Hybrid is being called in for brake troubles.
In Japan, the head of the company, Akio Toyoda, said he's ashamed.
"Together we will do everything in our power to regain the confidence of our customers," Toyoda said.
Not everybody is buying that. Joan Claybrook, the former head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said: "Toyota took the position that it could delay and defer and not deal with these issues; it would be cheaper to do it that way. And in fact, it's cost them so much more."
It's also costing Toyota owners. The Blue Book values for the Prius and other recalled models have plummeted.
A Congressional hearing on all this was canceled Tuesday because of the snow storm in Washington D.C.
It turns out there's even more for the politicians to chew on when the hearings do begin. State Farm Insurance says they warned federal regulators in 2007 about those accelerator issues. The feds say they got the report and filed it away under "complaints."
CBS 2's Roseanne Tellez and Mike Parker contributed to this report.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
The Tattooed Ladies of Hollywood
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Comments