AAH #27 – Lost Planet
October 2nd, 2009 at 11:08am
(Archived video and chat discussion after the jump below)
It’s another edition of After Hours and the crew’s all back to mourn the loss of a “different kind of car company.” Peter De Lorenzo the Autoextremist is in the house once again, and he joins David Welch from BusinessWeek and John McElroy. The gang also welcomes guest panelist Erich Merkle, the President of Autoconomy, who comes bearing his automotive analysis. September sales fall through the floor. The Tokyo Motor Show gets boycotted by all non-Japanese automakers. The Toyota floor mat debacle calls into question the issues of personal responsibility and driver education. All that plus we get to your Saturn memories in Rapid Fire!
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October 2nd, 2009 at 3:17 pm
This is just an addendum to the floor mats discussion. Over on ClubLexus.com I found a couple of interesting tidbits.
1) Push button start equipped Lexus cars require you to hold down the start button for three seconds to shut down the engine while the car is in motion.
2) Apparently in some cars the shifter only sends suggestions to the transmission control unit, so I’ve heard cases where the user tried to shift into neutral but it didn’t work.
I haven’t verified either of these with my car, but it is potentially good information to know in case of an emergency.
October 5th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
I’ve heard that it has nothing to do with the floor mat, that people have had this happen and pulled the floor mat back, pulled the gas pedal up with their foot and it still accelerates out of control. It sounds more like a throttle position sensor issue and a mis communication between that and the computer. I think Toyota has something more going on then we’ve been lead to believe.
October 6th, 2009 at 5:37 am
In some sense Toyota already has a Celica, they just call it a Scion tC. Don’t forget they’re developing a new compact rwd coupe with Subaru as well.
October 6th, 2009 at 5:39 am
The problem with being out of a recession is that people think a recession is a pothole, when really it’s just the drop to the bottom. The recession is over, but we’re not out of the pothole yet.
October 7th, 2009 at 12:22 am
Toyota gets all the bad publicity now because everyone knows they’re the biggest target.