It's sad that he changed his mind. I do not like this whole media circus and humility crap. Toyota is not the only car company with this problem! The NHSTA is investigating (and has been for a LONG time) GM, Chrysler, Audi etc.

The woman who testified yesterday is such a liar! "The Lexus was out of control! I put it in all gears and it kept going!, I pulled the emergency brake and nothing happened! I called my husband" WHAT?

Sorry, I have never seen a car that "kept going" when in neutral! Is she saying that the electronic demon in her car floored the gas pedal AND jammed the CABLE that shifts the car into neutral? AND she said she pulled the emergency brake all the way. I supposed THAT CABLE FAILED ALSO, AT THE SAME TIME? There are no electronics on the e-brake on a 2006 Lexus. That I know of. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

The company sucks (a non business or technical term I know) and their cars are dangerous to more than just their owners.

Now that it's clearly out in the open based upon testimony on the Hill yesterday, what should Toyota do?

First they should hire an outside independent set of technology and software experts -

Candidate companies should be approved by an independent organization for the work, possibly the NHTSA or ODI prior to them being hired.

Then they should identify and publish their findings for everyone to see.

At that point they should recall all the vehicles with the problem and fix them.

This is not rocket science, unfortunately Toyota is just making it more difficult on themselves and the public by not approaching this problem correctly.

I think they have lost their only opportunity to do this by themselves, independent technical leadership and oversight is needed to determine the root cause(s) of these problems.

In the meantime they are toast.

P.S. - Doing recalls when you don't know the root cause an example of insanity. Doing the same things over and over and expecting different results.

Yes, of course. How could we believe it is only Toyota?


A mother and her 14-year-old daughter were returning from a shopping trip and were turning onto an exit ramp from an Interstate highway. Both were secured in their seat belts in their 1998 Lincoln Town Car, and the vehicle's cruise control was engaged. As the driver stepped on the brake to slow down, the cruise control actuator cable stuck in the open throttle position and would not allow the engine to return to idle. Instead of responding to the driver's frantic braking, the Town Car left the road at a high rate of speed and crashed into a rock embankment. The mother received severe, permanent injuries and her daughter was killed.
When victims of these sudden-unintended-acceleration or stuck-throttle events have complained to Ford, the automaker has invariably blamed the driver, alleging that the driver must have pressed the accelerator or allowed the floor mat to interfere with its operation. When victims have asked the National Highway Safety Administration to investigate, the agency has relied almost exclusively on Ford's explanations and statistics and has accepted Ford's denial that there is a design defect. The result has been that the in-depth investigation of these design defects and ultimate justice for the victims has fallen upon the shoulders of experienced plaintiffs' lawyers willing to expend the time, energy and money necessary to expose the true facts and circumstances and hold Ford Motor Company accountable. In recent litigation, Ford has been required to disclose documents that revealed the breadth of the problem (almost no Ford vehicle is exempt, and failures have been reported in such popular models as the Taurus, Explorer, Mercury Marquis, Crown Victoria, Lincoln Continental and F-Series pickup trucks), the company's prior knowledge of the cruise control design defects and its efforts to keep them hidden. Ford today is finding it difficult to hide behind its decades-old strategy of claiming that "these failures don't occur in the real world" in the face of hundreds of highly-credible victims (including Secret Service agents and police officers) who have come forward and testified about their horrific experiences when the Ford vehicles they were driving suddenly took off on them or failed to respond to a braking command. As a result, victims are winning their cases against Ford.

The year? 2002

And how could we forget this?

But in early 1989, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
issued the findings of an exhaustive two-year study of sudden
acceleration. It concluded there was no mechanical problem that directly caused the
acceleration of the Audi 5000 or any other cars (including Mercedes-Benz,
Nissan, and Toyota models) accused by drivers of having minds of their own.
NHTSA investigators determined that most of the accidents must have been the
result of driver error,especially a driver mistaking the gas pedal for the
brake. Government safety agencies in Canada and Japan reached similar
conclusions in their own studies.
On March 12, 1989, Bradley presented a short update, reporting on NHTSAs
findings. He said the study "supported the position of Audi and the other
manufacturers," and that investigators "could find no mechanical or
electrical failures which would cause sudden unintended acceleration." While the study concluded drivers were mistakenly hitting the accelerator, Bradley noted that
it also pointed to possible design problems "the shape, location, and feel of
gas and brake pedals" as a contributing factor.

"Audi of America," concluded Bradley, "which saw its sales drop by more than
two-thirds as a result of adverse publicity, said it was delighted with the
new report, which it said finally vindicates the Audi."

And I found this from 2004 if anyone wants to read more:

USATODAY.com - Technology puts unintended acceleration back in spotlight

Sorry Wagner, I know you hate to hear it (and I know the Shelby kicks serious ass and I would LOVE to have one in my stable). But good ol' Ford has killed 3 orders of magnitude more Americans than Toyota could ever hope to accomplish. Toyota is a drop in the bucket compared to Ford's historic and criminal disregard for safety. I have heard from 3 young lawyer friends that a substantial amount of 1st year case law studied today in American law schools is "Mr.____ (or Mrs.)_____ vs. Ford Motor Company".
Consequently most law school graduates are well-versed in rule#1: Never buy a Ford.

I know you would love to see Toyota bankrupted, and for the glory days of the American Big 3 to return.

But certainly if Ford was allowed by the US Government time and again to continue as a corporate entity over the decades....and even to thrive economically in the face of Pinto death traps, exploding gas tanks, Explorer rollovers, etc, etc....I don't see why Toyota should not be given a chance to rectify this admittedly serious issue.

I object to the besmirching of my client's character and reputation.

Ah yes, I wouldn't go back in time 10 years and buy a Ford either...and I wouldn't buy a Toyota today..wonder which one is more of a concern? Not sure what your point is comparing now to a decade ago

And WTF are you talking about, I "would love to see Toyota bankrupt"? Make that up much? I never said anything like that and in fact that is entirely up to the consumer. What I find odd is the protection of foreign entities and the dismantling of domestic ones..but that is just me...as you can see, I don't own a Toyota so I don't think they really care about my opinion on their cars.

__________________

An unwavering defender of those I see worth protecting.

"promote the general welfare, not provide the general welfare"

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Just saw on the news that Toyota isn't the only ones having a problem. Apparently there is an issue w/ Hyundai's and their door latch, enough that it's also causing stocks to drop. Where is the news when we need to throw BMW under the bus for the issues we have sometimes Seems killing people and/or stocks plummeting is the only way to get these companies attention nowadays.

__________________

Considering that Toyota between 2000-2009 has sold over 4.2M cars in the US, 34 people dying in the same period is not even a statistic (.000008%).

__________________

An unwavering defender of those I see worth protecting.

"promote the general welfare, not provide the general welfare"

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.