I also had a Fortuner D-4D 4×4 that I purchased in October 2008. At the stage I asked the Toyota dealer if the instability problem was sorted out and I was told that there are no problems on the Fortuner. The Toyota dealer fitted a Toyota tow bar to the Fortuner as I told them that I will be towing a caravan. I even fitted a Toyota supplied drop plate to the tow bar. I also bought a trapezium stabilizer to make absolutely sure that I am correctly rigged. I felt from the start that the Fortuner was not very stable on the road without even towing anything. I thought at first that it was my impression as I had a Toyota D-4D 4×4 double cab before the Fortuner. I could never tow the caravan above 90km as it felt like if you are on a rough see with a small boat. When the Fortuner went in for its 20000km service (5 October 2009), I complained about the swerving saying that it feels if the shocks are gone. The Toyota dealer then informed me that I had the wrong batch of General tyres
on the Fortuner. Looking at the batch of tyres, the new batches were already available 4 months before I purchased the Fortuner and still Toyota fitted the wrong batch, putting the life’s of myself and my family in danger. Toyota insisted that I should replace the tyres with the new General or else they will not pay for the reminder of the km left on the tyres. At that stage, I had no confidence in the General tyres and fitted BF Goodrich A/T tyres. On 5 November 2009 I went on leave with my wife and grandson (2 ½ years old) to the Kruger Park towing my caravan. I could feel that there was a difference in the handling but still it was an afford to keep the Fortuner on the road. In Caroline I stopped to make sure that every thing was still ok with the caravan, checking tyres, see that nothing shifted in the caravan etc. At about 10km outside of Carolina towards Baberton, the Fortuner just started fish tailing at 86 km/h. It was a strait road with a downhill (not very stee
p) I tried to accelerate to straighten the caravan, but this just worsened the problem. We started swaying all over the road and I just felled that I could not control the Fortuner any more and I tried to get the speed down as far as possible before swaying into the armco barriers overturning the Fortuner and caravan. Luckily no one was seriously injured.

The bad about the situation is that I drove 15 Toyotas already. I could not come in contact with any of the Toyota management (I was refused to speak to management). The best I could do was to talk to the Customer Service department or the local Toyota dealer. Toyota did not even want to allow me to be present when they inspected the Fortuner and accident scene. Toyotas conclusion is that nothing braked before the accident that could cause the accident and that I was driving with non Toyota approved tyres. (BF Goodrich A/T) Toyota can say as much as they want, but my feeling is that the suspension of the Fortuner is at fault. How many accidents must there be or lives lost before they admit it? At my question to Toyota as to why they did not recall the Fortuners with the faulty tyres in the first place, their answer was that if I do not phone them, then I don’t have a problem.

That’s the sad part. The good part of the story is that the new car seem to be brilliant on the road, and off the road. Even Andrew St. Pierre White seems happy, and that’s a first!

See the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eGC4sbXDVc

I have some information regarding Carte Blance exposes etc, which I can’t talk about at this stage. This leaves me in a position where I cannot really respond to all the comments I receive, but I will still publish them as they are received.

KC

Just Jinjer blowing my mind. Just heard Redemption Song live for the first time.

Go carry our flag, boys. We are proud.

Hi Kaptein,

Has the story about the Toyota Fortuner Rollover problem been aired on Carte Blanche yet? (KC: Not yet.)

I rolled our Toyota Fortuner on the 5th July 2009 on a dirt road I travel frequently doing between 80 and 90k’s when the back of the vehicle swung out when I went over some corrugations in the road. The vehicle rolled over once and thankfully landed back on its wheels.  My two year old son was with me in the vehicle and miraculously he was not injured. We were both wearing our seatbelts but I however broke my pelvis in 4 places, shattered by knee and shin. I had two big operations to reconstruct my pelvis, knee and shin.  I am confined to a wheel chair for the next 3 months and it will be 6 months before full recovery.  This experience left both myself and my husband very dissappointed in Toyota.  My husband contacted Toyota and asked them to do a technical investigation into the accident since he felt there was a serious problem with these vehicles.  My husband is a farmer and he travels extensive areas on dirt roads in his Toyota Hilux bakkie on a daily basis  Over the past 14 years he has owned various Toyota vehicles and never experienced what he did in the Fortuner.  He contacted Toyota when our vehicle had 30 000 k’s on the clock to complain about its unstability.  He was told all we needed to do was replace the tyres which they did for us at 50 000 k’s and I then rolled the vehicle at 57 000 k’s.

The technical investigation findings on our vehicle was that we drove the vehicle with tyres in an under inflated state and that could cause stability problems.  When my husband contacted them again to explain that the vehicle had been towed for 8 k’s on a dirt road and a futher 2 k’s with a scew suspension and flat tyres and that that is what caused the damage to the tyres, they were arrogant enought to tell him the case was closed and that was their final stance in this regard.

This experience has cost us both emotionally and financially and has left us hesitant towards purchasing another Toyota even though it is the only vehicle we have ever considered before…

I expected you to march in there, throw one of your famous temper tantrums, tell us to get the fuck out of your restaurant (and here and here) because we are not worthy to be on the same continent as you, and basically just see a lot of people with the fear of death in their eyes.

Gordon, your restaurant actually did two things for me last night, the public opening. Firstly, I now know what a restaurant experience should be like. Secondly, you have spoiled all other restaurants for me for ever and ever. Ok, I am a bit of a drama queen, but you get my point.

The restaurant look absolutely amazing, and even though we were not there to look at the décor, we were all really impressed. The service was fantastic, to such an extend that at one point we thought maybe the service was too good? I know Gordon, what a stupid thing to say! We quickly decided that in fact the service was just perfect.

Getting to the food Gordon, here is where my life changed a bit. On your recommendation, we decided to order 4 different starters, and then share the portions. Fantastic idea, thank you very much. Every single taste made me forget my wine a little bit more, which is quite an achievement if you know me. The outstanding dish among outstanding dishes was the crab. How on earth do you get the meat so soft? Well done china, you did well.

Main meal I went for wagyu. Bare with me here, as I might get a bit religious as I progress, but surely Gordon; you must have had divine intervention when you thought of this dish. PJ on the other side of the table decided to order a “normal” rump steak to compare it with the wagyu. What a good idea. Half way through my waguy, PJ dared me to taste the difference between the two, and at this moment the light from above started shining on my plate. The normal rump was tough compared to the wagyu, and this should tell you how soft that steak really was. In any normal restaurant the rump would have been a gift from the gods, but the rump can just not compare to the wagyu. At R150.00 / 100g of wagyu, I think it’s underpriced. Seriously. I should have ordered more than the 200g I chose initially.

Dessert was ice cream time. I love ice cream, Gordon, and the plainer the better. Vanilla is my absolute favourite. Well, until last night Gordon. From now on, my absolute favourite will be your basil ice cream. Yes Gordon, a basil flavoured ice cream. Gordon, if you could try your hands at a rosemary ice cream, I would be indebted to you forever!

Gordon, my only wish was that you had time to come say hi to us. I realised you were very busy with running this small business thing of yours, so I forgive you. At least I managed to kiss Jean-Philippe. That’s right; I hugged him. Gordon, maybe it was good that you didn’t come to our table. I would have had difficulty behaving.

Well done, bru. You did well.

Total cost: Who cares?