Tags: Toyota Hysteria, Media Hype, LaHood Trans Sec Incompetence, Audi Example, Logic Over Hysteria, 60 Minutes Distortion of Audi Acceleration. Media Piles On
A driver, Michael Fumento, and his wife, who was seriously injured in an accident in an older Toyota which had a oversteer problem, was settled out of court. Does that mean they would never buy another Toyota again? Logic prevailed and he and his wife keeps buying Toyotas because it is the best car with a marvelous safety record. I rearranged his opinion article in the Los Angeles Times (Mar 9, 2010) and excerpted it to clarify the points he wanted to convey.
The fake acceleration problems about the Audi based on almost no evidence, practically drove Audi out of business. We Americans are too prone to hysteria while Canadians and Japanese with Audis having hardly a complaint! We are also very prone to committing fraud as the financial crisis showed that the Best & Brightest are not exempt. Many times the drivers are pushing on the accelerator rather than the brake.
Excerpts of Article in LA Times by Michael Fumento: ... Every accidental death is a tragedy. But the imagery of Toyotas running amok like something out of a Stephen King novel is simply false. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration frequently receives "speed control" complaints; a recent New York Times analysis found the agency received almost 13,000 over the last decade.
Yes, that analysis found that Toyota had the second most complaints and by far the most incidents connected to crashes -- even before publicity sent the number soaring. This and other sources seem to indicate that Toyota has an exceptional problem. But when compared with the vast number of cars Toyota sells, the current reaction is wholly out of proportion.
Sudden acceleration in Toyotas over the last decade has been linked with -- which doesn't mean "caused" -- 52 deaths, according to NHTSA. It was just 19 before the current publicity. A Los Angeles Times investigation brought it up to 56, including those culled from lawsuits. Whatever the count and cause, that's too many. But it's also out of 20 million Toyotas sold, and out of the 420,000 Americans NHTSA says died in motor vehicle accidents that decade.
And although Toyota had almost 17% of total U.S. car sales in 2008, it accounted for merely 8% of total claims for deaths and injuries in the first quarter of that year, according to NHTSA. Edmunds.com found that while Toyota was third in U.S. car sales from 2001 through 2010, it was 17th in NHTSA complaints. Thus, even if every sudden-acceleration complaint proved valid, Toyotas are among the safest cars made. Consider the Audi sudden-acceleration hysteria of two decades ago. In 1986, Kristi Bradosky, while driving an Audi 5000, ran over and killed her young son. "60 Minutes" aired a misleading segment depicting a runaway Audi -- without disclosing that the car had been re-engineered to respond that way. Nor did it mention that Bradosky had told police that her foot had slipped off the brake onto the accelerator. ...
The rest of the media piled on, and a tsunami of Audi acceleration complaints linked to accidents swamped NHTSA -- about 40 times more per vehicles sold than those against Toyota, according to the New York Times analysis and the Center for Auto Safety. Yet investigations in Canada and Japan found no mechanical problems, and a NHTSA investigation declared the problem was "pedal misapplication," though adding that the pedals must have been poorly placed.
While Audi was a niche carmaker, Toyota is the world's second-largest producer, and for good reason. Despite getting bad press last year, it came out as far and away the top-quality automaker, according to Consumer Reports' Yet investigations in Canada and Japan found no mechanical problems, and a NHTSA investigation declared the problem was "pedal misapplication," though adding that the pedals must have been poorly placed. ... http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-fumento9-2010mar09,0,3126393.story
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