cletus8269

i hope so... but it rings so true to the arguments i have been subjected to about domestics VS japanese

idiots...

Toyota poised to cut global production By Michiyo Nakamoto in Tokyo Published: August 26 2009 11:28 | Last updated: August 26 2009 19:37 Toyota is poised to slash production by as much as 580,000 vehicles – nearly 6 per cent of global capacity – in an effort to stem losses amid the sharp downturn in vehicle sales. The world’s largest carmaker, which is forecasting its second consecutive net loss this year, said it would shut a production line in western Japan from next spring through to the second half of 2011, reducing output by 220,000 vehicles. The Japanese company is also looking to pull out of Nummi, its manufacturing joint venture with General Motors in California, where it produced 359,000 vehicles last year. “While nothing has been decided, we are in discussions [with GM’s administrator] with a view to pulling out of Nummi,” said a Toyota representative. Japanese media have been reporting that the carmaker is also looking at cutting production in the UK, where it makes the Auris, along with other lines in Japan. If this was the case, Toyota would bring the total of production cuts to nearly 1m vehicles, or 10 per cent of its global production capacity. This is the first time Toyota has planned to cut production on such a large scale and comes as the group’s global sales have been battered by the recession. Toyota is expected to produce about 7.2m vehicles globally this year, compared with 9.7m in 2007, said Masatoshi Nishimoto, analyst at CSM Worldwide, the market research group. In its home market, Toyota is expected to see production fall to 3.3m vehicles this year compared with 4.9m in 2007, Mr Nishimoto said. But it is in the US – where plunging sales forced Toyota to halt building a new plant in Mississippi – that the group has suffered the most from the dramatic drop in demand for vehicles. Sales in North America fell 34 per cent in the period from January to July this year, to 945,000, Toyota said. The drop was noticeably larger than the 23 per cent drop in Japan and the 27 per cent decline in Europe. Akio Toyoda, the founding family scion who took over in June, is on a mission to cut costs and bring the company back to profitability next fiscal year. Mr Nishimoto at CSM believes Toyota would have to wait until 2011 to return to its pre-crisis levels of production. He added that it would be relatively easy for Toyota to pull out of the Nummi facility by shifting production of the popular Corolla model it makes there to another plant in the US. Demand for cars has plummeted around the world as a result of the global recession, which forced both General Motors and Chrysler into bankruptcy. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ac6d95d2-9229-11...?nclick_check=1

wow, just wow at some of the comments to this article. Even with a few small Issues A TOYOTA is far more car than anything produced by GM or Ford I think we all are aware of that. 1991 Corolla 565.000 still going srong. O O O O What a feeling ! — Jack Morgan Sorry, but I’m not buying this story. If it was an American brand, then of course we could blame the manufacturer for marketing underdeveloped, chintzy, fuel-sucking garbage. But, as we are discussing Toyota, I can only presume that this is a case of fine Japanese machinery defiled by hamburger-eating, reality-show-watching clumsy Americans. — Paul at least there are people with half a brain commenting too I’ve been dealing with this problem for the last several months. It happened to my 03 after my warranty expired. I needed a new ECU and a complete transmission rebuild. Final bill: $3500; campensation from Toyota after 1 letter and 2 calls: $0. Their customer service people have no compassion for the situation and are spouting a company line about how a TSB does not necessarliy mean they are responsible. My computer diagnostic codes were dead on with this problem, yet they refuse to help. I will never buy another Toyota again. — Brett You got a 1991 Corolla with 565,000 miles? Congrats. Because we used to had a 1985 Corolla with less than 200,000 miles, and the engine self destructed. My uncle has a 1991 Camry that has destroyed 2 flywheels within 150,000 miles. Part of the reason why we no longer own any Toyota’s. As for the Transmission glitch thing. I don’t know, I’d consider a transmission glitch that eventually destroys the transmission a serious problem. One worth fixing before the consumers transmission breaks. Also, they are relying on the consumer to know that their transmission isn’t working correctly? I guarantee you that the majority of owners of Toyota RAV4 aren’t car savvy. And they’re not going to know that their transmission is malfuntioning. As for Toyota not considering it a safety issue. It is definitely a safety issue. A good functioning transmission is necessary for merging onto the freeway, in and out of traffic, and to make any sort of emergency acceleration maneuver (like to dodge out of the way of a semi truck that’s moving into your lane of the freeway without signaling). I have a Ford Aerostar with a dying transmission (1994 and it wasn’t well maintained by the previous owner) and I’ve been run off the onramp on multiple occasions when the transmission didn’t shift down correctly to accelerate. I don’t use the Aerostar on the freeway anymore because it’s a safety issue. — Jeff

