Toyota has been in the headlines a lot lately and you would have to have your head stuck in hole not to know that the attention Toyota has been getting as of late has been bad. It all stems around the recalls of several of Toyota’s popular models due in part because of potentialproblems with accelerators becoming stuck while the vehicle is moving. These perceived problems have triggered one of the largest recalls in consumer product history at nearly 8.5 million vehicles and caused Toyota to halt production on these models until the problem was identified and a solution put in place. It isn’t really the size of the recall involving Toyota that has got me a little bent out of shape recently, it is the hostility that is being directed towards this company, not by consumers, but by the United States government and the mainstream press.
Recalls are nothing new, in fact there is a major recall going on at Ford right now and let’s be honest, Ford has established some notariety for itself in the recall world; remember the Ford Explorders of the late 1990’s, so why all of this fuss about Toyota and why have they been chosen to be raked over the coals? None of the headlines have focused on Ford current recall or the crappy cars they continuously seem to make. True the Toyota recall is large, but Toyota accounts for a much larger percentage of vehicles on the road so it is just proportionate. I have my own conspiracy theory here; US economy fails, US government bails out US auto manufacturers, Toyota is main competition for US auto manufacturers, chance to take town Toyota, etc., but I won’t go there just yet.
I finally find one media article by Michael Fumento in the Los Angeles Times that takes a view more closely aligned with me on this and it is worth a read as it states part of my point from a less emotionally charged and more eloquent point of view that I can at the moment.
Bottom line, Toyota builds bomb proof and reliable cars and trucks. They always have, and they always will. In many ways I feel I owe my life to Toyota as these trucks got us out of some jams. Mistakes happen and Toyota has taken measures to correct those mistakes just like every other auto manufacturer has since the automobile was invented. So why the Congressional hearings and the criminal investigations? Why the billions of dollars in class action lawsuits coming out of the wood works? I know Toyota will rise above this but I definitely feel like this thing is a bit of a witch hunt and Toyota is being painted as a scapegoat for other problems facing this country… but hey, that’s the American way… find someone else to blame for your problems and sue them! So excuse me if I don’t take it a bit personal.
