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StumbleSun Editorial:
A message to Toyota
Administration takes a welcome, tough stand against the automaker
Sunday, Feb. 7, 2010 | 2:08 a.m.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has taken a high-profile stance in pushing automaker Toyota to fix problems with sticking accelerators. He said the company’s American subsidiary had been “a little safety deaf,” adding that things changed after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration dispatched officials to Japan to deal directly with Toyota’s leaders.
LaHood, however, received some criticism for his tough stance. The former Republican congressman from Illinois was apparently too blunt in his assessments for some people. Asked during a congressional hearing last week what a driver of a Toyota subject to recall should do, LaHood said, “My advice is if anybody owns one of these vehicles, stop driving it, and take it to a Toyota dealer because they believe they have the fix for it.”
LaHood came under fire not so much for the content of his comments but because Toyota’s stock plummeted after he spoke those words. The skittish market overreacted, and the politicians in Washington are understandably concerned about the economy. However, what LaHood said was simply prudent advice and his tough stance against the company is welcome.
The consequences of an accelerator problem can be deadly. Toyota has recalled millions of vehicles and says it has ways to repair the problems, but this isn’t new for Toyota. There have been complaints for several years about some Toyota and Lexus models with floor mats interfering with the accelerator or the accelerator sticking. Toyota has been lax about fixing the problem, and federal officials hadn’t exerted proper oversight.
The federal government has investigated accelerator problems with Toyota in the past. ABC News found that in 2004 the NHTSA opened an investigation into the problem of sudden acceleration, looking at the computer-controlled throttle. At the behest of former federal officials who were working for Toyota, NHTSA limited the scope of the inquiry to exclude incidents that lasted longer than a second or two. That limitation excluded many serious incidents that could have demonstrated a pattern. Instead, the investigation was closed without finding a problem.
ABC reported that other federal investigations of computer issues in Toyota models since then have had the same limitation — and the same result.
It took a fatal crash in August that killed an off-duty California Highway Patrol officer and his family in a Lexus with a stuck accelerator for Toyota to reconsider the issue. Although the cause of the accelerator problem has not been clearly pinpointed, the company recalled millions of Toyota and Lexus models and came up with a preliminary fix to reduce the chance of floor mat problems.
The issue of sticky accelerator pedals, however, was left until this month and only after U.S. officials pressured the company to do something. Now, Toyota is facing complaints of brake problems with its Prius model as well.
LaHood pledged that the NHTSA will “hold Toyota’s feet to the fire to make sure that they are doing everything they have promised to make their vehicles safe. We will continue to investigate all possible causes of these safety issues.”
Those shouldn’t be words that are bothersome to Wall Street or anyone else. The federal government slumbered under the Bush administration in its role to regulate industry.
LaHood’s words are a comfort that Washington is once again looking out for the public’s safety, and that’s reassuring.
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Toyota has not 1 car on the national insurance institute for highway safety awards list for 2010, meanwhile little old Chrysler has 4 top rated safety picks & 15% of their total for 2010! Looks like people should be flocking to Chrysler, Dodge & Jeep showrooms ASAP!!!!!!!! Don't buy for resale people, Buy for safety!
Right, resale figures are often based on msrp, not purchase price.
Glen Beck said that the government is being bad to toyota because they favor GM. Nice to have a flag waver support a foreign car company. Of course we know Toyota and GM etc build cars all over the world.
GM started to do better after they dropped ads on the Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity Shows.
Interesting that GM is in the midst of a recall on many Chrysler and Dodge Jeep 09 and 2010 models for "sudden brake failure without warning" but nothing in the news about that. Doesnt exactly have a nice ring to it. It's to be expected from GM.
Brothers, Party Members, Socialists and Farmers Committee Chairs !
Is someone rocking the boat? Wow. How can this happen after 8 years of AWOLBush sleeping in the Lincoln Bedroom. Let the good times roll. Stay asleep SEC, Bush Family has theirs already. Who cares about a car maker making cars that kill? A Japanese company came to town and put our car makers out of business. This is now happening in our educational system as we elect idiots from Texas and Alaska.
Warrantless Wire Taps could have been used by CriminalBush to out Toyota. LiarCheney, too. A Japanese CEO waterboarded by gosh. Fix that little car before out stocks nosedive.
Why is former Sen. Phil Graham hiding out from the public these days? CDO's (credit default swap) perhaps. No bank regulation from his end and forcing a bill through at midnight two days before XXXmas. The Sleeping Bush loved it all. And now to think BroJeb is in the mangroves in Florida peeping out to test the waters for his run for the big house. God protect us from them all over there in Texas and that Bush family group. They have to seceede from this union and take the BimboPalin with them - don't need the state of Texas.
It will take a lot more than 12 months for President Obama to fix this incinerated moonscape left us by AWOLBush and Draftie5TimeDodgerCheney, a lot more. Agencies that regulate stopped for 8 years and that's a fact, ask KrazyKarl as he roves the nation still trying to rationalize and justify the AWOLBush years of destruction, disaster and war mongering and nation building and cutting trillions and trillions of income duely aimed for the Federal Government. Idiots, true idiots, indeed, when Pres. Clinton had been so extremely successful.
Thank You For Your Compliance, Economic Manipulation and the Wonderful Development of Credit Default Swaps as AWOLBush slept and the SEC partied in BocaRaton. Merci, Indeed, Idiots !
Typical sloppy thinking from the Sun. So there was a "stuck accelerator" in the accident although "cause of the accelerator problem has not been clearly pinpointed". Other news accounts make clear that the accelerator mechanism was not stuck. Some suggest that ill fitting floor mats are a contributing factor in the accident. Of course, the driver is never to blame. Why not disparage Toyota so Government Motors will sell more cars and justify Obama's illegal bailout with TARP funds? Stop carrying Obama's water and start arguing your agenda with real argument rather than innuendo. Your readers are smarter than that!
Ill fitting floor mats are related to the stuck accelerators? When that happened to me back in the day I drove a 1977 Pinto, I took the floor mat out. Why a massive recall to change out a floor mat? Sounds like someone felt this car manufacturer needed a public spanking...maybe because they continued to make a profit when we were bailing out US automakers?
Oh please, Mr. Sun, these dots are sooooo easy to connect even you should be able to handle it - I shall offer you no hints...jeeesshhh...ohhh why not, here's one - the feds using their power to pick winners and losers again...one more thing - mred, uhm, er, uhm, you are just weird...like scarey weird...
If Americans want jobs and our economy back
stop buying Toyotas and Hondas.
How can sending your money to Japan help our
country?
I only buy American made, union built cars.
Support our country and our economy.
I bought a toyota for my ex, it has two gas pedals.