RAV4 Owners Fume Over Toyota’s Handling of Transmission Glitch By Christopher Jensen Although consumer satisfaction studies have often given Toyota’s RAV4 “cute ute” high marks for quality, some owners are furious at the automaker because it failed to warn them of a serious transmission problem. Had Toyota warned them, they say, they could have avoided expensive repairs. Benjamin Birkbeck of Yarmouth, Me., who owns a 2002 RAV4, is one of those consumers. His wife, Rhonda, was trying to merge into traffic when a suddenly faulty transmission meant she was “almost run over by a semitruck,” he wrote in a complaint on the Center for Auto Safety Web site. “This is a safety issue. My wife was almost killed.” Dianna Radford of Albuquerque, N.M., had to pay about $4,000 for a repair on her 2002 model. “I have owned Toyotas for 12 years and I will never buy another one, the way I was treated,” she said. They are not alone. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has more than 120 complaints about transmission problems with the 2001–2003 RAV4, of which Toyota sold about 250,000. Often the blame is put on the engine control module (ECM), which tells the transmission what to do. In March 2006, Toyota sent dealers a technical service bulletin warning them that some consumers might complain about harsh shifting. It said improvements were made to the computer “manufacturing process to reduce the possibility of this condition occurring.” It then told the dealers to replace the module and if that did not work to replace the transmission. But consumers owning the vehicles were never notified about the problem. That kind of a warning is important because, as soon as the transmission begins to misbehave, consumers should stop driving it and get it fixed to avoid major transmission damage, said Lance Wiggins, the technical director of the Automatic Transmission Rebuilders Association. Mr. Wiggins said the association is quite familiar with the RAV4 problem. Overall Toyota has “a fairly responsible customer satisfaction program,” said Clarence Ditlow, the executive director of the Center for Auto Safety. But this time consumers are getting a bad deal. “At best you can say it slipped through the cracks,” said Mr. Ditlow. “At worst you can say that Toyota is knowingly imposing the risk of a very large repair on consumers.” Brian Lyons, a spokesman for Toyota, said that when the bulletin was sent out the automaker didn’t notify consumers because it was not considered a safety problem; additionally, repairs were being covered by a warranty, he said, and Toyota did not realize that the ECM problem might result in damaged transmissions. Although it is now clear that the ECM problem can damage transmissions, Mr. Lyons said the automaker still isn’t ready to send out notices to consumers because it is still studying the issue and whether to extend the warranty. He said consumers with problems should call Toyota’s customer assistance center at (800) 331-4331. Mr. Ditlow interprets the March 2006 service bulletin as an admission of a defect, something Mr. Lyons did not dispute. But despite the defect, Toyota did not offer any special warranty coverage. Instead, the bulletin said repairs would be covered under the federal emissions warranty of 80,000 miles or eight years from the time the vehicle was sold. The bulletin also told dealers they could only make repairs under that warranty based on consumer complaints once a problem had been identified — not to prevent the problem. Many owners have turned to the federal safety agency, saying they feel their vehicles are not safe and asking for help in the form of a recall. But the agency has not undertaken a defect investigation, which could lead to a recall. Mr. Ditlow, who has watched the safety agency and the auto industry for three decades, says he has concluded that the agency is reluctant to open investigations into transmission problems unless they involve vehicles that stall or have problems on the highway, which constitutes a clear safety problem. Rae Tyson, a spokesman for the agency, said the problem has been deciding whether the complaints are a safety issue or just consumer inconvenience. “They are watching it very closely,” he said. Rhonda Birkbeck says if an agency official had the same experience she had there wouldn’t be any doubt it was a safety defect. “I just hope they won’t still be studying it when someone loses their life,” she said. http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/26...-customers-ire/

while checking my email i noticed i got something from streetfire.net in the inbox. its usually some odds and ends and top interest vids. low and behold probably one of the last truly gripping shameful C4C vids oh the humanity!

