From Fight Club: SmileWavy


Narrator: A new car built by my company leaves somewhere traveling at 60 mph. The rear differential locks up. The car crashes and burns with everyone trapped inside. Now, should we initiate a recall? Take the number of vehicles in the field, A, multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one.

Business woman on plane: Are there a lot of these kinds of accidents?

Narrator: You wouldn't believe.

Business woman on plane: Which car company do you work for?

Narrator: A major one.

It's a story because they've covered up HUNDREDS of instances that have resulted in DOZENS of deaths for several years.

Are you really so brand loyal as to not be able to see that?

And it's obviously not that Toyota has been so good. It's that their cover ups have.

Auto Recalls Scoreboard listed by Manufacturer - myCarStats.com

I wonder if anyone has the total number of recalls by manufacturer that takes into account the number of models produced in the last ten years. For example, if Chevy made 30 different models in the last ten years and had 300 recalls as opposed to a company that produced 3 different models and had 300 recalls.

Well I am defending them because I think they still build better cars than the US auto makers. I also think that recalls/safety/money are all tied together in ALL of the major auto makers. If I chose to waste my time looking into it, I am 100% sure I could dig up many instances of the big three internally attempting to avoid costly recalls.

You seem to think that Toyota is the only automaker guilty of this. I on the other hand think Toyota does less of this and I view the recent recalls a positive move on Toyotas part in regard to safety of their customers. If you think the big three are not sitting on knowledge of potential safety issues with some of their models, then I think it proves you simply have a hard-on for Toyota.

Toyota has been pretty damn smug. ...and FOS, btw, with those 'green' ad's. (Prius made of twigs..:rolleyes:

I don't get the big Toyota following. I just drove a friend to the airport in her Lexus. ...the model which is supposed to be like a MBz S-class. --Not even close.

As I see it, many cars are quickly becoming designed as if they are no different than a washing machine or cell phone. At least the Germans are still very cognizant of the fact that these machines (which hurl down the freeway) need very well thought-out failure modes. ...not just wait for problems to arise, and then send out a software update.:rolleyes:

Snipe, right now all I've seen is someone on the internet that doesn't like Toyota doing a lot of copy/paste. There's a lot of information up in the air, but little fact.

I never said in any post in any thread that Toyota is the only company that covers things up.

That does not change the fact that they've just been caught, and last i heard something like 28-30 Americans are dead because of this problem.

Toyota absolutely deserves every degree of heat that they're getting right now.

No, bro, really....the fatal accidents are not up in the air.

This is reminding me of the beginning of a Tom Clancy book. I can't remember, I've read probably 5 Clancy books 1000 pages + and they all meld together. There was one about a Japanese car company that had fuel tanks that would explode... somehow, through typical Clancy universe mayhem, this results in war.


Found it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt_of_Honor

read that synopsis. good times.

Debt of Honor, i've read it too.

People die in accidents every day, probably even in Toyotas. It's VERY easy to blame the accident and subsequent large lawsuit (God bless America) on Toyota. Is it their fault? Maybe. But I'm not going to burn them at the stake for some tabloid quality journalism.

They have admitted that the accelerators were at fault. They have further admitted it was a faulty design.

There is no "maybe" at play here.

That doesn't keep every random Toyota driving moron from blaming Toyota for their accidents.

I acknowledge that.

Toyota
 

On one hand we have the guys who now will defend
Toyota regardless -as they have bought into the superiority ( true 20 years or so ago -I have my doubts today) of "foreign" car nameplates and will not even look at a domestic brand.

On the the other hand we have the guys who have been apologists ( they forgot their 2 year old Dodges with rusty fenders) for the "US" brands and are jumping on the pile.

Good entertainment regardless --puts a little gusto in the increasingly bland automotive business. Not the fact people are getting hurt mind you but the whole brand love and hate thing this has illuminated

Toyota is the top dog hence the heat --to even think that the press has some government driven incentive here is a stretch as the press has pilloried the domestic auto industry for years.

Just goes to show whether its exploding Pintos or brake-free Prius - everything has the potential for failure given the profit driven world of big industry and medium and small industry for that matter.

Strength and Honor
M-Flo

An excellent post. Welcome to the fray M-flo.