24th Dec 2010, 00:00
It's a floor mat thing. I had the same problem a couple of times with unwanted acceleration, and it was because of a displaced floor mat. Not to say that Toyota shouldn't be at fault for its design of the floor mats if they're moved a little out of place.
10th Jun 2011, 21:46
Okay, thanks for the comments. I'm the original poster of the review. The ODO reads over 23K miles now, and no real problems at all. I've had 4 oil changes and tire rotations in that time, all performed by a Toyota dealer, at reasonable cost. Not to mention the gas mileage is really good. Fuel and operating costs are low; important to me, especially these days.
During one of those service visits, the acceleration recall was addressed, though it was never a concern or issue. And, apparently it recently came out that nothing was really wrong with the cars, as it was more the fault of drivers and media hype. Sounds reasonable (more like it) to me.
I've had 2 issues so far. The first was not a problem with the car. I got a nail in one of my tires, which the TPMS alerted me to. It does not tell you which tire is low, only that you have a low tire. It's up to you to figure out which, but in a while, I guess that becomes obvious.
The second is I've started to smell coolant outside the car occasionally. The temp gauge has not alerted me to anything, and the level in the reservoir and radiator looks okay, but I'll still have it checked out when it goes in for its 25K service. I'm still satisfied with the car.
12th Jun 2011, 11:20
Millions of PR dollars will never fully erase the damage that three grand jury subpoenas and 22 million recalls has done to Toyota. They got sloppy and tried to cut costs too much.
My best friend is currently trying to sell his 2009 Corolla. His rear suspension has sagged so much just from the weight of the car that it can't be properly aligned. And that on a 2-year-old car.
When a major car magazine tested 8 compact cars and rated Corolla dead last, that says a lot. Car magazines have always been biased toward Japanese cars. Thankfully that trend is now changing as the facts are coming out about the myth that Japanese cars are better. Now even once-mighty Lexus has been toppled from the throne as "Most reliable car" by Ford. It's about time!!
13th Jun 2011, 09:05
The only myth is your source that Ford has toppled Lexus in any category of reliability.
Also, you keep going on about sagging Toyota frames, yet I have never heard about this being a problem with ANY Toyota in the past 30 years. The only car that has a bad frame that fails, and causes people to crash and die these days, is the Ford Windstar.
If sagging frames were a real concern, wouldn't they have recalled them along with the other issues? After all, not aligning a car makes it unsafe. Once again, I will tell you that particular car was damaged in shipping, and it was covered up, and now the unsuspecting owner is paying the price for it. There is no other reasonable explanation. Toyota's do not have sagging issues. Sorry.
Also, yes, Toyota dropped the ball on quality in favor of being the largest carmaker in history. They started using cheaper American parts to cut costs, and it cost them dearly. They learned this lesson a little too well from GM. People have very short term memories when it comes to products in this country though, and the recall mess will be a distant memory within a few years. I still see Explorers with Firestone tires on them. Didn't they blowout causing catastrophic crashes 8 years ago or so? Huh, guess everyone forgot didn't they?
Lexus continues to hold the top spot in quality, and Toyota builds them, so Toyota will follow soon enough back to the top where they belong. Ford will enjoy a short lived success run over Toyota, you'll see.
The myth that American cars suddenly got so great will be short lived as well. It's amazing that many of the cars were exactly the same when they ranked dead last, and then they magically zoomed to the top of the charts. There's nothing fishy about that though right? Yeah, keep telling yourself that. We all know how honest the auto industry is and the government too. Put them together and you have the biggest cesspool of lies and deception ever to grace the American Corporate landscape. Incompetent people do not make good products. The auto industry in the U.S. has more than proven itself incompetent by the complete failure of GM and Chrysler, and near failure of Ford. Yet people still think they build superior products. You don't fail when you build superior products. Toyota is doing better then all of them put together, as they were during that time, even with all of the recalls. Amazing to think about.
13th Jun 2011, 15:17
No, years and years of predictability in the auto industry tells me all I need to know.
1st Jan 2012, 23:14
Hello, I'm the original poster again with another update. I just had the usual oil and filter changed, and tire rotation done at 35K miles. On a long road trip afterward, it went beyond 36K miles, so it is now out of warranty, not that I'm concerned. It has been a great car so far.
Dealer service has been reasonably priced and well done. The dealer replaced the air and cabin air filter at 30K miles. The OEM tires are still in good condition, and probably have 10K miles left on them (Goodyears).
On the way to getting my 35K service, I was rear-ended at a red light. I was okay and the car sustained damage to the trunk and bumper, but was drivable. The dealer screwed the bumper cover back on, allowing me to drive it until I can get it in to be fixed.
Overall, I've had a very good ownership experience with my 2010 Toyota Corolla S over the initial 36K miles. It still looks good, drives good, has good gas mileage, and is low cost to own.
20th Dec 2010, 12:20
I don't believe this for one second. It would scare me to think that an experienced Highway Patrol officer who spent hours each day in his car could confuse the brake and accelerator pedal for MILES. This sounds like a PR ploy to divert attention from the manufacturer's negligence to me.