Filed under: Safety, Toyota
Toyota conspiracy theorists have it wrong
We're becoming a nation of conspiracy addicts. It's not just the shots fired at the Kennedy motorcade from the grassy knoll in Dallas. These days it seems just about everything is up for some wide-eyed explanation, often pointing to some wicked government department or another. Even the
Toyota safety scandal.
As a long-time NPR correspondent and commentator, I have spent a lot of time in recent months on the network's chat shows fielding questions about the sudden acceleration phenomenon and the safety of Toyota vehicles. Like clockwork, at least one listener per show will confide the "fact" that the crisis is really a concoction of federal bureaucrats trying to protect
Chrysler and
General Motors - the Treasury now owning a 61% stake in the latter maker.
That might make for good talk radio fodder, but even if the president himself were hoping to see Toyota stumble, the real facts are these: The Japanese maker's problems with runaway cars dates back long before Washington was asked to bail out Detroit; and as
newly-uncovered internal documents reveal, Toyota knew it had a problem and went out of its way to hide that fact as long as possible.
If you aren't convinced by we media scribes, how about taking the word of Irv Miller, the recently-retired head of public relations for Toyota here in the U.S. Towering over the mere mortals of the automotive press corps, Miller seldom missed an opportunity to speak the company's praises - and call out an errant journalist who might have taken an inappropriate shot at the automaker.
It's quite obvious Toyota has engaged in questionable, very likely even illegal actions...
To his credit, Miller was equally stern on keeping the story straight behind the scenes, as becomes apparent when you read the e-mails he sent to his Japanese counterparts demanding that they
"come clean" on the worsening sudden acceleration mess. The most damning document was sent by Miller to Katsuhiko Koganei on January 16, 2010, in which he used capital letters - the web world's way of shouting - to underscore his concerns.
"WE HAVE a tendency for MECHANICAL failure in accelerator pedals of a certain manufacturer on certain models," wrote Miller, just weeks before his retirement. "The time to hide on this one is over," he concluded.
What triggered his wrath? Well, let's go back and look at the chronology to understand.
Follow the jump to read more.
Paul A. Eisenstein is Publisher of TheDetroitBureau.com, and a 30-year veteran of the automotive beat. His editorials bring his unique perspective and deep understanding of the auto world to Autoblog readers on a regular basis.
Continue reading TheDetroitBureau.com on Autoblog with Paul Eisenstein
TheDetroitBureau.com on Autoblog with Paul Eisenstein originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 12 Apr 2010 16:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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13-04-2010, 12:20 AM
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