Cars! Cars! Cars!

Recall!

No, not good 'ol GD, just some Fords. One million? No, keep going. Two? Nope. Three. Think mo. Mo mo mo. Four?! Oh, stop, we'll answer for you.

4,500,000

All the way back to when Clinton was in office! Sweet mercy that's a lot of Fords. There's a good chance the tech that'll repair your car was 8 years old at the time some of these beasts were made.

Referenced articles
CNNMoney.com: Ford recall hits 4.5 million vehicles

Go Civic!

Oh, Honda. You and your silly engines that spurt out stuff and make other stuff not work!
Autoblog reports: .

Crap, this recall affects a crap load of cars and trucks -- but not the little Civic that can! Or the Fit.

It's interesting to note that Honda has a big recall in China, too. So, in total, the recall stands around 700k. Anyone think it'll go to a million? Anyone?

That's a snap of a gussied up Civic. Unaffected by this recall. So far.

Toyota: No Cars/Trucks/SUVs For You!

Detroit Free Press reports: Toyota may delay models to fix quality problems

The Japanese automaker is tightening its quality control methods in a campaign to reduce a spate of recalls that could erode the company’s reputation.

“We try to affirm each process,” Watanabe said at a demonstration of safety features west of Tokyo. “And in that process, some may be delayed, and some may be on time.”

So, what's the deal here? Is it that Toyota's quality has slipped so much that it's saying, "Hold up! These here vehicles are so bad, let's so selling them and fix them?" or is this an example of a corporation being a good neighbor by saying, "You can't borrow the lawn mower until I get it fixed"?

Heck if we know. What do you think?

Picking On Toyota

Are we now suddenly picking on Toyota? Should we? Isn't it fair that we all pick on Toyota if we were picking on Detroit for so long (and still do)? Are media folks making a bigger deal out of this than it really is? The Detroit News reports: Recall probes add new blows to Toyota. Looks like more bowing is coming from Japan soon. Hopefully fixes are coming, too.

Toyota better be careful because we get the feeling that U.S. car buyers are just hankerin' for a reason to buy from a company where the profits stay in the U.S. And the only reason they haven't done so was a quality issue (real or perceived).

More Ford Recalls?

The Detroit News reports: Ford cruise control recall widens. Holy cow, another 1.2 million being called in.

NHTSA will continue to monitor vehicles equipped with the switch that have not been recalled, and Ford said it will cooperate with any future requests. The automaker, however, said it doesn't expect further recalls.

"If we felt the switch was unsafe we'd be recalling all of them," said Ford spokeswoman Kristen Kinley. "We're confident we've captured all of them."

Confident, eh? We're talking almost 7 million vehicles recalled (in total). That's a spicy meatball.

Actually, it's not. And it's not really funny either. Ford knew these pieces were trouble long ago and delayed recalling them. That's bad.

Recalls Catching Up To Toyota?

The Detroit News reports: Recalls dent Toyota image. August and September will be nervous days for Toyota. If they get one more set of recalls, we think Toyota's reputation will take some major damage.

Can Toyota turn it around?

Oh, What a Recall, Toy-ota!

The Detroit News reports: Recall woes grip Toyota. Craptastic! We've been a bit negligent about mentioning all the recalls Toyota has been issuing, but it's at the point where the sheer number of 'em is news. There are so many, in fact, we can't keep track of them all.

While recalls are not the only or best gauge of vehicle quality, Toyota has experienced a sharp rise that industry analysts no longer dismiss as an anomaly.

"Toyota is growing so fast that they're starting to make mistakes that they avoided in the past," said George Peterson, president of Tustin, Calif., consultant AutoPacific.

What's up with Toyota? They driving down Suck Road in Recall City? Meanwhile, in Recall City, Automotive News reports: Toyota to hold news conference on recall.

That's a picture of the 2002 Toyota Prius which is part of the recall. That's John's hybrid.

Toyota Slippin?

Is it true? The Detroit News reports: Toyota recall hits 1M vehicles. One million? Sounds like Detroit's numbers. Oh, we kid Detroit! Toyota's been having quite a number of recalls and while that in and of itself is not a sign of impending doom, it's not nearly as positive as, "Toyota builds car that never breaks" or "Toyota to mass-produce car that uses no fuel" or "Alison accepts night of #$%!@ing while $%@ing a
&$^!. Crying afterwards. Followed by remorse." Anyway, turns out Toyota built a car that may allow the steering wheel to, rather than direct the car, to spin in a playful manner. "Daddy, go fast! Wheee! Down the hill. Into the drink."

We used a picture of the Prius because it is also affected by this recall. That and dirty hippie chicks like the Prius.

Losing Your Cool

AutoWeek reports: Coming Unglued. Here's a short list of uncool things:

1. Having yer pants fall down while dancing
2. Unknowinly having a glob of mayonnaise dangle from your mustache for upwards of 6 minutes
3. Having the top fly off of your new Corvette while on a first date with Alison

Yeah, well at least GM can something about the bottom one. Stupid turkey with mayo.... Now she'll never call back.

For what it's worth, we first read about the top flying off of Corvettes on TTAC.

Toyota Troubled?

What the hell is going on with Toyota? Look, Toyota, we depend on a few things staying the same so we can keep our bearings: Ford and GM stumbling around while they build some cars, George Bush hating black people, and Toyota building boring but wonderfully trouble-free cars. Hello? Toyota? Didn't you get the memo? Ford and GM are doing their part. The entire Bush family is doing their part. Why can't you hold up your end of the deal?

AutoWeek reports: Avalon shows dent in Toyota quality; fixes sought for 'problematic vehicle'

AutoWeek reports: Bad transmission fastener can lead to limping '07 Toyota Camry.

Look, T, here's the deal: Americans want to buy cars from American companies. It feels good. Crap, it almost feels patriotic. But rationality (rationality is 4' 2") grabs hold and says, "What you talkin' 'bout, Willis?"

What is up with the big T? Getting lazy? No, we bet it's the result of growing too fast. There's not enough time to train people properly and not enough time to check everything for Toyota's normal level of perfection. It'll be interesting to see how Toyota fixes this. Not just technically, but perceptionally.