It has been my duty as an auto journalist to closely follow the Toyota Saga, but I must admit that although interesting at times, I have simply tuned out, well almost.
We are obsessed, here in North America, with bashing on the Big Targets. I seem to recall that Ford could do no good 10 and 15 years ago with countless recalls and rollovers. Then came GM and all that came with GM: crap cars, bad management, crap cars and whatnot. Now, it's Toyota's turn.
Fine, they may not have been completely upfront about what they knew was really going on with the accelerator pedals, and the brakes and whatever else may follow. But then again, who has ever been completely honest, even when it pertains to safety and people's lives?
Now that, dare I assume, everything is out in the open, can we just get on with it? Pipe dream... People want their 15 minutes and want to be in the spotlight. Now every expert will come forward and, at some point, manage to prove that if you come within 20 yards of a Corolla with a Bluetooth device, aliens will be able to melt your brains and impregnate your dog with little green men.
The latest claim was made by Dr. David Gilbert of Southern Illinois University, as part of his testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. His demonstration of alleged “unintended acceleration” in a Toyota Avalon was crushed by Dr. J. Christian Gerdes, associate professor of mechanical engineering at Stanford University and the director of the Center for Automotive Research at Stanford (CARS). I don't know who's telling the truth but with a title and position such as Dr. Gerdes', I have to go with Dr. Gerdes.
Unfortunately, we're all in it for the money so Toyota, with its big bags of cash, will continue to be a target for the foreseeable future. Some may say that those big bags of cash were “earned” at the expense of consumer's safety and that may very well be true.
One way or another, let's do remember that “Evil Toyota” employs about 35,000 people and will soon be opening its 11th assembly plant here in North America. So, let's not push too hard so that they need to close factories and lay off workers 'cause then, we really all loose.
We are obsessed, here in North America, with bashing on the Big Targets. I seem to recall that Ford could do no good 10 and 15 years ago with countless recalls and rollovers. Then came GM and all that came with GM: crap cars, bad management, crap cars and whatnot. Now, it's Toyota's turn.
Fine, they may not have been completely upfront about what they knew was really going on with the accelerator pedals, and the brakes and whatever else may follow. But then again, who has ever been completely honest, even when it pertains to safety and people's lives?
Now that, dare I assume, everything is out in the open, can we just get on with it? Pipe dream... People want their 15 minutes and want to be in the spotlight. Now every expert will come forward and, at some point, manage to prove that if you come within 20 yards of a Corolla with a Bluetooth device, aliens will be able to melt your brains and impregnate your dog with little green men.
The latest claim was made by Dr. David Gilbert of Southern Illinois University, as part of his testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. His demonstration of alleged “unintended acceleration” in a Toyota Avalon was crushed by Dr. J. Christian Gerdes, associate professor of mechanical engineering at Stanford University and the director of the Center for Automotive Research at Stanford (CARS). I don't know who's telling the truth but with a title and position such as Dr. Gerdes', I have to go with Dr. Gerdes.
Unfortunately, we're all in it for the money so Toyota, with its big bags of cash, will continue to be a target for the foreseeable future. Some may say that those big bags of cash were “earned” at the expense of consumer's safety and that may very well be true.
One way or another, let's do remember that “Evil Toyota” employs about 35,000 people and will soon be opening its 11th assembly plant here in North America. So, let's not push too hard so that they need to close factories and lay off workers 'cause then, we really all loose.