Trends in Cars that Could be Affecting Toyota's Legendary Reliability | Hacker News Reader

Trends in Cars that Could be Affecting Toyota's Legendary Reliability

topspeed.com

13 pointsprmph11 comments

>This isn’t because Toyota doesn’t want to include those technologies, but rather because the engineers know that complicated additions reduce a vehicle’s lifespan.

Then why don't they off an auto without all the bling ? With just the accessories only available in the 90s. They may file a lot of people wanting that. Right now I am living in "Cuba", keeping an almost 20 year old auto running because I do not want all that internet crap.

Well most engine/emissions stuff legally can't go back to simple/mechanical because of emissions/mpg regulations which prevent it.

As for other stuff, you can still get pretty simple vehicles, but they're getting pretty rare, have to look for them. My 2017 Jeep has power windows and locks, but other than that, it doesn't have GPS, or a complex info-system, or touchscreens, or blind-spot detection or automatic braking, or rear-view camera, or a cell connection, or any else of the modern auto junk (yes I know some people like that junk, feel free to buy vehicles with it); it pretty much just has the feature set of a vehicle from the 90's.

I got a 718 Cayman which I particularly enjoy because of how barren the interior is. It has a screen with CarPlay which can be helpful for pulling up maps, a rear view camera, and lane change assist (which is just a red light by each mirror). Mostly analog tach too.

It’s just a car that’s meant to drive and not do much more, and it makes me sad seeing how rare that’s become.

> New Toyotas come with … worst of all, hybrid drivetrains.

Yea, they just put out a TSB for the hybrid drivetrain in a large number of Tacomas.

Seems odd, though, to blame the hybrid drivetrain as something fundamentally flawed .. the CVT in the Prius and Corolla has a reputation for lasting forever.

I drove a first generation hybrid 2006 Lexus RX 400h for many years until 2024 and I’ve never had any issues with the hybrid system. There were a few other issues with the car and the battery has obviously degraded over time but everyone saying hybrids are less reliable are ignoring a lot of basic facts such as the fact that hybrids don’t have as prone to failure transmissions, don’t have an alternator, can use less powerful engines without turbos, etc. I would argue hybrids are a better choice than gas powered cars in 2024 considering how complicated gas powered cars need to be to meet modern emissions standards.

Also worth noting that all of the Toyota trucks are way less reliable than their other cars because truck fans are pretty adamant about having the best technology and being able to do everything possible ever in their truck so they update the drivetrain more consistently and there’s more failures and issues. Other Toyotas are more reliable on average

Not true. Toyota is woefully slow in updating their trucks compared to every other brand.

Tacoma 3rd gen was 2015-2023. Tundra went 14 years! 2007-2021

The F-150 takes about 3 years for a generation.

> Their engines were mainly 2.5-liters in size and usually naturally aspirated with roughly 150 horsepower. Sure, they were down on power, and efficiency compared to other cars; however, they could easily outlast the competition.

This piece is just ridiculous. 2.5 litre engines are not the norm in Europe and I don’t think they are in Japan either. Along with its comments on hybrids, I think the article is just waking up to what cars are like in the rest of the world, where Toyotas were and still are very reliable. I’ve owned four, three of them hybrids. Likely my next car too.

I'm not a Toyota fan but this seems like a total hit piece. No data, just a hand wavy opinion that because these cars are getting more feature rich they are not going to be as reliable. Nonsense.

The pressures that lead to a conservative auto maker like Toyota starting to pack their cars with tech and features are the same that lead to an erosion in quality control.

If Toyota is packing cars with features that they actually believe in and have taken time to make robust, then no problem.

But if they are doing that to keep up with the pack, therein lies the issue.

This very much feels like it was at least partially written by an llm based on the phrasing and sentence structure

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