Toyota recalls and related issues: BusinessWeek-Media owes Toyota an apology
02-28-10, 06:09 PM
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Toyota, Take Three - By Ed Wallace
Toyota, Take Three
Posted Friday, Feb. 26, 2010
By ED WALLACE
The media's still bringing us story after story about Toyota's recent woes, all involving complaints of unintended acceleration and/or the inability to stop an out-of-control car using the brake pedals. In military terms this situation has moved up to DEFCON 2 because -- brandishing thousands of complaints they say they got from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration database -- safety advocacy organizations and attorneys are now driving the discussion.
A little perspective: After dealing with them on the Ford Firestone media maelstrom almost a decade ago, the last people I would ever quote on a story are safety advocates.
Ten years ago NHTSA's database on Ford Firestone tires showed a total of 6,183 complaints. Safety advocates used that database and fed stories to the media on a daily basis, showing just how dangerous Firestone tires were on Ford Explorers. You heard every night on the news that one statistic, 6,183 complaints about Firestone tire separations, so you probably assumed that meant there were 6,183 accidents. Well, one of the complaints posted in that file was a gentleman who'd put more than 140,000 miles on his original Firestone Wilderness tires. He called NHTSA to complain that he wasn't getting a free set of replacement tires. His tires hadn't separated.
You may remember Firestone's admission that it had found a series of substandard tires made by its Decatur, Ill., factory. But, once the safety advocacy groups got hold of NHTSA's database, they found faulty tires being built virtually everywhere Firestone had a factory. Then they started feeding the media fatalities in vehicles -- including an animal death reported as a human, not to mention fatal accidents that never happened in real life.
Yes, they got that information from NHTSA's database -- but they never checked the database's accuracy.
That's a major oversight in a situation such as this. For what it's worth, it took me less than 45 minutes to discover that anyone using NHTSA's database for story research was unintentionally misinforming the public.
Unintentional Data Acceleration
NHTSA's database, a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, had 6,183 rows for individual complaints, and as I recall more than 20 column fields to hold information such as year, make, model, odometer miles and so on. As any Excel user will know, that made it virtually impossible to go line by line, column by column to find those cases so outrageous that they'd had to be fed to the media. But I knew a better way to read that data: Build a relational database, export the information into it. Then all of the pertinent data for a given accident would be on one easy-to-read page. And because it was a relational database, one could write automatic calculations into it and sort the cases, by any of the fields or by state.
However, any time you bring data into a new database, you have to check the field information to make sure it ported over correctly. This time it didn't, and here's why: NHTSA had made the most fundamental mistake in creating the database's sort command, and it in turn mixed up the data. Sometimes it created new "data": The media reported stories such as a Ford Expedition with only 800 miles on which the tire separated, the vehicle rolled and the occupants were killed, but that accident never happened -- except in NHTSA's database.
Dallas Channels 4 and 8 both covered that story the day I discovered it. After NHTSA was shown its mistake -- which they denied until I proved it to them -- they gave credit for the discovery to, you guessed it, one of their friends at an auto safety advocacy group. (It didn't matter. Tire Review magazine correctly credited the discovery of that flaw and why Firestone tires were really separating to my work.)
Building Panic is Good Business?
Now you're probably wondering why NHTSA would credit a safety group for that discovery. Or why they remained tight-lipped concerning what they knew about the Ford Firestone case, while the safety advocacy groups were running wild with the media. It's because, to paraphrase Adam Smith, everyone works in his or her own economic self-interest.
So numerous are motorists' complaints to the agency that NHTSA is always short of funding to investigate them. Likewise, auto safety groups have to work to ensure their organizations' continued financial survival. Auto frenzies, like the Ford Firestone case or the current Toyota situation, frankly are good for business for both entities.
This is not to knock their fine work on many automotive issues. But the net result too often is a distortion of a known and possibly minor problem.
After all, when the Ford Firestone case finally ended its news cycle, it came down to this: Firestone had built a small batch of problem tires at one factory, just as it said. But most of the actual tire failures happened when people drove on old tires, improperly inflated, at too high a speed. Any manufacturer's tires would fail under those circumstances.
