Toyota’s Troubling Take Back

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February 23, 2010 • Reed Hausser  
Filed under BuccaNews

        Recently two major car companies have started recalling multiple models. Toyota and Honda have begun to test their previous year’s models, including versions as far back as the early 2000’s. With all of these recalls it leads me to question major company’s safety standards.

            From “sticky” accelerators to airbags that don’t deploy properly, why exactly are safety measures being cut to reduce costs? In January 2010, Toyota recalled a total of ten of their top selling cars in the American market. Another popular brand Honda, has recalled its early 2000’s models of the number one selling Accord as well as six other cars.

            Toyota announced their voluntary recall to warn drivers of a safety hazard in their cars. The Toyota: Avalon, Camry, Carolla, Corporate, Highlander, HS 250h, Matrix, Prius, Rav 4, and Tundra were all discovered to have a self-maintaining accelerator. This means that when you let off the gas the pedal doesn’t always come up. Originally, Toyota blamed it on the accelerator sticking to the floor mats, but later investigation showed the lower quality accelerators were actually causing the problem. With new technologies and more advanced computers in cars you would think safety standards would improve. Unfortunately it’s just the contrary, the internal computers are taking the share of the blame for accidents. After the most recent accident a call made to 911 was released saying, “We’re in a Lexus… and we’re going North 125 and our accelerator is stuck… we’re in trouble… there are no brakes… we’re approaching the intersection… hold on… hold on and pray… pray.” It was later discovered that an electronic malfunction held the accelerator down and electronically disabled the brakes. This crash lead to the death of the four passengers inside. With Toyota’s highly advanced computers, how does something like this happen?

            The Honda recall started in July 2009 and is still going on today. It started because they discovered a flaw with the airbag reclose system. The motors that powered inflation of the airbags were overpowered and could result in serious injury and even death. Honda is willing to replace the airbags to help save the reputation. So far Honda has recalled 646,000 of their cars worldwide. According to Honda the total cost estimated in fixing this problem is going to be around thirty million dollars.

            With two of the most popular car brands in America having major recalls, it makes you wonder how safe our roads truly are. So if you drive a Honda or a Toyota make sure to have you car serviced in order to keep the roads safe and to protect you family. It just goes to show even major brand names noted for their dependability and safety are always subjected to failure.