by ilene - January 27th, 2010 4:51 pm
Timothy warned me about Toyotas several months ago, and this is his previous article with updates in the comments at the very end – scroll down. See also my previous article, M-m-m-my Toyota - featuring my first attempt at song writing, for my car of all things (thankfully not on the recall list!!). It goes to the tune of My Sharona. (Okay, I had some time on my hands.)
Timothy was subject to one of my interviews back in October, in case you missed it. - Ilene
Courtesy of Timothy D. Naegele[1]
All Toyota-produced vehicles sold in the U.S. today—including Toyota cars and trucks, and Lexus automobiles—are unsafe. It will take years before new models roll off the company’s assembly lines that are completely safe. Also, millions of Toyota vehicles are on American roads already that are unsafe to drive. Any recent-vintage Toyota product, model years 2002[2] and later, potentially can turn into a runaway vehicle at a moment’s notice. Driving one or being a passenger is like playing Russian roulette. Query whether Americans, especially young families with small children, will trust their lives to Toyota?
Tragically and irresponsibly, the company has lied for years and it is lying now. First, Toyota claimed it was a floor mat problem. Next, the problems were related to the accelerator pedal[3]; and on and on the company’s lies go. Toyota has had 10 years to investigate these issues, and determine and implement solutions, but its management has lied repeatedly and it is still doing it. The runaway vehicle safety problems, which are confronting the giant automaker, are of a magnitude equal to or greater than those that brought down the storied Firestone tire brand, and the same thing may happen to Toyota. Every American needs to read about runaway Toyota-produced vehicles. The facts are sobering.

After the sudden-acceleration problems surfaced in Toyota and Lexus vehicles, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said “more motorists have died in Toyota vehicles associated with sudden acceleration in the last decade than in cars made by all other manufacturers combined.”[4] Consumer advocate Ralph Nader’s trail-blazing and Herculean efforts helped launch the automobile safety movement. His speeches and writings on behalf of Americans (see, e.g., “Unsafe at Any Speed”) helped expose
…

Tags: acceleration, accelerator, accelerator pedal, auto safety, auto safety defects, automaker, automobile safety, cover-up, death, die, Firestone, Firestone tire, Firestone tire brand, floor mat, floor mat problem, giant automaker, government, Ken Bensinger, LA Times, Lexus, Lexus cars, Lexus vehicles, lie, lied, lies, Los Angeles Times, lying, Martin Zimmerman, massive cover-up, media, model year 2002, model year 2003, model year 2004, model year 2005, model year 2006, model year 2007, model year 2008, model year 2009, model year 2010, model year 2011, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, NHTSA, passenger, Ralph Nader, Ralph Vartabedian, runaway, runaway car, runaway car safety problem, runaway safety problems, runaway truck, runaway vehicle, runaway vehicle safety problems, sudden acceleration, Times, Times Investigation, Toyota, Toyota cars, Toyota trucks, Toyota vehicle, Toyota vehicles, Toyota-produced vehicles, unsafe, Unsafe at Any Speed, unsafe cars, unsafe trucks
Posted in Phil's Favorites | 1 Comment »
by ilene - January 5th, 2010 2:59 am
If you missed my recent interview with the outspoken D.C. attorney Timothy Naegele, it’s here. – Ilene
Courtesy of Timothy D. Naegele[1]
All Toyota-produced vehicles sold in the U.S. today—including Toyota cars and trucks, and Lexus automobiles—are unsafe. It will take years before new models roll off the company’s assembly lines that are completely safe. Also, millions of Toyota vehicles are on American roads already that are unsafe to drive. Any recent-vintage Toyota product, model years 2002[2] and later, potentially can turn into a runaway vehicle at a moment’s notice. Driving one or being a passenger is like playing Russian roulette. Query whether Americans, especially young families with small children, will trust their lives to Toyota?
Tragically and irresponsibly, the company has lied for years and it is lying now. First, Toyota claimed it was a floor mat problem. Next, the problems were related to the accelerator pedal[3]; and on and on the company’s lies go. Toyota has had 10 years to investigate these issues, and determine and implement solutions, but its management has lied repeatedly and it is still doing it. The runaway vehicle safety problems, which are confronting the giant automaker, are of a magnitude equal to or greater than those that brought down the storied Firestone tire brand, and the same thing may happen to Toyota. Every American needs to read about runaway Toyota-produced vehicles. The facts are sobering.
After the sudden-acceleration problems surfaced in Toyota and Lexus vehicles, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said “more motorists have died in Toyota vehicles associated with sudden acceleration in the last decade than in cars made by all other manufacturers combined.”[4] Consumer advocate Ralph Nader’s trail-blazing and Herculean efforts helped launch the automobile safety movement. His speeches and writings on behalf of Americans (see, e.g., “Unsafe at Any Speed”) helped expose and remedy auto safety defects. Today he believes: “[The NHTSA] is a broken agency that has to be rebuilt.”[5]
The Los Angeles Times’ fine investigative reporters have been shining light into the dark recesses of Toyota—notwithstanding the company’s massive cover-up that has spanned a decade so far.[6] Rather than attempt to distill the wisdom contained in the Times’ articles, the links to the most recent ones are set forth below. I encourage you to read them carefully now and in the future, especially if you are…

Tags: acceleration, accelerator, accelerator pedal, auto safety, auto safety defects, automaker, automobile safety, cover-up, Firestone tire, floor mat, floor mat problem, government, Ken Bensinger, LA Times, Lexus, Los Angeles Times, media, NHTSA, Ralph Nader, runaway car, sudden acceleration, Times, Times Investigation, Toyota, Toyota cars, Toyota trucks, unsafe, Unsafe at Any Speed, unsafe cars, unsafe trucks
Posted in Phil's Favorites | 1 Comment »
by ilene - September 17th, 2009 12:46 am
Courtesy of Karl Denninger at The Market Ticker
"I told you so"
Sept. 16 (Bloomberg) — Chrysler Group LLC, the U.S. automaker run by Fiat SpA, said nationwide industry sales are off 19 percent so far this month after a government purchase- incentive program ended.
“We are going to see harsh reality in September,” Sergio Marchionne, the chief executive officer of Fiat and Chrysler, said at the Frankfurt Motor Show. He described the U.S. industry results as a “disaster.” Fritz Henderson, CEO of General Motors Co., said the market is “very weak” this month.
Disaster eh?
But but but I thought all those "cash for clunkers" buyers were people who wouldn’t have bought a car otherwise?
Looks like that was a load of BS out of the administration…. just like all the other so-called "stimulus" programs.
Just another example of pulling forward demand, which works exactly once per application, but then leaves a gaping, sucking hole where demand would have been in the subsequent months.
PS: Expect them to try some sort of BS similar with the expiring "Home Clunker" $8,000 rebate program that is ending in a couple of months. The two problems with it are the same as the problems here – the consumer is tapped out and can’t afford to buy (witness the FHA default rates in excess of 20%!) and those who DO buy anyway find themselves in a financial position they cannot really afford and didn’t think through.
In addition you further drain the demand pool and thus when the "stimulus" ends (and all must eventually end) you find yourself with no real buyers left!
All this faux "demand" being generated by the so-called "stimulus" is just doing more damage to the economy – damage that is accruing and will come to the surface with devastating effect.
Tags: automaker, cash for clunkers, Chrysler Group, stimulus program, weak demand
Posted in Phil's Favorites | No Comments »