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andyps February 24, 2010 11:37 PM

I think it is very convenient for the American government to have two major Japanese brands getting negative publicity about issues of reliability through the Toyota and Honda recalls. It is surely just a coincidence that at a time when the US Government needs to build it's economy the media gets in a frenzy about something which could be beneficial to GM. Now, who is the majority shareholder in GM at present? No links, there couldn't be could there....

Rover P6 3500S February 25, 2010 1:41 AM

Don't blame Akio Toyoda. He's only just taken up the reins from his money-grabbing predecessors. Remember, Toyoda isn't your average CEO. I mean, how many CEOs are also pro racing drivers, and how many maintain blogs under pseudonyms where they are rude about their company's duller cars? Welcome to the world of Akio Toyoda, a true enthusiast. Mr Toyoda, I wish you all the best. Don't worry too much about the *** the press are slinging at you, it won't stick for long.

fliedlice February 25, 2010 6:17 AM

While it is true that Toyota has made some pretty grave mistakes of late, I agree that this so-called "hearing" is pure nonsense. The US government seems to be on a witch hunt just to boost the popularity of their own brands. Boosting GM and the like may improve their own economy and popularity with the masses.

For all we know GM may have had problems of similar nature before, but no one noticed because their cars are generally unreliable anyway.

andyps February 25, 2010 8:35 AM

Fliedlice, you don't need to qualify it with "for all we know" - it is true. One of the reports I read yesterday said about GM having more severe problems for longer time periods than the Toyota issue, but that it didn't get the publicity. I can't find it now unfortunately - a Google search does now come up with quite a lot of results!

misha1973 February 25, 2010 9:25 AM

Anybody still in doubt that this is a "kangaroo court", aiming to destroy GM's and Ford's biggest competitor, should read "A savage factory" by Robert Dewar.

If USA government and NHTSA had been so concerned with traffic safety at the beginning of '80s, about 16 million Ford cars would have been recalled for faulty transmissions (minor problems like transmission lock-up during driving, at any speed...).

But, they didn't want to bancrupt Ford....

GM was rubish as well...

Straff February 25, 2010 9:53 AM

You see, we're that hung up on fair play across here we can't see why they're doing this. It's known as patriotism; something that we've lost. If the British Government did more to support British industry instead of saying "no, after YOU" to every other country's exporters, we might be in a better position now. Scrappage Scheme - why not just send the money in a bag to Hyundai and Kia?

Straff February 25, 2010 9:57 AM

And another thing... Although I shook my head at the idiots scared of taking their cars out of the garage in case the brakes failed outside their kids schools.... the fact remains that these car had dangerous faults and Toyota SHOULD be b*llocked for it. The American manufacturers work to the same rules; they have recalls too but they've been crucified enough times to know to hold their hands up nowadays. Toyota tried to weasle their way out of doing anything, got caught and are now being bollocked. I'd rather have the humiliation than a billion dollar fine for negligence.

ordinary bloke February 25, 2010 10:01 AM

American politicians appear to have a long history of grandstanding with the use congressional/senate hearings to boost their own individual careers. Most of them are also effectively lobbyists for varoius industries or actual companies that are based in their own states or constituencies and receive financila support from those companies as well. It's no great surprise that they behave in this way, it's their opportunity to show off and appear to be more important than the people they are questioning, who are often the truly powerful. Mr Toyoda has bitten the bullet and made his appearance, uneccessarily in my view, and can now forget about these hearings and get on with his proper job. Alll this will soon be forgotten and Toyota will be back on an even keel very soon. I wish him and the company my best wishes.

MattDB February 25, 2010 11:22 AM

Talk about an american stitch up in humiliating the CEO of Toyota.  This whole recall fiasco has been hyper inflated by the tabloid press.  Where were the headlines about Honda Jazz window switches self combusting!

The poor chap who died in the states was unlucky as his car carreered into a lake, but as a trained traffic cop, he should have known how to handle a car and stop it, but somehow he found the time to make a phone call and ensure he had the evidence on tape.  Sounds like a potential compo claim that backfired to me.

Maybe Autocar should add some perspective to all of this and publish a league table from 2009 of all recalls.  You would be surprised how many simply get sorted out during routine servicing without customers taking much notice of it.

Just remember folks, if the throttle pedal gets stuck, select neutral and hit the brakes.  No one needs to die to build a case for compensation.  Maybe I have watched too many adverts for no win no fee lawyers!

andyps February 25, 2010 11:32 AM

Ordinary bloke, you are spot on. I couldn't believe the arrogance of Congressman John Duncan of Tennessee who said that Toyota should have a couple of Americans on their Japanese board. I am sure Toyota would really appreciate advice from the people who sent GM and Chrysler into Chapter 11.

Lee23404 February 25, 2010 1:28 PM

MattDB - The guy who died didn't " have time to make a call" one of his passengers did. He was busy trying to save the lives of his family.

Toyota have some serious questions to answer but this congressional committe is a joke.

coolboy February 25, 2010 2:15 PM

well, I should say that I consider US "the land of the idiots", this is my personal opinion.

that said, folowing this path, when Toyota (and all Japanese companies) elected US their preferred market, they should have been a little wise, soon or later it will back-fire on their hands.

Then comes Toyota with their non-sense aproach of being the nr 1 carmaker. For the ones that do not hide that are better copying and improve (by their way) run too much fast means thet when you will take the lead, there`s nothing in from of you... so you do not have nothing nor anithing to emulate and excel... this seems to me common sense.

