This is one of those "waiting for the other shoe to drop" moments. Over the past several days there have been many, many articles in the news about the discovery of production errors in the manufacture of Toyota vehicles. It seems as if there are serious problems with some Toyota vehicles and their accelerator pedals. Accidents have happened. People have died.
We own a Toyota. It's a brand new, 2010 Third Generation Prius. We bought it in June. I think we may have had the first one on the road in Providence. We enjoy the car and the mileage we are getting. At this point in our lives, that counts!
However, when the first notices about recall started to come out we rushed to the listing of models and breathed a sigh of relief. It didn't include Prius models. We had escaped the recall!
The other shoe dropped! Wednesday we began hearing rumors of a problem with Prius models...and...sure enough...yesterday it was announced that there is a unique problem with Prius involving the braking system. Our couple-blood pressure took off. We have had a braking problem ever since we bought the car. We are less than 1,000 miles away from a service call, so we thought we'd mention it then.
Oh, no. Yesterday I was on the phone with our service department (which we like very much) and I have an appointment on Monday. I could hear the service manager's voice drop when I told him what was happening. Want to bet I wasn't the first call he had received yesterday about this issue? I'm confident that they will fix the situation and we'll be okay. But the recall message is a scary thing.
Remember when they started using colors to signal the terror threat in the USA? The move to orange...and then red...was enough to fill a cardiac emergency room. That's what it feels like to me to hear the word "recall."
I suspect I have friends that are saying, "See, that's what you get for buying a foreign car." I can hear the chuckles all the way to Providence. But every two weeks or so when I fill the 10 gallon gas tank and it only costs me $20 or so, I tend to chuckle a little myself.
I'm happy to hear the reports that American-made cars have improved dramatically over the past year. I'm rooting for Detroit to make the comeback necessary to put the group Formerly Known as Big Three back on the stage again. I'm cheering for my friends at Ford, GM, and Chrysler to surge to the top in quality and environmental efficiency.
In the meantime, I'm looking forward to Monday when our Prius goes to the emergency room and gets treated. The diagnosis seems clear, and the prognosis is good. I'm looking forward to our Prius having a long and healthy life...at least until the car is paid off!
No comments:
Post a Comment