Can the US handle Toyota's recalls objectively?
Heard about the 1,100 Cobalt complaints yet?So, Toyota has sold several hundred thousand Toyota Prius hybrids and a few dozen drivers have complained about less than adequate brakes in icy and/or bumpy road conditions. Obviously, this is an important issue to be investigated, especially in light of Toyota's sluggish response to potential accelerator issues, but just how important is it really?
For instance, is it more important than more than 1,100 complaints of Chevy Cobalts losing their power steering? It seems so for much the media. For instance CNNMoney ran this headline on the Prius, Complaints pile up about Prius brakes and made it a lead story. CNN also ran the Cobalt story with this headline, About 900,000 Cobalts in probe, and they buried the story.
So, 1,100 complaints are irrelevant compared to dozens of complaints because it's the Prius? 1100 complaints and growing is a 'probe', but dozens of complaints are a 'pile' on?
Likewise, today Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood stated that Toyota drivers affected by the recall need to stop driving their vehicles until fixed. Of course, he later recanted that statement, but the damage had already been done. The fact that 99 percent of Toyota drivers affected by the recall have experienced NO problem made LaHood change his tune a bit.
For days now I've wondered, can the US government objectively monitor Toyota now that it has directly invested more than $100 billion into the US auto industry, while also loaning 10's of billions more to automakers? For example, in a court of law such a party would usually have to recluse themselves from such a case for having a vested interest.
And the US government certainly has a vested interest. Today, anything good for the US auto industry is good for the US government, and there is no doubt the Toyota recall has been GREAT for the US auto industry. In fact, the Toyota recall has been the best news Detroit has received in years.
Certainly, that doesn't excuse Toyota, a company that has seemed to have had its head up its ass for a while on this recall issue.
Still, there are almost 1 million cars on the road right now that could lose power steering at any moment. Who knows how many crashes and repair bills this has caused in the past as most complaints have only been received in just the last several months. We do know, however, that some Cobalt owners, minimally, have paid to have this problem fixed in years past without ever knowing that the problem was a defect. So, when did GM suspect there might be a problem?
Yet, most of the press doesn't care. It's 'pile' on Toyota time. Yet, I have to ask, does that have anything to do with the fact that, historically, GM has been critically more important than all other automakers for the advertising profits of much of the US media?
Again, that doesn't absolve or lessen Toyota's recall responsibility, but are Toyota's problems really that much different from problems that regularly face - and HAVE faced - most automakers at some point in time?
Labels: recalls, toyota prius
posted by Dahcredyns at
1:23 PM
6 Comments:
I think there is something going on behind the scenes. I've heard several conversations that do not outright say that Toyota has done anything wrong about the way they handled the recall but almost like there had been a bit of a tug of war going on behind the scenes between Toyota and the US Safety folks.
There is no doubt that Toyota could have better managed this issue, and there is a problem.
But relative to the recall process is Toyota really that out-of-bounds?
I don't think so, although I admit that I might have a pro-Toyota bias.
David Champion, director of automobile testing for Consumer Reports magazine, said the reaction to the recall was overblown.
"When you look at the statistics we are putting an awful lot of effort on a very small risk," he said.
"There has been something like 2,000 complaints of unintended acceleration in some 20 million Toyota vehicles -- it's almost like trying to find a needle in a haystack."
Champion lamented as "unfortunate" that it took the death of an off-duty California state trooper and three members of his family to prompt Toyota to issue a mass recall in September to address the problem.
But he said a congressional investigation was an "overreaction" and noted that the "sticky" pedal problem that caused Toyota to halt production and sales of eight models last month was not linked to any accidents or injuries.
(Full Story)
I think this boils down to where there is a really serious problem or not.
When a State Trooper dies in the manner he and 3 others did - I need to know more about what happened and why and I think the ball is in Toyota's court on this.
They cannot ignore it and walk away without consequences.
It could be that the trooper had problems.. perhaps even a suicide or he was whacked out... but I found the way it was handled - troubling.. in that it appeared to me that Toyota had little or nothing to say about it....like back in the day when Ford stonewalled the Pinto issue.. until they no longer could do so....
Toyota has the same problem that both people and Corporations have when they don't get out in front of the issue and instead circle the wagons... it's a losing strategy.
Again, Larry, I absolutely concur.
Id love to be a big fan of Toyota, but this makes Toyota seem just like every other big auto manufacturer.
The timing couldn’t have been worse for the company. Toyota lost $7.1 billion last year and the manufacturing problems will hamper its ability to return to profitability through increased sales. It could also affect the company’s reputation as a producer of reliable vehicles.
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