And Now: Prius-Gate!

On March 4 we posted that it seemed very strange that all you heard about was "bad" Toyota's and nothing positive about "good" Toyotas despite the number of good ones had to vastly outnumber any bad ones. See it here.

Further to the point, some of the stories that drivers of "bad" Toyotas were telling just didn't make engineering sense to us. So, what do we find out today? Read on.

Remember the "balloon boy" hoax? Well now it appears we have a Toyota Prius hoax. After the dramatic 911 calls and video footage of a Prius out of control, we learn here that Toyota technicians and the NHTSA have not been able to duplicate the "terrifying" experience of James Sikes, the California owner.

In particular, "During two hours of test drives of Sikes' car Thursday, technicians failed to duplicate the same experience that Sikes described, according to the memo prepared for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform."

"Every time the technician placed the gas pedal to the floor and the brake pedal to the floor the engine shut off and the car immediately started to slow down," the memo said.

Toyota Drivers: "They still aren't fixed!!"

Is the Toyota Camry a virtual death-trap automobile? Remember when Ralph Nadar's expose "Unsafe at Any Speed" killed the Chevy Corvair, one of the most innovative cars put out by Detroit? You never heard about the hundreds of thousands of HAPPY Corvair owners (I was one!).

Well here we are again with Toyota and the Camry. Why with all the news coverage on these things you would think they are virtual death-mobiles, stalking to kill innocent people. Again, you never hear from anyone happy with the things. Well, here, on this blog, you will hear it first. A HAPPY CAMRY DRIVER!!!!

I drive a 2007 Camry for business. I have about 88,000 miles on it. I haven't taken it to the dealer for any recall fixes. It has been flawless. It is a pleasure to drive, lots of power, and just works great. Early on I noticed the driver's floor mat tends to slide up under the pedals. Did that scare me? No. I just readjust it every time I get in to drive. See, that is personal responsibility. I didn't wait for Toyota to fix it. I didn't wait for Obama to tell me about a government program to fix it. I FIXED THE DAMN THING MYSELF.

Grow up Americans and quit your damn crying and whining. You make me sick!

Toyota and the Price of Modernity

This thoughtful piece by Charles Krauthammer over on National Review Online really misses an important point about the Toyota failures.

Krauthammer talks about the difference between one car that might be a lemon versus a systemic defect that might be present in all of the cars produced at a certain period of time. He goes on to discuss the risk to society and how we have to deal with it.

But the other points he misses are these:

1. Toyota sells 3 million Camerys to people whom they have no control over. Do they know how to drive? Maintain the car?

2. Every one of the thousands of parts in the car have a tolerance for failure. Most failures are minor, but every once in a while a failure can be catastrophic.

3. Out of those 3 million cars maybe its one hundred or so that have really failed. But maybe several hundred accidents mimic the failures due to the drivers?

If Toyota has not been diligent about solving safety problems, shame on them and hopefully justice for the victims. But failures in and of themselves should not be an indictment of the company.