Toyota - are the US press trying to damage them?
Discussion
Watching CNN this morning. Another Prius driving numpty in the US has an alleged sticking accelerator and is being interviewed. Also a recording of his pitiful 911 call. So, he's asked the following:
-Why he didn't brake... A: the brakes weren't working.
-He's asked why he didn't stick it in Neutral... A: I was holding the steering wheel with both hands!
-He's asked why he didn't switch it off... A: I was afraid the steering would lock or that the wheels would lock! (WTF?)
So this 'tard is careering down the road at 90+ weaving through the traffic, had no idea how to stop his vehicle but manages a call to the emergency services. Unfeckingbelievable!
However, the main point for me is: Is this just an attempt by the US media to damage one of the biggest car manufacturers because the US manufacturers are suffering in this economic climate?
-Why he didn't brake... A: the brakes weren't working.
-He's asked why he didn't stick it in Neutral... A: I was holding the steering wheel with both hands!
-He's asked why he didn't switch it off... A: I was afraid the steering would lock or that the wheels would lock! (WTF?)
So this 'tard is careering down the road at 90+ weaving through the traffic, had no idea how to stop his vehicle but manages a call to the emergency services. Unfeckingbelievable!
However, the main point for me is: Is this just an attempt by the US media to damage one of the biggest car manufacturers because the US manufacturers are suffering in this economic climate?
jshell said:
Yeah, what bothers me is that every manufacturer has regular re-calls, they just deal with it. Why does this one get so much bloody publicity?
Before I recently bought my car I checked the VOSA recalls site. It appears Audi suffered from a faulty MAF design which meant the mesh protecting the 'Hot wire' could become insecure and lodged in the throttle body, often leaving the butterfly open.I can't remember any similar hysteria or fuss over it. I'm sure with a bit of digging I could find many other manufacturers who have suffered similar problems with throttles jamming on.
A mate's wife in the U.S. buried her Subaru in a tree and was very badly hurt after the cruise control linkage jammed up, later found to be a design problem when converting to LHD that prompted a major recall, never heard much about it on the news according to him so it does seem strange that Toyota are getting so much flak.
They're probably getting all the flak because of their "greener than thou" attitude with their polluting Prius/Priii(?) (doesn't do the claimed mileage, isn't as clean as any EU small car, Lithium batteries causes the pollution of hundreds of square miles of dead nature at the mines etc etc etc) and apart from which it drives like an invalid carriage!!
Boring cars for boring people i.e daft Californians, gullible filmstars, greenslime and thick austro/californian Governors!
Boring cars for boring people i.e daft Californians, gullible filmstars, greenslime and thick austro/californian Governors!
simple...
who now owns GM and a big stake in Chrysler? The american taxpayers
It's in the US governments interest to hit toyota hard and try to steal back some marketshare for it's industry
Hence why Toyota has been dragged through congress and absolutely grilled... something which has never happened before over a recall.
who now owns GM and a big stake in Chrysler? The american taxpayers
It's in the US governments interest to hit toyota hard and try to steal back some marketshare for it's industry
Hence why Toyota has been dragged through congress and absolutely grilled... something which has never happened before over a recall.
"Unsafe at Any Speed"....
Firestone/Explorer....
but i do agree though that it's ridiculous.
it's a shame toyota didn't make anything exciting recently that can be shoe'd in the depeciation stakes..!
still it'll hopefully help anyone after an aygo, avensis diseasel estate or 'verso' all of which are decent cars (usual disclaimers about not being exciting etc).
Firestone/Explorer....
but i do agree though that it's ridiculous.
it's a shame toyota didn't make anything exciting recently that can be shoe'd in the depeciation stakes..!
still it'll hopefully help anyone after an aygo, avensis diseasel estate or 'verso' all of which are decent cars (usual disclaimers about not being exciting etc).
Edited by briSk on Wednesday 10th March 08:43
jbi said:
simple...
who now owns GM and a big stake in Chrysler? The american taxpayers
It's in the US governments interest to hit toyota hard and try to steal back some marketshare for it's industry
Hence why Toyota has been dragged through congress and absolutely grilled... something which has never happened before over a recall.
Nail on the head, methinks! who now owns GM and a big stake in Chrysler? The american taxpayers
It's in the US governments interest to hit toyota hard and try to steal back some marketshare for it's industry
Hence why Toyota has been dragged through congress and absolutely grilled... something which has never happened before over a recall.
Actually I well remember Ford getting a mighty kicking in the US mediaover the Explorer / Firestone issue. Ditto GM with their
exploding truck fuel tanks.
Fact is, Toyota has huge factories in the USA, so the US Govt is hardly likely to want to risk those jobs at this time of recession.
No, the unpallatable truth is that Toyota have royally screwed up. They have built cars that either the throttle jams open on or the
brakes do not work properly on, or both. And thats bad. They knew about it for years and did nothing. That makes them criminally
negligent imho.
The fact that GM and Ford both went through embarrassing safety recalls only serves to show us that the US Government
DOES learn its lessons and DOES come down harder on the next company to willfully break the rules and endanger the lives of the public
for reasons of corporate gain. That it was Toyota that fell foul of this diligence is down to Toyotas own negligence and greed.
I say good on the US Govt for protecting its citizens.
As for the muppet on the news media - what do you expect? It's the media, it's a hot story, the muppet has an eye on his damages claim
and the media are hardly likely to be looking at the facts of the matter (ie, whether said car was one of those that would have been subject
to the recalls)
exploding truck fuel tanks.
Fact is, Toyota has huge factories in the USA, so the US Govt is hardly likely to want to risk those jobs at this time of recession.
No, the unpallatable truth is that Toyota have royally screwed up. They have built cars that either the throttle jams open on or the
brakes do not work properly on, or both. And thats bad. They knew about it for years and did nothing. That makes them criminally
negligent imho.
The fact that GM and Ford both went through embarrassing safety recalls only serves to show us that the US Government
DOES learn its lessons and DOES come down harder on the next company to willfully break the rules and endanger the lives of the public
for reasons of corporate gain. That it was Toyota that fell foul of this diligence is down to Toyotas own negligence and greed.
I say good on the US Govt for protecting its citizens.
As for the muppet on the news media - what do you expect? It's the media, it's a hot story, the muppet has an eye on his damages claim
and the media are hardly likely to be looking at the facts of the matter (ie, whether said car was one of those that would have been subject
to the recalls)
jshell said:
However, the main point for me is: Is this just an attempt by the US media to damage one of the biggest car manufacturers because the US manufacturers are suffering in this economic climate?
Absolutely - and not just the press, it was reported that US politicians were barely able to hide their glee at being able to give Toyota a kicking over these events.Many blame the Japanese for severely damaging the US auto industry (but ignore that Toyota employs a couple of hundred thousand people in the US).
Edited by Deva Link on Wednesday 10th March 12:25
nelly1 said:
g3org3y said:
Ford got it in the neck for their recall issues a few years back, but it was never as bad as this.
The Firestone issue? I'm pretty sure it was!After working for Ford for 10 years and seeing from within the way the loss of 2nd place to Toyota really effected their ego I have no doubt at all that GM and Ford will be using all of the very considerable power to influence the continual churn of bad press and push the people in power to turn the screw in order to regain first and second spots and of course along the way help US companies and employees.
Edited by Dr Phibes on Wednesday 10th March 13:22
Edited by Dr Phibes on Wednesday 10th March 13:23
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