thanks a lot for the article...

Right on Russell!! Very well said.


:rockon:
RD

Very well done, excelent post Russell.

This drop in media quality is not exclusive to the USA, let me add.

I've given interviews to magazines, newspapers, and TV here in Portugal, and it never gets out as I wanted to. It's frustrating.

Once one TV channel filmed an interview about my Prius, sustainable mobility, and my grid-tied PV system. It was over 1/2 hour of filming and interview. Do you know what it went on air? About 30 seconds of me stating how much the utility company had paid me the last year for the electricity I sold them. I was made to look like a guy only worried about how much money one can make with PV systems. I simply hated that, and never again will I accept to be interviewed for that channel.

Last time I gave an interview it was mainly about Hybrid taxation here in Portugal. Sick and tired of seeing my words distorted I told the journalist I would accept to give the interview but I requested my quotes to be sent to me before publishing.

That was the only way I finally had control over my own words published, and it worked. I still did not like the article, but at least my quotes were right (after I corrected them twice by email of course... ). I suggest you start asking for the same preview on your interviews.

I won't say much about the "braking problem" as I find it ridiculous to say the least, and you said it already too well.

Thanks for trying to get the media to understand it. At least you tried, it's not your fault they are incompetent.

Well said Russell! Well presented write-up.

This type of media behavior is more and more prevalent in present time as mainstream media companies are more driven by economic reasons than journalistic integrity.

Now, wouldn't it be nice if a major paper ran your story.

Paul

please explain why if there is no problem with the prius brakes, Toyota claims to have fixed the software problem on the newest 2010 prius ?

Solid perspective, Russell.

It's especially true that the vast vast vast majority of these new complaints are from new and first time owners that haven't had enough experience to know what's 'normal' and what's a 'problem'. Being different is not a problem if the technology was designed to do something and it does it as it was designed to do.

That being said it may be a customer satisfaction issue if a large part of the new driving population doesn't like the 'feel' of this new and different technology. IMO that's what is being addressed in this software update. It will make the braking 'feel' more 'normal' to a wider segment of the new ownership.

My analogy for this non-issue is automatic transmissions vs manual transmissions. To give a new owner a state-of-the-art 6 speed manual transmission in a hot new sports car when that driver has previously only driven automatic transmissions is asking for problems.



Expecting that this new owner is going to be able to drive that 6 MT sports car away without having any problems is ridiculous.

• He or she is going to hop that baby all the way across the lot before stalling in the middle of traffic.
• He or she is going to pop the clutch and stall at every stop light and stop sign.
• He or she is going to roll back and crash into every vehicle behind them on every hill stop.
• He or she is not going to understand that in an emergency one has to hit the clutch and brake at the same time or else the vehicle will stall.
• Not knowing that the vehicle has to be downshifted as it slows, he or she may panic ( sounds familiar ) if the vehicle begins to lurch and shudder when stopping.

Is this state-of-the-art 6 MT sports car defective? No, it was intentionally built this way to be driven by someone who has experience in driving MT's or one who has had sufficient training not to be a danger on the road.

See above. The issue is in the perception of those who are new to the technology. It 'feels different'. After a very short time this 'feeling' disappears into hazy memory and it's forgotten. But for a new owner, it is a shock to feel this apparent loss of control.

It's not real because it lasts part of a heartbeat then the 'normal' friction brakes take hold and the vehicle stops perfectly as it should. It is real because new owners do actually 'feel' it and they don't know why it's happening. However after a short period of familiarity one becomes used to how if feels and how to make it not happen.

I've driven 100 of these 2010's, I can't make it happen after driving my 05 more than 140,000 miles. My coworker noticed it in the first month or two last summer after getting her first Prius; she mentioned it and how surprising it was but now if she does feel it in isolated instances she knows that simply braking harder makes it disappear immediately.

It is real if certain new owners don't understand the 'feeling' and it makes them uncomfotable. So it has to be addressed from a customer satisfaction perspective.

First of all I agree with most of what you are saying.

It was a clumsy article at best by Kiah Haslett. She tried to tackle too many issues in too short an article. When I read it, my feeling was what did she want it to be about? Did she want it to be an investigation into Prius Brakes? Did she want it to be another statement about Toyota accelerator pedals? Did she want it to be about Toyota owners and their current insecurities? In the end it brushed on all of them but addressed none of them well. She wrote an article that I think could dissatisfy everyone but herself and maybe an editor looking at a deadline.

Having said that, I love newspapers. I bemoan their apparent decline. I find it interesting that she contacts you via e-mail, you contact her while in transit on the phone and then anyone is suprised that something gets lost in translation. Not a criticism of you, I'm sure you tried to communicate your views as clearly and indepth as possible. But would the casual text messaging of misunderstanding of your opinions and her intentions of happened if you were sitting across from her? You might of had a better idea of what type of article she intended to write, She might of had a better feeling for how precise you feel about the Prius Brake issue. But in the age of instant electronic communication we've removed the saving grace of the human element. Unfortunate.

I think what is interesting about her article and your response is how illustrative it is not only about the predatorial, sensational nature of media but about the decline of communication. While the tools and possibilities of communication have expanded, it's my opinion that our ability to communicate has declined.