is the silverado on a 900? i thought the 1500 "classics" were to get rid of the parts left over in the bin. if they are on the 900 i might need to track me a classic down. problem is 2 yr old trucks cost almost what new does... on another note my buddy was in his 2009 2500hd a while back and hit a stump on his property, the body shop that fixed it was a friend of his. the stump did right at $1100 damage. new bumper, new skidplate, new from the wheel to the control arms, and the frame was bent so bad that he could have totaled it no prob but they straightend out the frame and then plate welded a whole section to make it look better and reinforce the frame.

theres an auto shop on the way to work. he always has something cool out front whether it be an old truck, 71 camaro, 3rd gen monte, 65 malibu and just yesterday there was this on my supper break i encountered this and the best one today was a souvenir trailer for joe gibbs who pushes toyotas these days. its good to know that when he needs hauling done he still fronts the trailer with A 3500 HD CHEVY BABY!!!! heheheh. guess his tundra HD is in the shop.

hehe maybe not that ambitious... while looking at 97's on ebay i did stumble upon this one which has a 5sp!!!!

oo oooo dont forget chrysler = ch 11... we can thank them for that too...

dont forget about the SD tempests. remember last year one popped up on ebay for sale and no one quite knew what it was till a person chimed in on what he thought it could be.

thanks, he swears up and down that if this doesnt work hes going to start hunting down something in the 69-72 or 84-87 range so he can work on it himself and not worry about "computers" hehe

this past weekend on powerblock the guys from horsepower went to a old school drig event that had the bantams, slingshots, and the nitro methanes running. it was freakin sweet to watch that. they feature a lot of those things on Pass Time too. they also showed an awesome straight axle car called shaky puddin... insane 56 running 10's.

because mike moran did it in a turbocharged monte carlo making him the first in a door-slammer to do it! ET 5.97 @ 251mph twin turbo 572 BBC making 3700hp. r/t .276 60ft 1.036 330ft 2.708 1/8th 3.994 @ 194.52 1000ft 5.072 for the full story check out the october issue of HOTROD

well upon further snooping about the salesman must not have known what he was talking about. the transmission in dads truck must be the 4L80E cause it sure as crap cant be the 4L65E, but still the fact remains, $1500 damage has been done. is there a recall or tsb out there about this?

My dad has a 2004 Silverado 1500 Z85 with the heavy duty towing package. as such his 1500 has the allison transmission under it (which is totally awesome in my opinion) however, his confidence in his truck has really been shook as of late what with his truck having the steering pin rattle and all. he has replaced that once already and is getting ready to do some engineering work on that so that the grease draining out will no longer be a problem. thats another story. the biggie is that the allison transmission began slipping last week and it has now reached a point friday to where he has parked the truck and is in the process of sending it to the shop to be worked on. Guys this truck is not dogged, or worked hard even. this truck has 63K HWY miles on it. my dad is in between fixing it and giving it another shot or fixing it and selling it. all we drive is chevy and for him to give up on it would be a huge blow to brand confidence for him. he is looking at 97's what he traded in on the 04 with 140,000 trouble free miles. Has anyone else heard or know of what the problem could be? he said from what he found it was programming errors in the transmissions. im just looking for answers for him. thanks.

congrats yo, you have accomplished a feat very many people are envious of right now. any for manga's? seen my fair share of anime and i am by no means a super otaku but... that stuff can get weird ...

i know whos trick or treat bag im grabbin this year... "hey show me how it transforms"... <yoink>

i'd go through 60 months of pain for that pleasure...

happy birthday,

indeed... and a van towing a boat, and a truck towing a combine.

whooops hehe i was in a hurry and didnt proof read the post try this link instead.

hmmm... is this the root cause of Spending High?

but i am jealous... a more entertaining way to use "clunkers"

what was that? i mean what was that?