Toyota most recalled make in US for 2009

By Matt Brogan | December 31st, 2009

The Detroit Free Press has today named Toyota as the most recalled car for 2009 with some 4,872,583 units involved in a total of nine safety recalls.

Narrowly beating runner-up Ford, with 4,521,993 units, due to a cruise control issue, the recalls have left a serious dent in the reputation of a manufacturer that, until now, typified automotive quality and reliability.

Of those 4.87 million recalls, 4.3 million were a direct result of an unintended acceleration problem with some Toyota and Lexus vehicles.

Toyota’s recalls come at a time where unprecedented high numbers of recalls plague the industry average. Last year saw just 8.6 million recalls whereas the industry combined for 15.2 million recalls in 2009.

Toyota and Ford vehicles sold in Australia were not affected by these recalls.

Fiesta ECOnetic

How do they sell so many cars then? is it price or because they have a hugh range of every type of car?

Al Juraj

Probably the same reason why Crappadores sell like pancakes.

Frosty

This is not the first year that Toyota have topped the list. They have actually done it before and have for a number of years now. So anyone who makes stupid baseless claims about GM or Holden (when it comes to our country) and about any Commodore or Holden recalls maybe they should look at the facts and that is that Toyota not only have topped America but also worldwide for a few years now with Ford the number 2 most recalled vehicle.
new golf

but dont they sell the most cars?
it would be better to compare %of recalls agaisnt cars sold, as these numbers could be quite misleading.

Andrew M

That would actually make it worse if they dont sell the most yet still top the figures….(if you were to display a percentage strike rate)
Safety First

Globally yes they seel the most cars. However the larger majority of those numbers go to under developed nations. Australia & New Zealand are the ONLY developed, non domestic markets where Toyota is number one. (and that is largely due to Government and Major fleet deals done at heavily discounted prices).
In Places like the Middle East and Africa, recalls from bit falling off or breaking don’t happen due to the poor maintenance schedual of their cars.
Wheelnut

Not that I am defending Toyota.

However; the laws of probability virtually dictate that the more cars you sell; the more likelihood there is that a greater %’age of those cars will have faults/problems resulting in more recalls..
Particularly when under the US Lemon laws; cars are to be recalled for the most trivial matter.. Such as floor mats

Valet Dabess

didn’t they have the most embarrassing recalls too, with the floor mats lol

Toyota Guru

Toyota can’t help it if Americans are retarded fools and don’t know how to pull a mat away from an accelerator pedal.

Brad

This fault was only with Toyotas manufactured in the US wasn’t it? If so, I think this would make it a design fault if models made elsewhere don’t.
Wheelnut

Maybe.. However; things tend move around in a car when its in motion

I mean – when you are driving along do you regularly look down at your floor mats to see that they are still being held in position?

.. and if so do you then reach down to relocate and secure them [if they have moved]?

.. do you also get out at the traffic lights to make sure that all the groceries etc in the boot are still in their bags etc..

Brad

There’s another way of looking at this though. Sure there was a fault which is bad but at least Toyota took ownership of the problem and recalled the cars to fix it rather than brush their customers off like other car manufacturers sometimes do (sure not necessarily with as significant an issue but an issue all the same).

Falcodore

Actually Toyota initially denied there was a problem, but after so many complaints following the tragic death of a family in a crash caused by the floormats their hand was forced.

The L.A Times i think it was, did an investigation into Toyota’s handling of the situation and found them to be not only incompetent, but also very arrogant.Now the same thing’s happening with the brake issue in their hybrid vehicles.

Anit-spam word = lexus lol

ohreally

For a top seller this is not bad news, heck at least they performed a recall.

Are the urban legends true that ford did not perform a recall on the Ford Pinto, on the basis that it was not ‘cost effective’ to perform a recall?

According to fightclub:
( chance of fire x chance of lawsuit x cost of ave settlement) = x
if x is less then the price of a recall we don’t do one.
—————————————————————–
Toyota Guru says:
December 31, 2009 at 12:11 pm

Toyota can’t help it if Americans are retarded fools and don’t know how to pull a mat away from an accelerator pedal.
——————————————————————
In America you cant take that chance, people will sue you for hot coffee
Shak

The simple fact is that Toyota hd to recall them in the first place. It just goes to show that this preconcieved notion of safety and reliability is all smoke and mirrors. Theres no use defending them and saying “at least they performed a recall”, the fact is that the fault was made and they “had” to perform a recall.

Tomas79

Mate, the floormat issue recall is hardly a matter of reliability!!

There are still many more issues with Falcadores, that the parent companies just try to ignore!!

Tinman

I agree, the floormats are definitely not a reliability issue, more like,Help I’m Going To Die issue.
You have to remember that most drivers of any make are barely in control when everything is going well. They end up being passengers when something goes wrong.

Andrew M

Ironic you say that Shak,
Only over on the Holden recall page you are defending the issue to the death

Tomas79

Hardly Suprising,
If you are the world’s largest manufacture of vehicles, and choose to perform recalls, Offcourse you are more like to recall more vehicles then anybody else!!

Andrew M

This is just the US though.
They dont sell the most in that market

Wheelnut

That’s true Andrew – However; given that the US market is the biggest and most competitive markets in the world. Most car manufacturers focus on and design their cars for “American tastes” etc

But with so many recalls it could have an impact on the sale of similar models elsewhere in the world

For example if the Corolla starts to become less and less popular in the USA [due to repetitive recalls - under the lemon laws] Tit would mean that Toyo-Oz would also lose one of their most popular sellers,

Or if they axe the Camry/Aurion [for the same reason] it could mean that they then close the Toyo-Oz operations.

realcars

How did Toyota ever typify Automotive quality?
Because they have told us this in their adds for the last thirty years?

This proves they are no better or worse than most other manufacturers.
People generally buy them because of this image and definitely not for design,dynamics etc.lol.

Brad

Because there’s absolutely no empirical evidence of this of course:
http://www.caradvice.com.au/1436/top-10-reliable-brands/

Do some searching for “car reliability survey” on the net and you’ll find plenty of studies done by insurance companies and such that rank Toyota and other Japanese makes of cars above those from elsewhere in the world.

Dennis

BTW, what happened to all the other recall articles?

OzProud

Dennis, no doubt something to do with 50+ replies on the commodore (many abusive and by the usual anti GM/Ford mob – sure, many responses from others can’t be justified either but it is always the predictable mob that kick off with the unreasoned GM/Ford phobia) while the other 7 articles had about 3 replies amongst them. Gotta love the passion evoked by the great Commodore & Falcon icons!

andre

In 1999 I had a Toyota Camry Conquest V6… I had a few issues with Commodores and Falcons prior to that car (all company cars)…. and when Toyota and Mitsubishi were added to our choice of company car I thought lets go for reliability (I have no allegiance to any of the makers) and the car I had was plagued with endless problems and a very poor service attitude from Toyota which led me to 3 Mitsubishis, totally trouble-free. I drive two reasonably fancy European cars now, but the Australian Mitsubishis I had were the most trouble-free cars I have had.
Tinman

If anyone finds recalls exciting, go to recalls.gov.au.
Don’t forget that recalls can be used as a marketing program to introduce subsequent owners to the service department, as some recalls only require a check.
I guess most people have heard of various FREE safety check offers at various mechanical workshops, also a marketing program.
DO NOT drive into an EMPTY workshop for a roadworthy inspection,EVER!