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Toyota Prius award rejected following recall

By Tim Beissmann |

Toyota has turned down an award from the Japanese Government’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry for the Prius in the midst of a global 437,000 hybrid vehicle recall.

The Prius was honoured alongside an air conditioner from Mitsubishi and a photocopier from Fuji Xerox, winning the annual grand prize for energy efficiency and ecological quality.

The winners were announced last month in the lead up to next Wednesday’s presentation ceremony, but Toyota informed the Ministry on Monday that it could not accept the award given recent events.

Toyota spokesman, Paul Nolasco, told Associated Press “We declined to accept the award, because we thought it is not appropriate”.

Toyota announced the global recall one week ago and now more than 200 complaints of a loss of brake feel have been have been raised around the world, including two in Australia.

A total of 2378 vehicles were recalled in Australia as a result of the antilock brake system-related issue.

The latest recall has taken total global Toyota recall numbers close to 8.5 million in the past year following the sticking accelerator problems and last year’s floor mat issue.

(with AP)


 

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  • sammo

    And so they should too. It’s the least they could do, given the current owner frustrations caused by the Prius recalls.

  • Steve-Poyza

    Thats a shame. I feel for Toyota, their name really has been hurt by this…

    • rentakeyboard

      During the drk days of the 1980s Holden become complacent and arrogant because of how they were seen by the public. They were very close to going undeer and if it want for the injection of US money Holden would no longer exist.

      The same arrogance from Toyota is the reason this is happening!

      They better have big bank accounts. This is gonna cost a fortune financially let alone the “loss of face”.

  • HJP

    Toyota has made right decision on this. Toyota has spent time to come up with a fix to improve their image so it’s not the right time to accept any reward at this stage.

  • Blaze

    In my eyes, Toyota has done the right thing by its customers. Design mistakes happen to all car manufacturers (I don’t know of any major car manufacturer that hasn’t had to fix a mistake that they’ve made).

    But the thing that clinches it for me is the manner in which Toyota have handled this entire mess. Their North American CEO apologised on Youtube and it appears that they have done their best to firstly fix the problem and secondly rebuild the trust of their customers.

    While I’m not a Toyota owner (and probably will never be) I do recognise the humble manner and considerate approach that they have made. Well done Toyota!

    • Kelly

      My mother just had a massive car accident with sudden acceleration in her 2 years old Prius- exactly same problem as oversease. I used to think high of the company, and that was one of the reason buying their car. They have left us with no answer to why the car suddenly accelerate from stopping mode and drove into family’s house. They have been ignoring us past few weeks and expect us to drive the car again after almost kill my mum and her neighours. This sudden acceleration is not just for oversease matter. It is happening here in Australia, and Toyota knows it. There is nothing humble about the company!!!

      • swampdawg

        Kelly, write to them, put eveything in writing and write down their/ any response, DO NOT drive it until toyota have tested it before or after being repaired – preferably before. Take it to toyota on a tilt tray tow truck. Then pester, pester and keep pestering them unitl they cave in. Then sell the damn thing.

        • rentakeyboard

          Talk to the Transport Department in yr state.

  • Mad Max

    Ford Australia I hope your reading this! This is how you deal with recalls, not refusing to acknowledge problems and hope they just go away like ball joints that fail and brake hoses that are too short. Are you reading this Marin?????

    • Shak

      There is a report about Ford not wanting to recall Territories and Falcons with problems on channel 7 tonight. And btw Toyota has no one to blame but themselves, they thought they could surf off of a reputation they formed may years ago

  • Reckless1

    The methodology by which a car company commits Hari-Kari……

  • HyundaiSmoke

    Newsflash:

    US Government Regulators in a conspiracy purposely protected Toyota at least 4 times (more cases are expected) in the last 10 years from being investigated on claims of sudden acceleration.

    Source:

    Bloomberg News.

    Your Governmnt probably has some Toyota fanboys lying for them too, you need to check!!!

  • The Real Car Fanatic

    Does this mean Prius is automatically disqualified from the world car of the year awards 2010, seeing as they have made the 10 car short list?

  • swampdawg

    Doh What a feeling. I wouldn’t touch one of these overpriced malfunctions, even though i really like the technology. I wonder how the Chinese equivalent due to be released here in 2011 will perform.

  • rentakeyboard

    An Airconditioner, a Photocopier and a Fridge! LOL

  • Fast Car

    Ford has no need to recall the Terry and Falcon due to the low number and no accidents\deaths due to these minor problems. Toyota have covered up major faults and have had to stop making some models. I hope they suffer for making boring awful cars and conning people in to believing that they are reliable and well made……..now we know that isnt true.

  • Fast Car

    Latest news is that Toyota is being sued by a woamn whos husband was killed when their Prius suddenly accelarated…….OH !! What a disaster…..Toyota!

  • Reality Check

    Oh what a feeling, where’s Dingo, has that Hound gone to ground ?
    Cowering in his hole, no doubt Toyota have had to stop paying him for his biased blog posts as they need to save all their money for mass litigation.

    This mess could easily spiral out of control due to mass loss of confidence in the brand, I mean who would buy one now, when you can’t be sure they will even be solvent in the next year or two to make the spare parts to fix everything else that might go wrong with them. ?

    Advert on the face of this thread – Ford Ecotecnic Australia’s most efficient car LOL. At least they’ll be here to service it, say no more.