and lat's not forget........make sure you follow a prius because when the system is changing form gas/electric or back, they have no brake system for between 5-15 seconds....states right in the owners manual.
...what? I'm skeptical.
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"I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints." - Billy Joel, Only The Good Die Young
GM while still U.S. owned has sold off most of it's overseas brands and the chance of recovery as a major player is about as good as my casterated hound dog having pups.
Actually GM and Toyota swap the title of world's largest auto manufacturer back and forth. GM has made huge strides and is poised to have a very bright future. Ford while doing well, has the disadvantage of being a smaller company. It simply can not compete with Toyota, GM, amd VW, when you start to examine the ecomomy of scale. I believe that the exact opposite of what you predict will come to pass. We could very well see only two to three massive auto companies inside of twenty years.
While our president was campaigning for reelection he mentioned himself personally and in at least one commercial how he saved the U.S. auto industry.
While all of that campaigning was going on G.M. very quietly went out and got new loans a week ago from mostly overseas sources totaling around $11 billion. That's nearly twice the amount of cash they received during the bailout. A government spokesperson has previously stated they are not going to let G.M. buy back any of the stock the government acquired to gain controlling interest of the company during the bailout.
If G.M. is in such good shape financially and the government isn't selling the stock back, what is the new $11 billion loan for
Good question, perhaps new product development or domestic and overseas infrastructure investment. You have to look at what Ford did just before the $hit really hit the fan, they mortgaged everything, hell even the Oval had paper on it. This is the only way that Ford was able to avoid having to take the Govt money. They were in just as bad of shape as GM and Chrysler, they were simply able to see the writing on the wall better than their cross town rivals and able to get money on theri own before they had no credit left. The good will fostered by not taking the money combined with a much younger product pipeline than most of their competitiors has really helped.
This is how I see the new GM loan, it's a preemptive cash grab.
I can't speak to what the latest cash infusion is for..... I haven't
worked for them for quite some time, but I will tell you this-
they ARE NOT in good shape financially.
AFA Toyota and their "recall" nonsense..... they have had
issues for quite some time. Actually before their run-away
acceleration deal. They have always handled things on
the "down low" rather than get caught up in recall.
There are warranty books that their service personnel
consult at the dealer level that detail what to do if a
customer....... you fill in the blank with a complaint.
I've personally seen the sections on rectification of
consumer complaints in reference to brake pads and
suspension components.
They've all done it to some extent. Ford and GM too.
Official recalls cost big bucks......
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As the drill sergeant said, "I taught you everything you know. I didn't teach you everything I know."
"Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so."
- Douglas Adams
Oh comon now. This is NOT a known issue (or even true, I'd dare say). 5-15 seconds no braking, "in the owners manual".. Please show us this. This is like your exploding pulley thing.. Proof please.
I'd think 100% (yes, 100%) of prius' would be totalled by now.
I can't speak to what the latest cash infusion is for..... I haven't
worked for them for quite some time, but I will tell you this-
they ARE NOT in good shape financially.
Never said they were in great shape finacially. But I do believe that they will be very hard to compete against going forward. In this case, size does matter .
I searched and was able to find plenty of articles talking about the Gayus (I mean Prius) lack of brakes during mode changes, although the articles say that the "no brake" condition is only about 1 second (instead of the 5-15 seconds mentioned). 1 second is still way too long to not have brakes. Apparently Toyota acknowledges that there is a problem, but has not issued a recall.
As far as the owner's manual, the inner automotive aficionado and masculinity within me is preventing me from reading a Prius owner's manual. I tried reading the manual online, but had to stop after a minute or so since my personal hatred for the car greatly overwhelmed my curiosity to find out more about the brake system (or lack thereof).
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'66 Emberglo Coupe - Restoration in progress
Modifications:
5.0 EFI conversion
T56 6-speed
Rod & Custom Motorsports IFS
TCP subframe connectors
Vintage Air Heat & AC
Just stop by a dealer and look at the owners manual..........it is very weel known amounst mechanics & emergency responders.
I just downloaded a complete owners manual for a 2009 Prius from Toyota's website and read through the entire thing with anything related to the brakes, hybrid systems, safety and emergency information, and do-it-yourself service info. I couldn't find one word about anything of such nature.
I also looked for the same year Prius in Alldata and there is not one word about it in any of the service manual sections on operation of the braking or hybrid systems, nothing mentioned in any service procedures which include warning information, and lastly I looked for any TSB's that mentioned anything like that - nothing.
I'm usually one not to back import car companies on anything, but I call BS on this one.
I searched and was able to find plenty of articles talking about the Gayus (I mean Prius) lack of brakes during mode changes, although the articles say that the "no brake" condition is only about 1 second (instead of the 5-15 seconds mentioned). 1 second is still way too long to not have brakes. Apparently Toyota acknowledges that there is a problem, but has not issued a recall.
As far as the owner's manual, the inner automotive aficionado and masculinity within me is preventing me from reading a Prius owner's manual. I tried reading the manual online, but had to stop after a minute or so since my personal hatred for the car greatly overwhelmed my curiosity to find out more about the brake system (or lack thereof).
After reading the link above, this sounds believable. Totally different than what beechkid was describing though.
Our "02 escape has had 4 recalls, 1 is only a clearance issue on the engine cover, but I love the thing. 141k and only done 3 repairs totaling $125. One was the alternator which no car avoids.
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"LAZARUS"
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2 years of hard labor later
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