- Toyota insists no new recall is planned for the its 2004-'09 Prius.
- The WSJ reported that Toyota would recall the Prius for the previous floor mat issue.
- 2004-'09 Prius models were already included in a voluntary safety recall campaign for the same.
TORRANCE, California — Firing back against a slew of media reports, Toyota late Tuesday said there is no new recall being planned for the 2004-'09 Toyota Prius to fix floor mat entrapment of accelerator pedals.
A new Prius recall was first reported in the Wall Street Journal and picked up by dozens of media outlets. Toyota's statement said the original account of the Prius recall was "incorrectly reported."
"There is no new recall being planned for the Prius to address this issue," said Toyota. "To be clear, the 2004-'09 Prius was part of Toyota's November 2, 2009, announcement of a voluntary safety recall campaign to address floor mat entrapment in certain Toyota and Lexus vehicles."
This is the second time this week that Toyota has refuted a specific media outlet in the ongoing coverage of its massive recalls.
On Monday, Toyota hosted a Webinar that took aim at an ABC news video about sudden unintended acceleration. In a slide presentation, Toyota said "the broadcast ABC News video is misleading." It argued that the video shows the car's tachometer rising to 6,200 rpm, while the speedometer reads 0 mph and the car is in park. ABC pulled the original video from its Web site and replaced the image of the tachometer.
In the meantime, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday that Toyota's North American sales have spiked about 50 percent since the beginning of March due to an aggressive incentives program.
Inside Line says: Toyota is taking names and fighting back to counteract the onslaught of negative publicity in the wake of massive recalls. — Anita Lienert, Correspondent
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debbaranko says:
12:20 AM, 03/11/2010
"No new recall" from Toyota on the Prius. "Everything is OK" Yup. Sure. Tell that to the Prius owners in NY and California that were profiled on the news the last two days. I think Akio Toyoda and his flunky Imaba should be required to drive their families coast to coast in these two deathtraps. Now Toyota is trying to "buy" customers by paying them to take Subpar Toyotas off dealer lots. No me. Some of us want to live and are not drinking the Toyota Kool-Aid.
tbone85 says:
06:09 PM, 03/10/2010
Pretty funny to hear the only response for Toyota's problems are the media and the government. If the government has anything to be ashamed of, it's being too cozy with the auto manufacturers, including the company that spent more than any other lobying the federal government, ie Toyota.
An all time low is trying to shift the blame instead of taking responsibility and improving. It's a good thing that Toyota is not employing the Edmunds crew as PR managers. The Chevy Malibu simply is a better car than the boat-like Camry. The Lacrosse is simply better than the Avalon or the Lexus ES350.
You can live in the past if you choose to, but living off past glories is a fool's consumption. Thirty years ago the exact same line that's being followed in this thread "Everything is ok, we have a proven track record of making great cars" was being followed by the Big Three as the Japanese brands made quality and design inroads. Denial of obvious problems is always the first indicator of collapse. Toyota has significant design and at least moderate quality issues. They will not collapse in a month or a year. However, if they fail to improve, they will be surpassed by hungry competition within a decade.
atenza94546 says:
02:30 PM, 03/10/2010
Recently GM has a new commerical for their Chevy Malibu claiming GM are more reliable than Toyota. GM probably recall more cars than any of the manufacturer out there.
aston_dbs says:
12:31 PM, 03/10/2010
I second 'jeremy_c'
Toyota's reputation does not come overnight, but years of proven reliability.
Some people (AND US Congress) are blowing this out of proportion in order to 'milk' the cow...
Talking about the NEW NEW NEW LOW for US Congress (in the name of 'helping' American (Government-Owned) brand: GM.
jeremy_c says:
12:21 PM, 03/10/2010
Not surprised about Toyota's spike in sales. Most people I talk to don't really believe the hype and the problems portrayed by the media. A lot of them looking to buy a car are actually going Toyota now because they figure they can use this to leverage big discounts! Bet you this really steams big 3 that no matter what dirty tricks they pull, people still buy Toyotas.
The reason is because Toyota has a proven track record for reliability for the past 30+ years and people are taking that into consideration. On the other hand, all we ever got from the domestics was lip service. The old, "forget about last year's junk cars, we have improved rubbish" year after year just doesn't cut it anymore. I laughed when I saw the latest cover of Motor Trend that says "Forget the last 30 years, Buick is back". It's a repeat offender saying to the judge, forget about all the crimes I committed the last 10 years, I promise to be a good boy" LOL
jeremy_c says:
12:10 PM, 03/10/2010
The first rule of journalism is check that your source is credible and your report is accurate. Can't believe the Wall Street Journal has stooped so low. For this sort of false information to be reported, it means both the reporter and the editor are not doing their jobs. If they don't uphold their professional standard, the WSJ will be on their way to becoming a tabloid.
Regarding the media's bullying tactic and how they constantly harp as Toyota's ETS. We should also ask the same question to ALL car makers: "can you guarantee with absolutely no reservation that 100% of the computer system in 100% of all your vehicle will function flawless 100% of the time?" I think we all know what the answer would be!
stingray454 says:
11:49 AM, 03/10/2010
@westcoastbully - Pontiac G8 was never made in USA. It was made in Australia.