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100 Million Reasons Why Toyota Doesn't Care About Your Safety
If you read this blog regularly you may remember a quote from the editor of Automobile Magazine, Jean Jennings, accusing Toyota of arrogance and not quite knowing the scope of the problems they face.
Guess what? She was right!
Today it was released that in a presentation that was supposedly confidential in July 2009, the accelerator problems were legislative regulatory “wins” for them. Toyota estimated that that it saved $100 million by negotiating with regulators for a “limited recall” regarding their accelerator issues in many Toyota products. The presentation was among thousands of pages of documents provided as a result of subpoenas by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. That is one of three panels holding hearings in the next two weeks on Toyota’s safety problems.
Toyota Spends Millions on PR but the Ads are Just More Blatant Deception
Toyota prayed to the god of the news cycle that a story could come that would take them out of the news. The god responded with a Haitian earthquake. Nothing. Tiger Woods sex scandal. Nada. The Olympics chock full with American dominance and deathly luge tracks. And Toyota still captures headlines. Can they catch a break? Who cares, they don’t deserve a break.
Toyota has a huge PR campaign going on including a television commercial dripping with fake sincerity, claims of rapid response, and good ‘ol raw kneed groveling. The commercial shows guys in greasy overalls and plastic goggles vigorously cranking some part that none of us remember from auto-shop class in high school. The commercial also shows guys in white robes pointing to a white board and calling it “rigorous testing”.
Here’s the problem, they say that they are fixing the problems by fixing up to 50,000 vehicles a day. Where did all of those replacement parts come from? Because the maker of the previously defective parts, CTS, certainly couldn’t have produced that many since the recall started. Plus, do you really want the part manufacturer that caused this whole fiasco making the new replacement parts on the quick? My life is more valuable than that.
On top of that, as reported earlier by the Phillips Webster blog, Toyota says that they hired Exponent, an engineering firm that tested select models for accelerator problems only and, low and behold, they didn’t find any problems. So what “vigorously tested” problems are they supposedly fixing as result of tests that yields no data? Answer: zero.
PR Costs the Consumers: At the Least, Their Money, At the Most, Their Lives
As Jean Jennings said, they don’t understand the scope of these problems. And just like they did initially about the accelerator problems to save themselves $100 million dollars, they arrogantly cut corners and did the least they could to protect you, the customer. Are they are doing all they can now?
The likelihood is very low, because which do you think they are most concerned about crashing, you or their stock? You are a single wreck. They may not know the scope of the recall or their problems as a whole, but they definitely know the scope of your safety as an individual and it is very, very, very small.
Let’s reign in the cost to the consumer at the base level here. If you try to sell your car, the recall is going to be on the carfax and what impact do you think that’s going to have on the resale value. The consumer has already lost hundreds of dollars regardless.
Toyota Answers to Those It Donates Lots of Money
Toyota’s chief executive, Akio Toyoda, is scheduled to testify before the oversight panel on Wednesday. The House Energy and Commerce Committee begins the round of hearings on Tuesday. A Senate committee will meet on Toyota next week.
Today, Toyota reported that it faced two additional investigations related to the acceleration and braking problems that caused recall of 8 million cars. According to a report by Reuters, Toyota has received a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) request and a federal grand jury subpoena for documents containing any accounts of acceleration problems.
Toyota and the parts manufacturers associated with the recall received a subpoena from the attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York on Feb. 8, Reuters reported, citing a statement by the company. The S.E.C. request was made on Feb. 19 to voluntarily submit certain documents from the Los Angeles office of the agency. The American unit Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. separately received a subpoena for related documents, including about the company’s disclosure policies.
Toyota’s Punishment: Less Justice and More Like a Dentist Appointment sans Lollipop
All of these panels, committees, and subpoenas are looking for prior knowledge. If it is determined that Toyota had prior knowledge of the problems, that could open them up to countless lawsuits above what they are also facing, plus there may be arrests, heavy handed restrictions, and consumer scrutiny.
What would really happen is that Toyota could throw chunks of the $23 billion in liquidity into the campaigns of the panel members. Then the politicians would look “hard nosed” and Toyota would walk away to resume business. Of course, the manufacturing companies are going to throw themselves under the legislative bus, because if they don’t, Toyota and the rest of the car industry will turn their backs on them. If the automotive industry is nothing, it is notoriously incestuous.
In the New York Times there was this quote today, “Unfortunately, this document is very telling,” Olivia Alair, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Department, said in a statement. “We’re going to hold Toyota’s feet to the fire and make sure they do what’s necessary.”
The old saying goes, “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.” The smoke must be bellowing from Olivia Alair, because there is no fire under the feet of Toyota. Fire is monetary and regulatory and there will be none. We’ll see whose going to be right. (Note: I am.)
Toyota Says We Shouldn’t Listen to What they Said, but What They Say
In the now notorious document, Toyota said it “negotiated an equipment recall” without a finding of a defect. What it didn’t say was how, when, or whether it actually tested for a defect. Regardless, the negotiation ended up saving the company $100 million. Rather than be required to fix the cars, Toyota recalled 55,000 all-weather floor mats, sold as optional equipment. Apparently these mats could become lodged under the accelerator pedal. It turned out to be the pedal itself.
Toyota also said it had avoided an investigation into the Tacoma Pickup because the undercarriage could rust out. Toyota offered to repair or, in some cases, replace damaged Tacomas built from 1995 to 2004. That covers all Tacomas sold, not a small problem. The undercarriage holds in things like the load in the bed, engine, and the driver as they drive 60 mph on the freeway. Toyota also said it had saved millions of dollars by delaying federal safety rules affecting other models. That’s a lot less concern than they show on their commercial. Hmm.
In a statement Sunday night, Toyota did not specifically address the savings mentioned in the document. “Our first priority is the safety of our customers, and to conclude otherwise on the basis of one internal presentation is wrong,” the company said.
They’re not the same company they were in July obviously. By the way, there have been no reports of anyone being fired as a result of the recall. So, they’re just all changed people? Not likely. If you or a loved one own a Toyota and feel as if Toyota’s problems effect you personally, call Phillips Webster for a consultation on your legal options.