Top on that the brilliant ideia of claiming that your stuff never broke/never fail, can keep going and going...

when some minor thing get broken, it`s the Big-Bag, a new era has come!

By the way, IMHO too I consider Mr Akio a little too much, kind of kid, not to take seriouslly:

If you want to excel and give the example you do not spend your time and mony bringing "environmently friendly vehicles - hybrids that reject few Co2 and then throw huges amounts of Sh**t (IS-F & LF-A)!!

what`s the point of that???????????

reduce C02 emissions in their Lexus fleet?

By the way, it put me sick just to hear that Mr Akio claimed that he feel deeply all this situation because every single car displays is name...

no they do NOT!

TOYODA is his name, the cars are named TOYOTA

what the hell! he do not know read?

This is not what officialy TOYOTA tells about the way their cars appeared in the market with the designation TOYOTA.

I fear that soon than later the Japanese will start claiming that Pearl Harbour... what`s Pearl Harbour, that is what? it exists/existed?

edeath February 25, 2010 3:42 PM

It might be useful 'coolboy' if you learn to spell and form sentences before haranguing the boss of Toyota about something I'm sure he knows quite a lot about - like if his family started the company or not.

I believe that this has gone way OTT. There was no need for him to be dragged over to the USA when the US head of Toyota was available.

theonlydt February 25, 2010 4:33 PM

"coolboy" - you may find the following link useful on the origins of the Toyota name:

news.bbc.co.uk/.../8534294.stm

Hubris February 25, 2010 5:46 PM

Televised Congressional hearings are designed to be theatre. That is their nature. Like it or not, this is a very effective way for Members of Congress to show the folks back home they are on the job. Whether these hearings generate good policy, legislation or good information is completely secondary. We can only hope that the electorate is not using these sound bites to make their voting decisions.

Peter De Lorenzo’s latest rant www.autoextremist.com encapsulates many of the issues that Toyota is facing. As he points out, Detroit’s Big Three had their own turn to be on stage last December

ordinary bloke February 25, 2010 10:27 PM

Coolboy - very amusing, even if incomprehensibly written. Can't say I agree with any of it but it would be nice if people who post on here take the trouble to write in some known form of English !

Fred Dagg February 25, 2010 11:23 PM

Give him a break guys he's a Japanese guy venting his spleen in English... can you vent yours in Japanese?

I think its interesting to hear what the Japanese make of all this, although coolboy is the only representative of that nation to offer his opinion so far.

fliedlice February 26, 2010 6:51 AM

andyps: I'm just trying to be a bit PC about it..

coolboy: No need to say "he do not know read" to Akio Toyoda, take a look at yourself first. If you want to bash others on their spelling/reading on an English forum, the least you can do is learn the language first.

Fred Dagg: No, I can't vent my spleen in Japanese. But then I do not try to vent my spleen in Japanese forums.

nitro61 February 26, 2010 11:09 PM

Now I know how conspiracy theories are made up. All of you postes are obviously lacking information on this subject.

I am a multi brand car dealer. We have our North American domestic brands and we also have Asian brands so I watch what happens in our market very closely.

Toyota's documented problems started over 3 years ago. Since January 2007 Toyota has recalled nearly 20 million vehicles in North America alone. That is more than GM, Ford & Chrysler has sold in that same time span.

Why has it taken so long for all of this to come out, you ask? Both Toyota & Honda have very infuential public relations teams in place to combat such things.

I have personally printed off dozens of recall anouncements for both Toyota & Honda ove the past few years only to see them removed from the media sites just a few hours later.

They are both know to threaten anyone with their all mighty advertising dollars if the publications doe not comply with their requests for the removal of the recalls in a timely fashion.

The questions that I have to ask are; What took so long to get all of these problems out to the mass public? How does the system help them hide these major recalls for such a long time?

Oh Yeah, I answered my own question earlier. It all comes down to the all might $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

nitro61 February 26, 2010 11:19 PM

In addition to my comment. Major North American insurance companys are on record with the US government complaining about various safety issues on Toyota vehicles since 2004. In fact the lastest safety issue on the gas pedal problem was known by the insurance companies as far back as 2004 as well.

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Schinbone February 27, 2010 9:20 PM

@ coolboy, you call us idiots?

Anyone that believes this is a conspiracy theory is crazy. You cannot get 1 politician to agree with himself let alone a gaggle (flock?) of them to agree to a conspiracy of this size.  This is being blown up because Toyota hid/lied/denied it for years. Now I'm not a flag waving buy only American products sort. Everyone is just angry because of the deceit. If it was GM covering this up, their ass would get the same. Believe it. Come to think of it, more than likely it would put them out of business.

As for Toyota, this will pass. Just like Microsoft getting bumrushed by the E.U., they will pay, make promises and move on.

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Schinbone February 27, 2010 9:31 PM

I did forget to say these hearings are all a bunch of crap. They know it we know it. I guess they just have to show they are "doing something". In this case doing something=nothing.

Scott B March 1, 2010 10:25 AM

Sorry to post a link, but here's an interesting piece by Bloomberg on the background to some of the "evidence" given.

www.businessweek.com/.../bw20100225_403524.htm

N.B. No advertising on Bloomberg.com

Wholigan March 1, 2010 12:42 PM

"Televised Congressional hearings are designed to be theatre. That is their nature."

www.theonion.com/.../filming_of_congressional_reality