What is wrong with Toyota?

With my 09 Corolla, driving on a highway is a scary experience. The steering has almost two inches of freeplay at the steering wheel and seems to get lighter when you drive faster (completely opposite of what is supposed to do). I couldn't get used to it in the last two years and it just makes driving an awful experience. I have a strong feeling if I bought a Prius I would have the same frustration.

You really realize how bad the EPS steering on your new Toyota is after you drive a normal car, such as my 85 Corolla.

So, what is wrong with Toyota? They design the gas pedals feather light and as a result they stick. Is it worth sacrificing the driving experience and people's safety so that the car would give the illusion of a powerful car through a feather-light pedal?

Then, they design the steering extra light as well so that it will give the illusion of driving a luxury car. Is it again worth sacrificing the driver's experience and people's safety?

So, again, what's wrong with the new Toyotas? They used to make solid-built cars like my 85 Corolla. With its ridiculous steering, my 2009 Corolla is a travesty of a car. I'm sure people would also consider Prius a travesty of a car if it wasn't an MPG champion.

What's wrong with Toyota? Is it the failure of the strict Japanese system of a highly conservative organization lead by old men?

So, now, I'm having second thoughts about buying a Toyota. What Toyota needs to learn is that customer comes first. And by customer comes first I mean customer comes first. They need to design cars according to what customers want rather than according to what the old men running the company tells the engineers to do. Customer like sharp and responsive steering with good road feel. None of the new Toyotas today have that. Customers prefer stiffer gas pedals that don't stick to those that are feather light. Customers would like to see other MPG champions in addition to the cult-phenomenon Prius. Toyotas are losing their MPG edge to American cars now in their other model lines. Customers would like to see transparency in the company, better vehicle options, and better dealer experience -- other things that are not present with Toyota.

Customers would like Toyota build real cars for the real people again rather than the sloppy driving pods they have recently been building. Otherwise they are facing the fate of the American car companies, who had ignored their customers.

I still love my 85 Corolla as much as I hate my 09 Corolla. So, Toyota, listen, and start building cars the people want again, not building cars your old men think would increase the value of your company stock.

 

There is nothing nonsense about it. My experience is based on 09 and 85 Corollas, which I own both. I've only test-driven Prius in city (not highway) and read CR reports about overlight steering in other Toyotas. The steering in my 09 Corolla gets painful on the highway. It's very responsive when changing lanes, but lack of response in the center and being too light makes it an awful experince in highway driving. I've made the mistake of buying it but now it's unacceptable. I don't think it's a defect issue. (By the way I have a NUMMI-made model.) I can't say much about Prius because I've not recently driven one on highway.

 

Thank you, this is great!

In fact, for the first time, this evening, I could have got into an accident because of the vague steering in my 2009 Corolla. I was stopped at a freeway off ramp, waiting for the light to turn green and make a sharp left. There were two left-turn lanes. There was another car turning left on my right. Somehow my car oversteered and fishtailed. I could have hit the other car and result in serious property damage.

When you have a situation like this, it's not a "blogging" matter like what happens 99% of times on sites like PriusChat. It's a serious matter. It makes you very, very angry that you paid $21,000 + 10% California tax for a brand-new fully loaded car, and yet its steering sucks and there is nothing you can do about, at least on short term.

I just checked the wheel vs. tire movement of my car. It doesn't appear to be an excessive freeplay issue -- in fact there was no freeplay. It appears that they made the steering way too light and on top of it very nonlinear -- that is very slow steering response at the center. Because of this the car doesn't immediately steer unless you turn the steering wheel about two inches. I'm sure Toyota did this with safety in mind -- so that the car can't be suddenly steered -- but the end result was unsafe steering instead. It's unsafe because the steering is so vague that people can unintentionally turn the steering wheel without not immediately changing the car's direction but then in a second or two car may veer out of control. What a bunch of idiots Toyota engineers have become! They, those engineers, and the managament are to blame the numerous deaths as a result of the faulty acceleration-pedal designs as well. And not to mention the Prius brakes...

I suspect the steering on the Prius is not as bad. But I have little trust in Toyota anymore to be immediately sucked into a Prius solely because of its MPG, given such poor Toyota engineering in general overall on crucial vehicle components like steering, suspension, brakes, etc.

I used to be such a Toyota fan having owned, and still owning an 1985 Corolla LE sedan. How can I be a fan anymore?

Tomorrow another complaint will be filed to NHTSA about 2009 Corolla -- by me. Meanwhile perhaps I can sell my 2009 Corolla XLE to someone else. Or else, I wonder if the lemon laws would apply in this case...

PS: The brake-pedal height from the floor (when fully depressed) in my 2009 Corolla is only about an inch. And the pedal will sometimes spontaneously sink to the bottom during idling when my foot is on it. Can this be normal? Again, what a bunch of incompetent folks the Toyota design engineers have become... Unbeliavable what the company has turned into.