Consumer Law

Baby You Can Drive My Car ? But I Wouldn?t!

By Joe Consumer

(Please no offense Beatles fans!)

It was just announced that ?Toyota is recalling 740,000 vehicles in the U.S. that may leak brake fluid.?  This latest recall covers ?2004-06 Avalons, non-hybrid Highlanders and Lexus RX330, GS300, IS250 and IS350 models.?  Let?s add to that hundreds of thousands more recalled cars in Europe and Japan. That makes about 10 million Toyota cars and trucks recalled worldwide this year, ?from faulty gas pedals and floor mats that can trap accelerators [which caused at least 90 deaths, the cause of which National Academy of Sciences and NASA are still investigating], to braking problems in its Prius hybrid? and stalling engines, along with the company's other unique distinction of having to pay ?a $16.4-million fine as a result of what the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration argued was a failure to report the problems to government regulators in a timely manner.?  Even the insurance industry is suing them, not to mention the real victims of these tragedies.  That is some record, and we do NOT mean the musical kind.

But don?t think Toyota is alone on this most recent recall.  Honda has a similar brake fluid problem, and is recalling ?an unspecified number of 2005-07 Acura RL sedans and Honda Odyssey minivans.?

But don?t the Japanese automakers are alone either.  U.S. cars are having their own safety problems this month. CBS reports that this week, ?Chrysler recalled over 26,000 vehicles with power steering problems while Volvo recalled almost 10,000 cars for problems with airbags.? 

Moreover, ?In the last six months GM and Nissan had seven recalls while BMW, Chrysler and Ford had five each. In all, the auto industry has had 56 safety recalls for passenger vehicles in the last six months, according to government data.?

But at least Toyota is trying to let the public know about its car problems.  CBS reports that with regard to the Chrysler and Volvo recalls, ?news of the safety announcements were nowhere to be found on those company's websites.? 

And while we're on the subject of drivers in the dark,  ?About 8.4 million Ford vehicles that can possibly catch fire remain on the road because of lack of owner information even after the largest U.S. safety recall ever.?  Those earlier recalls - ?1992-2003 E series, 1993-2003 F series, 1995-2003 Windstars, 1995-2002 Explorers and 1995-2003 Rangers? ? were for leaky cruise-control switches.  NHTSA says ?about 60 percent of the 14 million recalled vehicles -- or 8.4 million ? have not been brought in for repair by owners.?   The agency:

[S]ingled out used-car owners who may not know whether the vehicles they bought had ever been returned to dealers for needed repairs.

It also urged owners ?to watch for potential warning signs of an imminent fire.?  Those signs include a cruise-control system or brake lights that stop working, low brake fluid and the illumination of brake warning lights on the dashboard.

Imminet fire?  Wish ThePopTort could do more to warn drivers about all this, but we're trying.

Full post as published by ThePopTort on October 22, 2010 (boomark / email).