Toyota Recalls 3.8M Sh*tboxes

[hhn]

The Nippon style of doing business has gone on since 1960 and maybe before. I had a cousin that was an American Corporate lawyer in their International division. In about 1965 he told me that the problem with doing business in Japan was their politeness. They told American business it could make what was requested and in many cases it was imposible to meet these contracts. As I recall in the 1970s "60 Minutes" did a story on how these big Nippon car companys built a network of suppliers - mostly mom and pop companies. There were so many that companies like Toyota would stick it to them to lower their prices when the contracts were re-newed. If this sounds like some other business - think about Sam Walton / walMart. Samo SAMO MO. "Bad money drives out good money" - Econ 101 !!!

[Singlefinger]

More BS & more info on Toyota's crappy cars:

Toyota Braces for Hostile Hearings in U.S.
An internal memo by U.S. executives of Toyota Motor Corp. brags that the company saved more than $100 million (€73 million) by limiting the scope of a recall over unexpected acceleration problems, according to multiple media reports in the U.S.

The memo also says Toyota saved at least $135 million (€99 million) more by delaying door lock and side airbag safety requirements, avoiding having a minivan hatch issue classified as a “defect” and stopping an investigation into premature rust in its small pickup trucks.

The disclosures are certain to intensify the already confrontational mood of U.S. Congressional committees that begin hearings tomorrow into Toyota’s safety record. Toyota President Akio Toyoda is scheduled to testify at one of the hearings on Wednesday.

The memo, which originated from Toyota’s Washington, D.C., office last July, said the company successfully limited the scope of a recall in 2007 over complaints about sudden acceleration in several Toyota models, according to the reports. Toyota says it coaxed the government to accept an “equipment” recall that involved replacing the floor mats in 55,000 cars “with no defect found.”

Toyota has since extended that recall to 5.4 million cars in the U.S. The expanded recall is not just to replace floor mats but to reconfigure the accelerator pedal and install brake override systems. Last month Toyota launched a second recall involving more than 3 million cars worldwide to replace a sticky accelerator pedal mechanism.

Toyota has since estimated the cost of the two recall campaigns at $2 billion (€1.5 billion).

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Toyota Chastised Ahead of Hearing…
The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee prefaced today’s hearings in a scathing letter to Toyota Motor Corp. and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The 11-page letter to Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc. President Jim Lentz faults the automaker for not adequately investigating the possibility that electronic defects could be responsible for reports of unintended acceleration. It also cites an internal Toyota document, obtained through subpoenas, that brags about the company saving more than $100 million by limiting a 2007 recall over accelerator problems to replacing the floor mats in 55,000 vehicles. Toyota has turned over more than 75,000 pages of records to Congress.

The letter charges that Toyota made misleading public statements about the recalls and relied on a questionable engineering report to support its position.

In mid-2004, NHTSA notified Toyota that it had received 400% more complaints related to vehicle acceleration for Camrys equipped with electronic throttle controls (ETCs) than those with manual linkages, although there were significantly fewer Camry’s with ETCs on the road.

The letter also cites “major flaws” in a Toyota-commissioned report by Menlo Park, Calif.-based engineering firm Exponent Inc. into the complaints. The report, based on an analysis of six Toyota and Lexus vehicles, concludes that electronic problems weren’t involved in the recent recalls. Outside engineers who analyzed the report say it doesn’t use scientific methodology. Critics also point out that Exponent has helped Toyota with several lawsuits in the past.

More trouble could be on the way for Toyota. The committee says 70% of consumer complaints about unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles involve models that haven’t been recalled yet.

Toyota has recalled about 8.5 million vehicles worldwide since September stemming from three large campaigns. Some 34 deaths have been linked to problems addressed by the recalls.

Toyota Motor Corp. continues to maintain that electronic throttle controls have not played any role in the recent recalls. In a 90-minute conference call with reporters on Monday, Toyota pointed out that its vehicles meet more stringent safety standards being implemented in the U.S. and Europe. The company also maintains that no credible evidence has been presented by anyone yet that electronic faults have caused acceleration problems in its cars.

Today’s grilling is only the beginning for Toyota. Another session called by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee convenes Wednesday and is scheduled to hear from Toyota President Akio Toyoda

The LYIN' MFers!!

[Singlefinger]

And don't forget the bumbling, incompetent @$$H*LE$ in our Goverment's watchdog agency:


…NHTSA Criticized Too

In an equally blunt letter to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee says the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration botched an investigation into 2,600 complains about unintended acceleration involving Toyota vehicles. The letter says the agency dismissed the issue with a single “cursory” review of the complaints.

The letter suggests NHTSA lacks electrical or software engineers capable of assessing potential electronic flaws. The agency says that isn’t true, claiming it has on-staff experts on electronic throttle control issues. NHTSA says it also consults with outside experts as necessary.