Communication must sell, so you get the sensationalism. But the "purchase" can be so specialized. Everyone can go somewhere to get the opinion they want to hear. So nobody has to listen, read or see an opinion they don't agree with, and that's bad.

So you do a quick interview in transit...she does what by newspaper standards is a quick piece. You respond from Prius Owners Group and Prius Chat...quickly...its all almost instantaneous. But when I read her article and your response I feel a little vague feeling like in the split second transistion between regenerative braking and friction braking in the Prius. I'm in opinion free fall for a split second. I can press harder, but will I? Something has been lost in translation. E-Mail, Cell-Phone and Print...

While I agree with your definition of the Braking Issue, and much of your commentary surrounding recent events with Toyota and the recall, I would point out that you could of been as easily misrepresented by a television report or any new age media outlet. All the media have shared equally in being clumsy, unfair, predatorial and biased and every degree inbetween, it hasn't just been newspapers.

Have you sent a letter to the editor of the Chicago Tribune? You might be able to get your opinion in print. Which would be nice. Then you might reach an audience outside of Prius Owner Group and Prius Chat. An audience less predisposed to agree with you, and that would be good, in my opinion.

Daveymo- DeadPhish explained the issue quite eloquently. And as I think said in the article (or maybe it was the interview) I don't know everything. Maybe Toyota knows something about the 2010 brake system I don't. I suspect that what Toyota is going to "fix" is mostly a cosmetic issue to keep the new punters happy and quiet and not so much a real fix of something that is broken. Fair enough. My only concern in that regard is that while we are attempting to assuage the feelings of new and inexperienced hybrid owners, I hope we don't lower the efficiency of the regenerative braking system. That would be tragic.

TME-Don't mistake my disdain for the quality of print journalism (and big "J" journalism in general) for a disdain of journalism itself. We need journalism. Democracy doesn't work without which is why we desperately need good investigative journalists and we need great communicators who can take complex issues and dissect them so most people can understand them. Our need for this information is as critical to our society's survival is as oxygen is to each one of us.

So while I rail about where print journalism is today, it's not because I wish it to go away, I want it to be better.

TV, well, I've always had a low opinion of TV. If there's anything more consistently ignorant than local TV news I'm not sure what it is. It's mostly always been that way and most likely always will be.

I wasn't assuming you had a disdain for journalism or Journalism. I was assuming you weren't too happy with the article as it appeared.

Then I probably clouded the issue by musing and ranting about my own feelings concerning the decline of communication skills despite the increase in technological tools of communication. My own personal rant. To continue that rant....

I'd rather fail in an attempt to communicate sarcasm, or humor or any idea than succeed but use a Smilie. I think if you need to attach a frowning smiling face to communicate that your upset about an issue, or attach a cheerleading smiling face to communicate that your happy about something, then you need to brush up on your communication skills.

Again this is my own personal rant. Most people would tell me with a blue sarcastic smilie to lighten up...but I foresee a day where we have less and less written full sentences and more and more jumping, animated graphics. It just feels like a decline to me. Grunt, slobber, slobber...smilie....Slobber, slobber grunt...smilie....

But in anycase, what we have here, is a failure to communicate. (insert embarrased smilie face here)

Could you please cite where you got the information that only US-made Toyota vehicles have the accelerator problem? I found this very interesting and would like to get more details.

It's all over the news. In addition to this site, check Edmunds for example. It has the full details as well. The pedals involved come from CTS of Elkhard, IN, fabricated in Ontario for the US plants.

The vehicles made in Japan use Denso as the pedal supplier. These pedals are not involved.

Thanks. For convenience, here's a direct link:
Toyota Recall: The Latest Info for Owners and Shoppers

"Keep in mind, the accelerator recall only involved Toyota’s made here in the US and the part specifically involved is also made here in the US. Toyota’s made in Japan are not affected by the recall or, apparently, afflicted with this issue. Funny how that gets glossed over, eh?"

I read a bit more about Toyota and CTS, and I feel the above statement is misleading. It seems to indicate the issue is with the US manufacturer CTS. However, the Japanese manufacturer Denso actually manufacturers a different, arguably more robust design. In both cases, Toyota engineered the designs and is responsible for the different designs. It is unclear (at least to me at this time) why the more robust and time tested design isn't used universally, nor why Toyota has not decided to switch future vehicles to all use that more robust design.

Source: Why Toyota Must Replace Flawed CTS Gas Pedal With Superior Denso Pedal | The Truth About Cars

Most likely because of either regulatory requirements of "local content" in the American made cars OR because of voluntary attempts to use local content for either cost or political gain. It's not just about engineering.

- D

I suppose if local content refers to a design that was done by Toyota USA, that could be the case. I know it is speculation but if it were true, I would be very interested in an investigation/report into this.

+1

Well said Russell. On a teeny side note ~ and from my poor memory of high school civics, some 25 years ago:
"... and to the Republic for which it stands ..." (and I preface my statement below with I am NOT a republican) Wouldn't you think that journalists would refer to our form of government as a republic?

[ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States]United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]


... if they really knew anything about government?




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