What are your thoughts on the Toyota recall? Over blown?
haffajappa
British Columbia Posts: 5,955
I'm not sure what statistics are historically for brands of cars and faulty equipment... I also don't know the media coverage on this issue for different parts of the world.
I've had many people tell me the think that this is being blown out of proprotion by the media (I mean, ABC news is even analyzing the Toyota CEO's bows? FYI, he's Japanese, that's their culture. They bow for everything!). A lot of people have also told me they think its part of the "buy American" attitude.
Personally, I will still buy Toyota... My family has always bought Toyota and has a perfect track record with them... the same with my boyfriend and his family. I know most in the family (and many of the people i know) will never buy an American car.
What are your thoughts?
I've had many people tell me the think that this is being blown out of proprotion by the media (I mean, ABC news is even analyzing the Toyota CEO's bows? FYI, he's Japanese, that's their culture. They bow for everything!). A lot of people have also told me they think its part of the "buy American" attitude.
Personally, I will still buy Toyota... My family has always bought Toyota and has a perfect track record with them... the same with my boyfriend and his family. I know most in the family (and many of the people i know) will never buy an American car.
What are your thoughts?
live pearl jam is best pearl jam
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Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a law-breaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. - Louis Brandeis
there are hundreds of recalls a year that are more dangerous that don't make the news
they are trying to sell more cars from american companies
I don't think it's overblown.....but I also don't think we need a bunch of pompous politicians trying to "get answers" in front of the cameras. :roll:
Vegas 93, Vegas 98, Vegas 00 (10 year show), Vegas 03, Vegas 06
VIC 07
EV LA1 08
Seattle1 09, Seattle2 09, Salt Lake 09, LA4 09
Columbus 10
EV LA 11
Vancouver 11
Missoula 12
Portland 13, Spokane 13
St. Paul 14, Denver 14
Ford meanwhile has both the car and truck of the year awards and took no government bailout. Their share price was hovering around a dollar in January 09 and now they are above $11 and making money.
I'm just saying.
I'm no expert but just suggesting a possibility that some profit might be coming from the new bad name of Toyota...
I say I won't buy american company cars from previous experience and from talking to people, including one who owns a car rental company.
Of course there will be those that try to profit from this and attempt to promote inferior cars.
to put it in perspective, nearly 380,000 people have died as a result of car accidents in the last ten years. stop and think about that for a sec. 380,000 deaths. seriously, don't you think that there's a big chance that out of all those deaths, that there could've been at least a few deaths a year over the last ten years that may have happened as a result of another car manufacturers faulty vehicle?
there's a good article on this below, giving lots of facts, and they finish off by saying it's not about safety, it's all just politics. it's hard not to agree when you read through.
http://www.anarchyjapan.com/politics-be ... recall-672
In 2008 in America there were 34,017 fatalities as a result of motor vehicle accident. This was a good number because in 2005 it had been 39,252. In fact from over the decade from 1999 to 2008 according to the DOT in America there have been 377,292 deaths that can be attributed to motor vehicle accidents. You can find the statistics here. Guess what, that's almost as many Americans died in World War II.
Now who is responsible for all these deaths? For the most part I agree with Walter Block that this is death by government. The government manages the roads and like most things managed by the government, they don't do a particularly good job. But discussing this would go beyond what I wanted to say here, so I'll have to simply refer you to Mr. Block's article, Deaths by Government: Another Missing Chapter.
Now here is some recent news:
The US House of Representatives has announced an investigation into Toyota’s faulty accelerator pedals and other problems that may have caused 19 deaths over the past decade and triggered a global recall of nearly eight million vehicles.
Okay, so 19 deaths out of nearly 400,000, maybe. I mean, yeah, if a car company is making a car that will cause someone to die, that's really wrong ... but I mean how perfect can you make a car, anyway? We're talking about how many millions of cars being driven under who knows what conditions ... and we're saying that no other car manufacture has any similar problems? There aren't currently any problems with any other company's cars that might be attributed to about one or two deaths every year? Really?
Just for another comparison, remember the air bag fiasco. In order to protect lives, the US federal government mandated that air bags be installed in the passenger seats of every car. What happened, here's some thing from an older news story (the bold is mine):
Air bags are killing fewer children than they did five years ago, government data show, and safety experts give most of the credit to parents who are keeping children 12 years old and under out of the front seat. In 1996, passenger-side air bags were in about 22 million vehicles and they killed 35 children, according to the National Safety Council, a private nonprofit organization. Air bag use was growing, the council said, and so were fears about more deaths. ''We had an impending crisis,'' said Chuck Hurley, a council spokesman. Every month more than a million cars with passenger-side air bags were being put on the road and the number of child deaths were projected to double annually, Mr. Hurley said, ''until we were killing several hundred children a year with a federally mandated safety device.'' But in 2000, even though the number of cars equipped with passenger-side air bags had tripled, the number of children killed by them fell to about 18.
So in the year 2000 the federal government by mandating air bags in the passenger seat killed 18 children, and Toyota *might* be responsible for 19 deaths over a decade, while meanwhile people are being slaughtered in by the tens of thousands every year. Nero fiddled while Rome burned.
Am I beginning to make any sense?
One headline I saw this morning was this, Obama Administration Says It Is 'Not Finished With Toyota'. The article notes:
The Obama administration toughened its stance toward Toyota Motor Corp. on Tuesday, saying it is still reviewing possible safety defects in the company's vehicles and weighing other actions. "We're not finished with Toyota and are continuing to review possible defects and monitor the implementation of the recalls," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement. Another DOT official said the agency is considering a civil penalty against the Japanese auto maker.
I mean, is this a vendetta or something?