Over the past 30 years, NHTSA says it has conducted 141 investigations related to throttle control issues. The agency says it reviews more than 30,000 consumer complaints per year.

[hhn]

Its been reported that several recent grads of Toyoda Tech are taking advanced car crusher courses.
AND where is Ralph Nader when victims need him ? - - hangin out in a Tea House !!! Who is this
LaHood guy - someone from the French underworld that the Chicago Mob hired ???

[Larry]

Here's an email from Mark @ Weaverville Studios:

Taken by Scott here in MI. Toyota keeping the pedal to the metal whether you want to or not.

[Singlefinger]

Do we have a Smoking Gun here???


Professor Raises Questions About Possible Problem with Toyota’s ETC

David Gilbert, a professor of auto technology at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, says he has found a possible flaw in the electronic throttle control (ETC) used on Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles. Toyota has repeatedly denied any problems with the ETC in relation to its recent recalls, instead blaming floor mats and sticky accelerators for unintended acceleration.

Gilbert presented his results yesterday during the week’s opening round of Toyota-related Congressional hearings in Washington, D.C.

Gilbert says he began researching the problem on his own after hearing about Toyota’s initial recall last year. After contacting Sean Kane, who heads the consumer advocacy group Safety Research & Strategies, Gilbert began conducting tests of several Toyota vehicles.

Rep. Steve Buyer, R-Ind., raised questions about Safety Research & Strategies’ interest in the case. He notes that the firm has received funding from several law firms that are suing Toyota. Upon his questioning, it also was revealed that Gilbert has been paid a relatively modest $1,800 by Safety Research & Strategies and is on a $150 retainer to provide expert opinion.

Gilbert claims it took him about three and a half hours to discover he could introduce circuit malfunctions that were not detected by the ETC, bypassing the system’s low-power “limp home” mode and causing the electronic throttle valve to move to a wide-open position. He says the failure of circuits, sensors, wiring or actuators “in the absence of fail-safe strategies could potentially result in a runaway engine.”

Gilbert said he contacted Toyota and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to present his findings. He says Toyota didn’t reply for several days and has never fully reviewed the results with him.

Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. President Jim Lentz confirmed in testimony yesterday that Exponent Inc.—a California research firm the automaker hired to evaluate potential ETC problems—was able to partly duplicate Gilbert’s results, although it isn’t clear if the methodology is the same. Lentz suggests that Gilbert’s simulations imposed conditions that were unlikely to happen in the real world. Gilbert disagreed, saying it was much more difficult to trigger similar faults in vehicles made by other manufacturers.

[hhn]

Here is an introduction to Japanese laungage 101

Nippon = Japan
bacca jedoshia = crazy automobile
dinki = electricity (or)
denwa = electric talk (like in telephone)

Denwa is the same in Chinese meaning the
Japanese introduced electrical things into
China first.

How come with this much past history can
Toyoda do so much 'dinki' around with their
'bacca jedoshias' that were often engineered?
by the copy-cat economic method(s)

Toyoda's first cars were based on salvaged
tooling from the American Graham - its
been down hill since then !!! The Land
Cruisers had copied Chevy stove-bolt 6
power nearly 40 years ago.

Just maybe congress should make them buy
our engineering to help with the balance of
trade problems !

Makes one wonder if anyone at Harvard
Business School ever figured this out
Hmmmmmmmmm.

Even walMart won't market their 'bacca
jedoshias'

Who they kiddin ???

[Larry]

If our government doesn't crucify Toyota for this, then I'm moving to Canada.

From Autoblog & the Freep:

If you saved your company $1 million, you'd brag about it, right? How about $100 million? Certainly you'd be looking for a few pats on the back for such a massive sum of loot. A report in The Detroit Free Press reveals that Yoshimi Inaba, chairman and CEO of Toyota Motors Sales in the U.S., allegedly did such bragging back on July 6, 2010, but the topic was "Wins for Toyota" and the subject was safety.

The Freep obtained the internal presentation on Sunday as Toyota handed over thousands of documents to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in advance of its February 24 hearing. The over $100 million in savings was spread across nine points outlined by Inaba in the presentation, which outlined savings obtained by delaying safety regulations and avoiding investigations.

[hhn]

We FIXXIE

[KDB]

How about that...

March 5 (Bloomberg) -- More than 60 owners have complained of unintended acceleration in their Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles after dealer repairs under the automaker’s recalls, U.S. regulators said.

“We are determined to get to the bottom of this,” David Strickland, administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said in e-mailed statement yesterday. NHTSA had reported 10 such complaints a day earlier


And my favorite part of the article....
"Electronics Examined

The lawmakers asked Toyota to provide more information about tests it commissioned on whether the defect stemmed from an electronics glitch. Toyota has said a study found that the electronic throttle-control systems performed as designed. "


If the throttle control systems work as designed....?