Here's an interesting comment and extremely quick turnaround on it from the Secretary of Transportation.

http://tinyurl.com/yd5usx4

Questions for all you out there-

1. Do you think his first statement is actually the right one?

2. Do any of you have one of the recalled models? If so are you planning on continuing to drive it until the fix is in?

3. Do you think Toyota has any obligation to offer payment for rental cars to owners of the vehicles affected?

It's a tough decision- especially if you only have one car or all your vehicles are recalled Toyotas.

I don't have any toyotas but if the cars involved were Hondas- for example- my family would be very affected since between my self, Esther, my daughter Beth and my sister Stephanie we own 4 Hondas.

Any thoughts out there?

Dennis

I happen to own a 2009 Toyota Camry Hybrid (I love it), which is not included in the recall. Apparently because it is a hybrid it must have a different gas pedal assembly.

I think the Secretary over stated what his position should have been on this matter. I think encouraging car owners to get them fixed as soon as possible and to bring to the public's attention what the emergency procedures are that they should try if they have the problem occur.

It will take Toyota a long time to recover from this if they ever do, but I feel that they should be given a chance to fix the problem without an official of the US government telling everybody to stop driving the cars at once.

I will as a matter of course ask my Toyota service shop inspect my car for any sign of the problem the next time I have it serviced.

I think Toyota's problems stem from the fact that in their quest to be the biggest car manufacturer in the world they compromised on quality. All car makers have recalls from time to time but all of these recent ones from Toyota are magnified because all we heard for years is how good the quality was.

As an employee of Ford Motor Company I am of course biased. I wish everyone drove a Ford product. With all of the quality problems and ridicule the company has had in the past I am glad to see where our quality ratings are now, second to none. Let someone else hear about it for a while.

Tom

Hey TD, I bought the bride a new Ford Edge Limited last June. She absolutely loves the car with all its bells and whistles. It wasn't cheap but after all, it's only money. I've never owned a foreign car, unless you consider my Crossfire to be foreign because it was built in Germany.

Now I'm hot to purchase a new Dodge Challenger SRT8. If I do, my Crossfire Roadster with only 12000 miles will be gone. I still love the Crossfire but I've got the car-buying bug again. It happens about every two years. These Challengers are great looking cars and I really like what I hear about their performance. I really would like one in my driveway.

Bob

Uncontrolled acceleration isn't a problem for just Toyota -- they are just the most recent company to have the problem.

What everyone needs to know is WHAT TO DO if your car has this problem while you are driving it.

From Tom & Ray (Car Talk):

http://www.cartalk.com/content/features/acceleration.html

Serious stuff - presented in a somewhat funny way. But mandatory reading for you, your spouse and kids.

I came from a Ford/Lincoln/Mercury family and my husband from a Chevy/Dodge family. Over the years we have owned a Pontiac, Chevy's, Fords, Dodges, Nissans, a Kia, and a Hyundai. Today, my husband drives a Nissan Frontier pickup, I drive a Hyundai Santa Fe, and my daugher has my old Kia Optima. Some vehihcles we had problems with and others we just traded in because they no longer met our life style or did not perform well in the ice and snow (when we moved to Colorado we had to trade in the Firebird for a 4x4 Blazer.

We finally started consulting Consumer Reports to help us find vehicles that had tested or historically been good performers. Toyota has almost always rated number one in just about every category, but based on price we never bought we because we could find a better priced vehicle that was also considered a Consumer Reports "best buy". They have not steered us wrong yet.

My husband really liked the Challenger because of its interesting and sporting looking design. However after consulting Consumer Reports we decided against it due to the noted visibility issues due to the smaller windows and the larger window frames. So Bob, be sure to do an extensive test drive.

Bob, bob, bob... you are just making TOO much money in your retirement! LOL. $40K for the Challenger including the Gus Guzzler tax.

Next you'll want a bubble gum machine on the roof.

Enjoy whatever you buy -- I know you will.

wITH bOB'S TRADEIN jOHN, IT JUST MIGHT BE A PUSH!

I haven't driven the new Challenger yet but I sat in one and I was impressed with the room I had compared to my Crossfire Roadster. I like what I see and feel the Challenger is for me. The toughest decision will be whether I do buy the SRT8 with the 6.1/425 hp Hemi or purchase the R/T with the 5.7/375 hp Hemi. I will definitely buy the 6-speed manual transmission. Then comes the color. First Choice is Detonator Yellow. Next choice is Hemi Orange. After that maybe black, red, or dark blue. I'll add a few pics so you can see what I'm talking about.

My first choice:



My second choice:


Maybe this color:


Maybe the darker of the two blues:


Bob