This reminds me of the infamous GM press release a few years ago responding to a comment from Bill Gates. Ironic how Gates was talking about increasing fuel economy, and we are now discussing this on a Hybrid forum! And the kicker is, check out the last comment in the press release, sound familiar? (although our button says "POWER")


"General Motors
At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated: "If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving twenty-five dollar cars that got 1000 mile to the gallon."

In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating, (by Mr. Welch himself) "If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:

• For no reason whatsoever your car would crash twice a day.

• Every time they repainted the lines on the road you would have to buy a new car.

• Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason, and you would just accept this, restart and drive on.

• Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart. In which case you would have to reinstall the engine.

• Only one person at a time could use the car, unless you bought "Car95" or "CarNT." But then you would have to buy more seats.

• Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, reliable, five times as fast, and twice as easy to drive, but would only run on five percent of the roads.

• The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would be replaced by a single "general car fault" warning light.

• New seats would force everyone to have the same size body.The airbag system would say "Are you sure?" before going off.

• Occasionally for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key, and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.

• GM would require all car buyers to also purchase a deluxe set of Rand McNally road maps (now a GM subsidiary), even though they neither need them nor want them.

• Every time GM introduced a new model car, buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.

• You'd press the "Start" button to shut off the engine."

 

You realize that isn't for real, right? It's a joke that has entered the realm of "truth" as an urban legend: Car Balk.

 

I thought the same thing - but it's funny none the less.

 

Ctrl-Alt-Start

 

My speakers squawk, go off entirely, etc. Dealer in Richmond (KY) tried to repair but couldn't & he says toyota would not provide replacement radio -JBL- , he is going to try again later to repair, car has less than 3mos & less than 3 thousand miles, GUESS I JUST GOT THE "LEMON"

 

This has happened to me as well (both of them) - Posted about that in another thread as well. I spoke to the dealer, they checked TSS, nothing there. We put it in a hold state with them becuase the only thing they could think of would be a radio replace (nonnav) and no guarantees at this time another fac radio would not do same. So, we're waiting on a Service Bulletin.

 

Mine has been fine for awhile. I hope it stays that way.

 

Hi, I'm the XLE guy horning in on non-hybrid-type discussions. I have a Japan-built non-nav car bought virtually the first day my local dealer had the new generation on the lot.

I have indeed had to "reboot the car" to get the radio to work properly. Very often, "the top two buttons" won't work at all -- that would be the "volume control" and the "tune the radio" control (among other options on that one). So, "start the car," and then comprehend that I can't change the volume at all. The on-wheel controls are also unable to change anything. Everything else works just fine. So, "turn it off, turn it back on again," and (hopefully) the two top buttons will work again.

I found a "workaround" solution pretty quickly -- change the volume, either on the dash or with the on-wheel control -- as soon as the display panel comes on. That'll take care of it, every time -- no "no volume control" problem anymore during that trip. Usually, I just nudge the on-wheel control, and that'll be enough.

The four-cylinder models had a recent TSB to take care of some shifting hesitation, and after the ECM was "flashed" for that, I decided to stop the "change the volume on startup" routine -- and it wasn't necessary anymore! For about a month. Then it was back to the "change the volume or reboot the car" routine again.

I could take it in, but do I really want to have a dealer service monkey take an axe to the dash to take care of something I can mitigate myself?? Umm, no, I think I'll just do my usual start-the-car routine, thank you. But, obviously, something is goofy in there.... And it sure beats me why it behaved for about a month after the ECM flash.

For whatever that might be worth to the discussion here....

 

Anybody have more issues with the non-nav stereo? Today, at over 3 years at 33,000 miles, my stereo display turned to gibberish and suddenly disc 6 was ejected. Then the display went blank, but the sound continued to play until I pushed the preset buttons and then silence. I had to "reboot" the car (turn off/on) and now it seems fine.

I hope this is a one-time glitch!

 

I got that screen and on Monday they're going to do a warranty replacement. I've also had the occassional non-responsive volume button (steering wheel controls still work) and the infrequent AM not working (you have to cycle through a second time to get it to broadcast).