Toyota Wants Apology from ABC News

If Toyota spent half as much time investigating the flawed engineering and safety of their cars as they do to discredit their loyal customers and media, perhaps they would come up with some solutions. A few years ago my girlfriend's Camry went out of control, spun off the road, cartwheeled down an embankment into several trees landing on its side. She was spared only by the grace of God. However, she too was brainwashed about the safety of Toyota vehicles and bought another Camry. How many of these events went unreported? Compare any other manufacturer's mid-size model of the same year against the Toyota Camry for engine runaway on the NHTSA website; 2006 Toyota Camry: 45 reported engine runaways, 2006 Ford Fusion reported engine runaways: 0. Nuff said.

I am a loyal Toyota owner and have owned them throughout my lifetime. Never once have I experienced any problems with a Toyota. I do however take my vehicles to an Authorized dealer as recommended by Toyota for periodic maintenance. I live near Goergetown, Kentucky home to one of Toyota's largest USA manufacturing faciliites and personally know many production line people.
I must tell you that these guys are the best and manufacture first class vehicles.
I will never buy a Ford of GM car due to their poor value retention and poor designs.
I asked for and I got it "TOYOTA"

WAKE UP and smell the brakes..Buy an american car..The
country you save may be your own. As for ABC making
toyota look bad..Toyota's PR dept. is in charge of that ..
Oh what a feeling..not stopping is.

It seems that there's a good story here to write about. The two articles below show the level at which our government gets involved relating to health and safety issues, especially between Pharmaceutical companies and foreign Auto makers. And it appears that the media outlets start the fire but is careful whom they attack.

It is my opinion that, maybe, our government is somehow attacking Toyota in an effort to recoup it's losses on the "Cash for Clunkers" deal; that most of the money went to financing foreign autos - the largest being Toyota.

Anyway, I find it interesting to know that, in one article, there were only about 130 reported cases of brake problems here in the US. The other article describes how there were approximately 83,000 heart attack related to the drug Avandia before a hearing into the matter by the Senate committee. But the FDA says it's OK for the drug to stay on the market.

"• FDA scientists estimated in July 2007 that Avandia was associated with approximately 83,000 heart attacks since the drug came to market."
http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/02/20/avandia.study/index.html

Yet,

"The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received 124 reports from drivers about the issue, including four of crashes."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8497471.stm

Then in a recent late breaking news article about how a Prius accelerated on the fwy and a hwy patrol car was called in to pull in front of the car a slow it down, only later to discover that the guy concocted the scheme altogether.

However, more people are at risk of dying from Avandia with no recall is in sight. God forbid the person dies of a heart attack while driving their Toyota, they'll probably blame it on Toyota for sure.

It isn't even cool to be seen in a Toyota these days. Every time I see a Corolla driving down the highway I have to laugh. To think the owner paid a premium on that vehicle to put his fellow American out of work. Not only does it shows lack of intelligence on the owners part because they went out of their way to purchase a vehicle that has dangerous light and vague steering. Some of these people blindly followed the biased Consumer Reports magazine assuming they wouldn't recommend a vehicle that is extremely difficult to keep in the lane on the highway. Consumer Reports could use a leader like Alan Mulally (Ford CEO) to shake some heads at the poorly run biased Consumer Reports magazine.

Should Consumer Reports customers been turned off had they read CRs review on the Corolla. On the contrary, CR states the following about the Corolla: Overall Rating 72=Very Good, CR’s owner (cult) satisfaction=74=Very Good The review states: “Corolla is a good small sedan” “Handling is sound and secure” “pleasant and refined Corolla” “Corolla is one of the best riding small cars” “The steering is a bit light and rather vague on center” “Corolla was secure at its handling limits thanks to its optional ESC, but it posted just a modest speed in our avoidance maneuver”
To say CR didn’t adequately describe the Corolla’s vague steering is a huge understatement. I have been after the biased Consumer Reports for years now for recommending (and top rating) the poorest handling vehicles on the road (Toyota/Lexus brand). Consumer Reports, a supposed authority on vehicle testing and reviews sold their customers down the River to play into the perception game. Selling magazines is job #1 @ CR. Who in their right minds would recommend a vehicle to a friend or family member that has really vague steering??? Just read some of the online complaints. The Corolla wanders and many drivers overcompensate (dangerously) when trying to correct. Furthermore, I personally drove both a 2009 Corolla and a 2010 Focus (CR vehicle rating only 65). The Focus was a fairly well composed vehicle with a good on center feel, adequate feedback and fine tracking abilities; Again, Consumer Reports has no business recommending vehicles like the Corolla to their customers even if it is the biased CR’s GEM Toyota brand. CR derives the overall vehicle test score out of thin air. The test plan allows and encourages data manipulation amongst the staffers because the data behind the final score is not shown (results and weight of each individual test). Was the Focus rated 9 points below the Corolla because it was noisy? CRs final test score in the Focus/Corolla comparison also suggest CR is not applying common sense in deriving the number. CR’s testers get away with manipulation because high level management at CR has been complacent for many years.. The testing, scoring and report format has not changed in and is hardly adequate. Toyota had to tell CR their vehicles were not safe before CR stopped recommending them. Toyota’s safety woes have been public knowledge for years now. I find CRs reporting of the Toyota’s woes a little arrogant? This is a magazine that ignored all of Toyota’s safety issues for years to comply with the perception of their customer base and now that the cat is out of the bag, they are citing Toyota for poor quality and mistakes. Is this what CRs forefathers had in mind? Why isn’t CR apologizing to their customer base for preposterous recommendations? Why isn’t somebody at a high level taking charge and reorganizing? In the end I hope CR suffers financially for the out of control, hap hazard, poor quality work being done by their auto department?
As far as the Prius goes, a newscaster on CNN was able to reproduce the brake issue over and over on her Prius on camera. All she had to do is apply the brakes while going over a bumpy road @ 35mph. CR should get her to run the auto test department