Lexus GX 460 Production Halted, NHTSA Runs Compliance Tests

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Well, apparently, someone at Toyota shouted “yatta” (I found it) too early when they said that the GX 460 troubles will be solved with a simple reflash. As Robert Walter put it so succinctly: “Even God’s Own Motor Company couldn’t approve and roll-out a minor change from one day to the next …” A day later, Toyota agrees with Robert. The Nikkei [sub] has the news that production of the Lexus GX 460 will be halted through the end of the month. And the troubles are just beginning …

Toyota isl suspending production of the Lexus GX 460 at its plant in Tahara, Aichi Prefecture, until April 28 after Consumer Reports declared the SUV as dangerous.

According to The Nikkei, “the automaker has already conducted tests under the conditions identified by the U.S. magazine and is likely to work on corrective measures to modify the electronic stability control system to ensure greater safety.” Toyota isn’t the only party that will perform tests.

The NHTSA will run safety tests on a new Lexus SUV and will “take action if the Toyota vehicle does not meet government standards,” NHTSA chief David Strickland told Reuters.

“My compliance staff is going to take a look at several of these vehicles including the test vehicle that was used at Consumer Reports,” Strickland said. According to U.S. rules, compliance with U.S. safety standards is largely a matter of self-certification. However, the NHTSA can pull production models and check whether they comply with pertinent standards. If they are found not in compliance: No sale, and serious trouble.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • I'm not sure if its the same magazine that slighted the Dacia Logan, but that issue cropped up there as well. The limitation with private third party testing is the cost and ability of such parties to test everything... but apparently, Consumer Reports has the ability to do real world testing of absolutely everything on the road today... which the NHTSA doesn't do... so they do serve a purpose... That said... I can't see what government regulation the GX could possibly fail for having tardy ESC... as Brian states... NOBODY certifies handling. What's a pass? No more than 45 degrees of drift when you lose rear grip? What coefficient of friction is standard for the road to be used? Ice? Snow? Standing water? What level of standing water? What entry speed? Corner speed? Consumer Reports test, from the video, appears to be a fairly high speed decreasing radius corner... a situation where I'd expect a lot of vehicles to start sliding sideways unless they're designed to understeer into the weeds. Should manufacturers design vehicles solely to take such a corner and such a line without considering that designing ESC for that specific corner might actually make the vehicle understeer into the weeds? Are SUVs now required to come on 20 inch rims with 335 series tires, just in case?

  • Zznalg Zznalg on Apr 16, 2010

    In 1998 I bought a new Toyota 4Runner manual. Lovely vehicle save for its devastating safety flaw. When braking on a surface with a mild pothole (truly mild) or other minimal deformation in the road surface, the ABS system could malfunction. The following happened to me three times in that vehicle: I braked on a paved but SLIGHTY imperfect surface; the ABS activated inappropriately resulting in the brakes and brake pedal chattering with almost no brake force being applied to the four wheels. I stepped on and off the brake pedal repeatedly hoping for deceleration but this did not happen. With, at most, 10% of maximum brake force being applied while my foot was pressed on the brake pedal with maximum force, my Toyota 4Runner careened towards full impact THREE TIMES. Only deft steering saved me from three potentially devastating accidents. I brought the vehicle into the local Toyota dealership to diagnose and fix this problem. Their response: the 4Runner is operating normally. No problems were identified or fixed. I traded in this fundamentally flawed vehicle for something safe. At the time I thought, “what a bummer. I’m probably the only person with an unreliable Toyota vehicle in the world. My bad luck. I had no obvious recourse and received no sympathy from any automotive enthusiast or authority. As fate would have it, I was not alone. Others experienced Toyota’s early ABS system safety flaws in those days, as I have read. Now the Toyota “phuck you and die” demon continues to rear its ugly head. And now I say to you Toyota, “phuck you and die” for the horrors, damages, fears and rip-offs you are putting your customers through. As a consumer who bought one of your pieces of crap, Toyota, I know you deserve this shame and defamation.

    • See 1 previous
    • Porschespeed Porschespeed on Apr 17, 2010

      As Bertel said, it's doing it's job, as programmed. Though we would all like to think we are better than a computer, fact is, that sometimes we aren't. A human can't modulate the brakes 1/10th as quickly (or as well) as ABS can. Stomp that pedal and let the tech work for you.

  • Shaker Shaker on Apr 17, 2010

    The problem with ABS (as described by zznalg), is that if it is engaged by a defect in the road surface under light braking, you ARE COMMITED to perform a hard stop. Now if traffic is behind you, you may not want to do that, so you let up on the pedal and reapply the brakes; suddenly you have a "not enough braking" scenario while the ABS is "resetting". The driver knows exactly what he/she wants to do, it's the stupid computer that says: "Let me think about this while you shit your pants."

  • Zznalg Zznalg on Apr 17, 2010

    Thanks Bertel but, the 4Runner was not the first ABS equipped vehicle I had owned. I knew exactly how ABS worked and applied full and sustained pressure on the brake pedal. When after several seconds with virtually no braking power on a dry clean pavement and careening towards an intersection, I tried pumping. But, that did not help. I had hoped the pumping might somehow "awaken" the braking system. But no, this was not one of those cases where the driver simply did not let ABS do it's job.

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