The Trouble With Toyotas

If you follow me on Facebook, you know that yesterday I wrote a humorous status update that said I was driving to work behind a Camry and in front of a Corolla. Both of these cars are manufactured by Japanese carmaker, Toyota. If you haven't been under a rock for the past few weeks you know that they have been having more than a little bit of a problem with the acceleration pedel on their most recent models.

Now, I drive a Japanese car myself (2008 Nissan Maxima) and who knows... they may not have a similar problem one day. The thing is, I was in traffic stuck between two Toyotas that looked like they were recently manufactured and well, you know how your mind gets to wandering and you get to thinking thoughts? The truth is stranger than fiction. While I may or may not have been in any danger, the way Toyota handled the problem is very, very scary. It began in August of last year...

The 911 call came at 6:35 p.m. on August 28, 2009 from a car that was speeding out of control on California Highway 125 near San Diego. The caller, a male voice, was panic-stricken: “We’re in a Lexus... we’re going north on 125 and our accelerator is stuck! We’re in trouble... there’s no brakes! We’re approaching the intersection! Hold on! Hold on and pray! Pray! Aggghhhhhhhhh...” and the call ended with the sound of a crash.

The Lexus ES 350 sedan, made by Toyota, had hit a sport utility vehicle, careened through a fence, rolled over, and burst into flames. All four people inside were killed: The driver, Mark Saylor, an off-duty California Highway Patrol officer; his wife, daughter, and brother-in-law. It was the tragedy that forced Toyota, which had received more than 2,000 complaints of unintended acceleration, to step up its own inquiry, after going through multiple government investigations since 2002.

Yet, only last week did the company finally appear to come to terms with the scope of the problem, after expanding a series of recalls to cover millions of vehicles around the world, incalculable damage to its once-stellar reputation for quality and calls for Congressional hearings. With prodding from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Toyota halted production and sales of eight models, including its top-selling Camry sedan. And late last week, the government allowed the company to go ahead to try yet another new fix for its vehicles, which it is expected to be announced today.

At almost every step that led to its current predicament, Toyota underestimated the severity of the sudden-acceleration problem affecting its most popular cars. It went from discounting early reports of problems to overconfidently announcing diagnoses and insufficient fixes.

Toyota’s safety problems may prove to be a hard lesson for the N.H.T.S.A., as well. Six separate investigations were conducted by the agency into consumer complaints of unintended acceleration and none of them found defects in Toyotas other than unsecured floor mats. In at least three cases, the agency denied petitions for further investigative action because it did not see a pattern of defects and because of a “need to allocate and prioritize N.H.T.S.A.’s limited resources” elsewhere, according to agency documents.

If that doesn't frighten you, I don't know what will. From reading this, I guess you all understand why I was just a little bit concerned about driving in front of and behind two cars that could have been included in the recall. Actually, I kid... I wasn't really concerned. But, I can't in all honesty say that thoughts didn't come to my mind about the possibilities...