Color me unimpressed.

That article has no quotable sources and few details. And in 2007, “thousands” out of 3.5 million engines that had by then been on the road for up to 9 years? And, in spite of their protestations, you know some fraction of those “thousands” (I’m calling it 1.5 thousands – feel free to find a better number) of owners failed to change their oil on schedule or Insty-Loob incompetently filled them up with 10W30 instead of 5W30, which is spec.

Moreover, the contrast with GM couldn’t be starker… at the same time that Toyota was quite sure that proper engine maintenance prevented the problem, they tore down a lot of engines and ended up changing the parts to allow for the freer flow of oil. That’s not an admission of a problem, that’s Toyota acting to make the engine more robust and more resistant to damage from neglect.

How long did GM stonewall on DexCool? How many years of engines got plastic intake manifolds? Crap gaskets? GM knew they had a problem – and this wasn’t in the shady area between owner neglect and manufacturing defects – this was pure GM got it wrong. And the customers got the shaft.

Bash away. Enjoy the moment. But don’t be surprised when this Toyota problem doesn’t win any new customers for Detroit.

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2007/01/toyota_settles_/

Toyota Settles in Sludge-Damage Suit

* By Mark Durham Email Author
* January 30, 2007 |
* 11:03 am |

Toyota has agreed to settle with thousands of Toyota and Lexus owners who claimed their engines were ruined by oil sludge build-up even though they followed maintenance guidelines. The agreement covers eight Toyota and Lexus models sold in the late 1990s and early 2000s, including the Camry sedan, Sienna minivan, Highlander SUV, and Lexus ES 300. The number of covered vehicles could reach 3.5 million.

The case began when a Lexus RX 300 SUV bought by a New Orleans stockbroker in late 1998 had its engine fail due to sludge damage after just two years and 42,468 miles. The settlement comes as Toyota struggles to cope with a wave of recalls that has hurt the company’s reputation for rigorous quality control.

Toyota is not the only carmaker with sludge issues — DaimlerChrysler, Volkswagen, and Saab have all fielded numerous complaints from consumers about sludge-damaged engines. Those companies now have to worry that the precedent set by this settlement could put them next in line.

[Source: Reuters]

The Internet has a tendency to magnify crap entirely out of proportion.

Somehow, in spite of this massive sludging problem, Toyota maintains a long history of red bulls-eyes in CR and a very, very high customer rentention rate.

If your story is true, then it’s a sad commentary on GM because they’re still worse.

As it happens, I know at least 8 people with the Slugdgemaster V6 and the only one whose Toyota has a problem – and I mean any problem, not just an engine sludging problem – is me. A week ago, the interior latch release on the passenger side sliding door stopped working. It’s an ‘01 with 85K miles and this is the first problem of any kind.

If my GMs and Fords had behaved like this, I wouldn’t be driving Toyotas. Nor would a lot of other people.

My FWD GM (’97 Grand Prix) was a hunk of fragile excrement and tried to bankrupt my young family. I parked it in the yard and refused to drive it (used my wife’s car exclusively) until someone finally took it off my hands, and I went running back to Nissan, which had been my pre-GM vehicle.

Toyota probably had one of the worst, all time responses to hundreds of thousands valid customer complaints of engine sludge in a wide variety of Toyota vehicles utilizing mainly their 3.0 liter V6 (and to a lesser degree, their 4 pot).

The problem was caused by piston tolerances that were way too tight, leading to carbon build up and motors seizing, and Toyota denied any and all liability for YEARS, with many customers forced to pay out of pocket for brand new motors, UNTIL MANY CLASS ACTION and STATE ATTORNEYS GENERAL lawsuits were filed in many, many states against Toyota.

It was only after years of litigation that Toyota finally capitulated, acknowledged a design defect, and reimbursed owners who paid out of pocket for new engines due to this defect.

So much for ‘Toyota knowing how to treat customers.’