Let's review some recent history via Wikipedia:
On December 19, George W. Bush announced that he had approved the bailout plan, which would give loans of $17.4 billion to U.S. automakers GM and Chrysler, stating that under present economic conditions, "allowing the U.S. auto industry to collapse is not a responsible course of action." Bush provided $13.4 billion now, with another $4 billion available in February 2009. Funds would be made available from the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. General Motors will get $9.4 billion and Chrysler $4 billion.
and
On the 18 February 2009, General Motors and Chrysler, again approached the US government in regards to obtaining a second bridging loan, of $21.6 billion (£15.2 billion). $16.6 billion of this would go to General Motors, while Chrysler would take $5 billion. General Motors requested the loan inline with agreements they would shed 47,000 jobs, close five plants and axe 12 car models. Chrysler agreed to cut 3,000 jobs, cut one shift from production and axe three car models.
and
On 30 April 2009, Chrysler filed for Chapter 11 bankrutpcy after talks with lenders broke down. On the 14th May 2009 Chrysler announced it was to close 25% of its US dealerships as part of its resturcturing process.
and
On the 1st June 2009, General Motors filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after failing to successfully negotiate deals with bond holders. On the day the application was made, General Motors was largely a nationalized institution (the US government owning 60% and the Canadian 12.5%), the remaining private stakes mainly being owned by employees.
Are things becoming a little clearer?
Another headline I saw this morning reads, Toyota's Pain, Detroit's Gain. The article notes:
U.S. auto sales were generally higher in January as the economic recovery continued to take hold, but a strong month for Ford Motor and General Motors came at least partially at the expense of a rocky performance from Toyota, which was plagued by a recall and suspended sales on several top models that resulted.
Now are things beginning to clear up?
I'll note that in 2008, total contributions from the auto industry to various politicians amounted to $2,655,645. I supposed that's quite paltry compared compared to what the financial sector donates, but you get what you pay for, bailouts for the automotive industry have not been nearly as generous as what the financial sector has been getting.
I'll note one more headline, U.S.: Toyota footdragged on recall and is 'a little safety deaf', the article states:
Toyota was "a little safety deaf" and had to be prodded into recalling vehicles over its sticky pedal issues, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the Associated Press. It wasn't until a Transportation official took a trip to Japan to talk to Toyota officials directly that the automaker acted, stopping sales of eight models and recalling 2.3 million cars.
Let's bad mouth the competition, shall we? Hold your breath, because it ain't about safety, it's all just politics.
What can Toyota do but bow their heads and apologize and express remorse, again and again and again.
but yes it might be a bit overblown in the media, every car maker has a recall from time to time
but this is really no time to have a recall when the race for car sales is tuffer than it's ever been,
on the other hand it might push more people to buy more American trucks and car's
Godfather.
maybe a little espionage?
I should write a conspiracy book
the flip side to the situation is that toyota in seeing a problem is doing the right thing where some other car makers may not do this ...
I think that is the thing, the reason it is being a huge thing is because of the fact that Toyota is recalling a ton of cars becuase of this, and halting sales of any car that might be affected. The fact that they do that is a good thing to me, but it gets a lot of media coverage that they probably wouldn't if Toyota just tried to ignore the problem.
There have been deaths but it makes me wonder the circumstances of those deaths. I mean when I learned to drive I was taught that if the gas pedal gets stuck, try to pull it up by sticking your foot under it. If that doesn't work, then you put the car in neutral and try to stop the car and pull over if possible. With a manual transmission that is super easy to do, and for every car with an automatic transmission all you have to do is hit the gear selector and it will automatically go into neutral (you don't even have to press the button). So I am wondering how many of these deaths could have been avoided.
out sourcing...it's not good anywhere but thats not why I buy American as much as possible.
"keep American company's in America for American family's" and like wise over sea's.
out sourcing is killing our economy and nobody thinks about it till it happens to them.
also the special deals on tax's and other thing's foreign company's get to do business here
is driving local business into the ground...just my thought on it.
Godfather.
sooo ... i'm guessing you don't shop at wal-mart then?
as a matter of fact no I don't, the biggest reason is it's always so crouded
Godfather.
Ford has an ongoing recall that has hit over 10 mil now, you hear anything about that lately?
http://www.switchfires.com/
2 of the biggest all time recalls were Ford
http://www.popularmechanics.com/automot ... tml?page=1
and those are just a few examples
my daughter's cribbed had been recalled because a few kids got their heads stuck or something and I did not even know, accidentally found out when searching the web for a part for the crib
in terms of the world of recalls, this one is blown out of proportion
I was also going to bring up the crib thing, i worked in a baby department and saw recalls from cribs to strollers to car seats to bouncers.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20100212/autos_cato_100212/20100212?s_name=Autos
Overblown? Cars not braking properly?
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
Most cars are not made in America and the foot pedal in question was manufactured in Mississauga.
Toyota only issued the recall under heavy public pressure and at first was replacing floor mats...how ludicrous floor mats being the problem. Many experts believe this is a software problem including Steve Woziack.
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/feb/03 ... -2010feb03
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
We need Oil!! we are not ready for any alternatives. Drill baby drill.
Actually Chevy has more fuel efficient cars than Toyota and Ford is right there as well, and weather you like it or not pretty much every relies on oil.
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
Apparently Toyota had hired at least two engineers and one investigator from the NHTSA to help them cover up issues with their accelerators since 2004.
http://www.autoblog.com/2010/02/05/repo ... us-uninte/
The Bush administration's revolving door (between private industry and government) - the gift that keeps on giving. :roll:
yes overblown compared to hundreds of recalls yearly that are just as dangerous that don't even so much as make the back page of a newspaper
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon