to sum it up... toyota in the US used cheap parts, which wore out a lot quicker. They cut corners and now they will have to bear the cost of fixing the problem. Just goes to show that a small reduction in their production figures doesn't mean that it'll be smooth sailing in the long run.

yes, DbW actually lets the computer control the vehicle's speed and acceleration, which does away with any cable. Ordinarily, it would have been done quite manually with a cable connected to the accelerator and the throttle valve. For example, in a car without DbW, u would have to step more to accelerate up a hill, whereas with DbW, stepping down about an inch while going uphill will generate the same amount of thrust as going on level ground. In essence, this produces superb throttle response and near effortless acceleration in most driving conditions. So if the cars that have DbW that were installed with the same batch of faulty materials, then yes, they would be affected by the recall.
your statement is partly true as not all toyota service centres reject parallel import toyotas. This would be especially true for centres that are privately owned and operate as a licensed service centre. The reason UMW does this is to protect the CKD market as the service centres need to serve the cars that they sell to the customers. But in privately owned centres, if they have the expertise and tools, then they would gladly take in your car. I face the same problem too when it comes to servicing but if u find one mechanic who knows your car well, then it should not be much of a problem.

The reason east m'sia is more relaxed is due to the privately owned service centres and east m'sia does have more parallel imported cars compared to here. SOme of the SUVs u see there are not even available here.

Toyota thread mati edi ahh .. Hey guys, anybody driving toyota with 4A & 3S or JZ engine ? I wanna make organize a mamak session .. pls reply if you interested.