Please, Mr. Karesh. Please.

When the junkers come to the bone yard on a flat bed the guys will unload them with a Michigan loader.Soon as you pick them up you know the frame
is toast,cause of the way they twist.

With the Nissan pick ups you don’t dare use the forks,cause you will f–k up what few good body panel’s its still got.

I’m not saying that Toyota is off the hook, but I’ve never seen rust problems in their recent unibody models, and I have seen problematic rust in salt-belt BoF trucks from all makes. I just don’t see very many Toyota trucks.

Why should we compliment a company that decides to take this sort of action not of their own initiative, but after receiving unfavorable media coverage that jeopardized their corporate image?

We shouldn’t. In fact, we can’t.

I insist: the frame, god, the mother f@#$%& frame is the backbone of the thing, a freakin SAFETY part. It have to be well rust proofed. Period.

A frame that rust in 8 years is a piece of crap, whether Toyota pays full price for the truck or not.

This pic link is taken from the FJ forum quoted above:

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk35/FJrover/Offroad%20Tech/fender%20tears/IMG_8042.jpg

Is this what people expect from a quality built rig? Or better yet, from a Toyota?

I was made aware of this when the Tundra first came out. GM bought some for competitive testing and the Tundra disintegrated during the rust testing. Even the engineers who analyzed the results were incredulous. It was by far the worst they had ever seen.

EPIC FAIL!!!!

This is like the joke of the two guys trying to out run a bear… you only have to be a small degree faster than the other guy to survive.

Why should we compliment a company that decides to take this sort of action not of their own initiative, but after receiving unfavorable media coverage that jeopardized their corporate image?

That’s not responsible behavior, that’s somebody high up on the Toyota chain hoping that nobody noticed these problems because they’re Toyota and they’re all that’s holy and good in the automotive kingdom.

I was made aware of this when the Tundra first came out. GM bought some for competitive testing and the Tundra disintegrated during the rust testing. Even the engineers who analyzed the results were incredulous. It was by far the worst they had ever seen.

In reality it sounds like they’ve been doing this for the past few years “GM basically said kiss off when the problem first occurred”

Some of my friends are three years into this FJ disaster. Trust me TM and its dealers are kicking and screaming all the way on this one. Every one thats been fixed has been a fight.

The good news is people are flocking in to pick parts,cause the new part prices are staggering.

I’ll give you, Honda builds a half decent car,but not perfect as the rice crowd would have you believe.They can, and will break,and repair cost will kill you.Toyota runs a distant second place.The Germans build overpriced crap.A well maintained FWD GM will run forever and repair costs are a fraction of the imports.

I just read Robert.Walters comment,and he nails it,this isn’t a head gasket,or a sticky seat belt.We are talking about the frame,the very backbone of a truck Toyota is thinking,law suit and there crapping thier pants.They can’t write the checks fast enough.

So much for legendary quality eh?

Better to be dollar-wise, than million-dollar foolish…

Sounds good to me. How many times have other companies faced similar situations and chose to fight their customers instead of trying to make it right?

But not always are the Asians so quick to respond. We had one of the first OBDII compliant Accords. Seems that it was not so compliant after all. Honda could not make the misfire detection work reliably enough to ensure the “reliability standard that Honda was known for” would be maintained, so they programmed the ECU to ignore misfire issues. Got caught on that one and was dragged kicking and screaming to the chopping block. We got extended warranty coverage and free oil changes.

There must be palm trees all over the place then. Perhaps they are disguised as pines! I have a 15 year old Camry and a 21 year old Civic in good old Costa Del Newcastle. Each has a little surface rust but nothing major. Toronto is chock full of 20 year old Accords, Camrys, Civics and Corollas. The assertion that domestic vehicles outlast imports, at least in this part of Canada is a myth. My 95 GMC Safari lasted 10 years and 2 accidents but I paid for the crapbox twice over in mechanical repairs!