This is absolutely a safety issue. There are a couple of things that occur when this problem manifests itself:

- misfiring engine (loss of power = difficult to drive in emergency situations)
- stalling engine (no power = stuck at intersections, rail crossings, etc.)
- improper valve control (fuel mixing in exhaust = fire)

Cost of recall and fixing problem on ALL cars vs Cost of fixing problem on only symptomatic cars?
I guess you got your answer to whether there will ever be a recall.

Recall or no recall; whatever their (Toyota/Subaru) decision is... In the end it will certainly affect their image and reputation, especially with the amount of attention the twins receive from the media.

Only time will tell I guess...

If this car wasnt as good as it is, I think 70% of the effected people wouldve spat the dummy and that wouldve been a BIG problem for Toyobaru. The lack of communication regarding the issue is just fucked. plus dealers are useless, which makes it worse.

I believe there will be a recall coming, after they find out the root cause of this problem, and the correct way to fix it, which now believe to be a new ECU (therefore a software fix). Toyota already learn it hard way when a small problem (like rug) can caused some death and pay even higher cost for their reputation. Recall a few thousands ECUs out there is a quicker, cheaper and easier fix then deal with lawsuits down the road. Besides, they can make the MSRP for 2013 model $??? higher to absorb this cost and end up even better.

Pretty sure it would be a safety issue considering it disables a standard safety feature. no?

I'm not sure it will affect their reputation much, even if they are recalled. Cars in much greater volumes get recalled every week, and many for more dangerous things than this, and you never hear about it. I subscribe to the list from the NHTSA they send out every week, makes some interesting reading.

Just review the list from this month. Just this one from on the Ford Escape alone covers more cars and has the potential to result in a total loss of coolant and engine fires. I haven't heard word-one about it in any press.

What would affect their reputation more is if there is an issue, and they are forced to recall it after incidents (or perceived incidents as was the case with the unintended acceleration recall).

I've owned great cars with a few issues that get addressed and mediocre cars that had no issues. I'll take the former over the latter any day.

We don't yet know who is at fault here.
I don't think it's fair to assume that Toyota's reputation would be tarnished since there's two parties involved here.
Whether those details are ever revealed remains to be seen.
It's probably safe to say that even if it wasn't Toyota, they'd take the hit anyway for obvious reasons.

Damn you broke my record of 5700. Good luck.

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