2010-01-27

Toyota's Issues

I was going to post another article relating to Linux, but I decided to switch gears (no pun intended).
As many of you know, Toyota has been having a problem with its vehicles; it has recalled millions of them to fix a problem with the accelerator, which can fail to decompress when one's foot is lifted, causing "unintended acceleration".
That is not news.
However, this is something that a few (but not too many) news outlets have reported, as far as I know.
Toyota's official investigation has shown that the vast majority of these situations have occurred due to misplaced floor mats and can be easily fixed by reinstalling the mats; only a few of these vehicles have problems with the actual accelerator pedal [mechanism] itself. The truth is the opposite; the floor mat issue is mostly coincidental and is only to blame for a few vehicles, while the majority of the cases are due to faulty pedals themselves.
In short, don't buy a Toyota. Their reputation for quality and dependability is done. Almost all of Toyota's current vehicles (except for maybe the Land Cruiser) are affected and have thus stopped sales; I can now only tell people to stay away from Toyota like they stayed away from GM and Ford for so long (and can no longer rightfully do so, as GM and Ford have really stepped up the quality and reliability game).
These are my recommended car marques: Ford, Lincoln, Honda, Acura, Infiniti, Hyundai, Mazda, Buick, and Cadillac.