No I hadn’t, but thanks!
No ritual suicide happening. They’re blaming the recall on foreign-made (American-made) components.
Okay so no Seppuku, but can we at least get a pinky severing?
They have been Americanized. At least to the degree that they will push the limit to make profits. Cut corners and hurry up to make delivery.
The Big 3 would balance law suits against the cost of repair and fix it if it cost more in suits than the fix, then they would take care of it. Airlines do the same. If a hatch can fall of killing people, they will determine the likelihood of the accident killing passengers. They will multiply the deaths by 3.5 million and then determine if the fix costs more. That is business.
In China they might be put to death.
Really? How does one shove in the clutch in an automatic?
Put it in neutral.
FWIW, you CAN pull back a gear in an automatic to save the brakes on a steep grade.
The US government forced them to do a recall. They don’t deserve credit for that at all.
There’s a rumor going around that he will have to drive a Toyota.
Count me as the third person in the thread to ask you outright what the heck “TIC” means. I did some searching, but none of the definitions I found seem to fit. What are you talking about?
Acronym Finder had Tongue-In-Cheek as a suggestion. I assumed it to mean that.
I think we’ll have to settle for a paper cut and some lemon juice.
I read TIC as standing for Tongue In Cheek.
Somewhat OT, but starting before this story came out I have had several nightmares in which the car I was driving kept speeding up until I was standing on the brakes to keep the speed steady. At least maybe it will occur to me now in my dream to put the car into neutral (my nightmare car is always automatic, and I usually drive manual).
Wasn’t that originally a Mercedes joke? (I honestly can’t remember.)
Modern electronically-controlled transmissions have no direct mechanical connection between the gear selector and the transmission; the selector is nothing more than an electric switch. In these cars, the control computer will not downshift the transmission if doing so will force the engine to exceed redline RPM. So if you’re in overdrive doing 120 MPH, and try to downshift, nothing will happen.
34 deaths and 22 injuries according to NHTSA. Plus several lawsuits that never made it into the database.
What car manufacturer is using these parts and not correcting the potential problem?
You put it in neutral and use the brakes. I was referring to selecting D (or whatever specific gear you need in the cases of 5 - 7 speed automatics) while driving down an extended grade to keep from cooking your brakes.
“old school” transmissions won’t downshift if doing so will harm the transmission, either. (Says the guy who’s rebuilt his 700r4)
Please do not make me get into full-on debate mode on this, it’s the kind of shit that’s really making the straight dope an un-fun place to be.
Toyota cut production 28%, last year, yet still made 6.8 MILLION vehicles (cite: http://www.thetorquereport.com/2009/05/toyota_cuts_annual_production.html )
34 deaths and 22 injuries? That doesn’t even statistically -register-!
Actually, I’m not really that knowledgeable about cars and I feel like I’ve been learning things from this discussion. For what that’s worth.
Ah.
Did anyone else in the thread actually understand that acronym? Or parse it out based on context? Going back, I can see it - but I sure as hell didn’t the first time through. Rumor - would it really have been that hard to type it out?
No, when you make up numbers and then claim that you can’t back them up is when it dosen’t stastistically register. It’s also fostering ignorance.