Mel good comments the foreign manufactures do employ a lot of Canadians and Americans. Just when I think of the global world and economy today I try and am not always successful where the final dollar goes and who is truly helping who. In one case it is hard for us to compete, for example the textile market, clothing goods it can be manufactured in India, Veitnam, China at a tenth of the cost? these people are making peanuts just trying to live and big business does lean this way at times with all the government grants etc. These people need to support there families and have a life on the other hand our employment rates, homeless are out of control at home. Sorry I am non a box last night I watched a Canadian program called the Dragons Den, a native lady was asking for $20,000 for making her infant mockessens, one guy said rather than make these with your people why not make them in China and make money lots!!! Two other Dragons saw what she was really trying to do for her people and gave her a loan 20K is peanuts to these people. I do not know what the correct answere is here, I buy Canadian, and American first then all the others second, not sure this is right I guess because my father was in WWII as a Canadian in the Navy and fought against his brothers both Uboat captains in the German Navy I formed this opioion. Dad passed away not knowing that September night in 42 the torpedo he took inthe stern was from his brothers boat in the North Atlantic. Governments worldwide could help here if they were accountable there is enough natural resources and jobs in the world to help all, at least to some degree. Anyways just food for though I have been lucky in like that I can help Children which I love, basically its all we have for the future and maybe some of them will have the answeres we do not, I hope and pray.

 

I totally agree Ken, you can't tell where you are getting anything these days. And I am not pointing a finger at anyone here about their choice of what they buy or drive. I was just pointing out that it is Toyota under the microscope and really they have done nothing that the other manufacturers haven't done. Also pointing out that this liability thing is out of control and that people are taking huge advantage of it for all sorts of reasons.

I had just kind of gone off and realize today that people get in cars and drive them with really no idea how they operate or what to do in an emergency. Heck, people don't even yield where they are supposed to or merge anymore. So to expect them to know how to handle a bad situation in their car is too much to ask I guess.

I just feel responsible to say something about how to stop a runaway Prius if there is such a thing. They, and many other vehicles today, have a power button instead of turning a key to start. Also, on the Prius, you have to have your foot on the brake to actually start the Prius or kill it. So if it did conceivably have an unexplained acceleration, all you would have to do is put your foot on the brake pedal and push in and hold the power button for a second or two. It is a safety feature to have to hold it for more than a second in case of accidentally bumping the button. Then of course, all power will be off, including power steering and brakes. I am going to have to check when the wife gets home again because as I write this, I am wondering about the steering locks that many automobiles have...I do not believe the Prius has one but not certain either. But in any vehicle you shut off while driving, that too would be a consideration. Many have suggested that one should just put the vehicle in neutral. This is hard to do in a Prius while sitting still without being paniced so not a recommendation of Toyota in this scenario. The Prius shifter is electronic as well and the neutral position is not a groove and hard to find and you must hold it in that position for several seconds to get it to engage, or disengage in this case.

I realize that I have pretty much hijacked the thread here so I am sorry about that, was just responding to earlier comments and feeling like some of the finger pointing was misdirected and just making an observance. I appreciate all of ya'lls support for our beloved GM hybrid vehicles and the technology that continues to evolve. It would be my hope that all of these car companies could share their technology for the sake of everyone and create a better product. Thanks again and sorry for the hijack...now what were we talking about? Oh yeah! I haven't had any issues on my silverado except for the wheel rim I scratched and door ding I got the other day...and the culprit was driving a blue car/truck.

 

how does it relate to the thread? about GM SUV hybrids?