Hiding Shame in Blame
A quick story from the Ford case shows how accident information can be distorted. In June of 1999 three college girls in a Ford Explorer were towing a small U-Haul trailer from California to Texas. According to the original stories, one of the Explorer's tires separated outside of Kent, Texas, right at 1,000 miles into their trip. One girl suffered serious brain injury and another broke her back. The third girl's injuries were less serious, but it was certainly a tragedy. All three families sued both Ford and Firestone.
But the first reporting of that accident omitted certain highly pertinent details.
According to the court case, the girls left California late on the night of June 17 and the accident occurred around 4:30 the next afternoon near Kent -- 1,000 miles in less than 24 hours. Further, it appeared that, having driven through the night, the girls had been smoking marijuana for hours before the accident. Oh, and the trailer they'd rented bore a large safe speed label warning users not to exceed 45 miles per hour.
Instead of a black and white situation, where the negligence of Ford and Firestone seemed to be the only factor, we now had excessive speed, unsafe operation of a vehicle with a tow vehicle, and drug use by possibly exhausted drivers. Two of the families knew the real score; not only did they sue Ford and Firestone, they also sued the third family, whose daughter was driving the vehicle when the accident occurred. That's right, they suspected the real problem was with the impaired driver.
It's still an automotive tragedy. But it's the one that repeats itself around 109 times each and every day in America.
Been Here, Done This!
Car and Driver tested Toyotas for its March issue and ruled out brakes as the malfunction in these cars. The vehicles in question stopped just 16 feet further with the gas pedal pressed fully to the floor than with no power to the engine. That's just like what happened in the Audi 5000 case: Owners were complaining to the media nonstop that their brakes failed to halt their runaway cars, but every last brake in every last such Audi was tested and found to be working just fine.
Now we have complaints about Toyota's software being the real culprit, but we should all remember that electronics were also the problems first blamed in the Audis. It wasn't true in that case and it's unlikely in this one.
I'm a little surprised by how many reporters say Toyota's officials would not talk to them on this issue. They called me back in a matter of 30 minutes. In fact, a Congressman who sits on one of the committees that held hearings on this situation called me this past Saturday to get the full details on the Toyota case. To the Congressman I gave one piece of information; it's been hiding in plain sight, but the media missed its engineering significance. In any case, it deals with CTS, which manufactured some of Toyota's gas pedals, and not with Toyota.
Not Under Oath
Let's look at our own local case. This tragedy involved a member of the Hardy family, whose Avalon was driven into a pond in Southlake. It has been reported that the wife told police the car had been taken into the Grapevine Toyota store with complaints of unintended acceleration.
Randy Roberts, the attorney hired by the family, added that the car had been taken to the dealership multiple times for that issue. There's just one problem: Chris Grady, general manager of Texas Toyota of Grapevine, has turned over the car's service records to both Toyota and to Mr. Roberts, and those records show that the vehicle has been in his shop exactly once -- for an oil change and nothing more. It has never been in for a complaint involving unintended acceleration.
Let's just set the record straight. Over the decades the government has received thousands of complaints of "uncontrollable" unintended acceleration covering virtually every manufacturer who sells cars in America. Have you not noticed that as of now no car has ever been recalled for having that specific defect?
I have.
© 2010 Ed Wallace
Ed Wallace has received the Gerald R. Loeb Award for business journalism, given by the Anderson School of Business at UCLA, and is a member of the American Historical Association. He reviews new cars every Friday morning at 7:15 on Fox Four's Good Day, frequently contributes articles to BusinessWeek Online and hosts the top-rated talk show, Wheels, 8:00 to 1:00 Saturdays on 570 KLIF. E-mail: wheels570@sbcglobal.net; access all of Ed's work at his Web site, www.insideautomotive.com.
http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/02...ake-three.html
Posted Friday, Feb. 26, 2010
By ED WALLACE
The media's still bringing us story after story about Toyota's recent woes, all involving complaints of unintended acceleration and/or the inability to stop an out-of-control car using the brake pedals. In military terms this situation has moved up to DEFCON 2 because -- brandishing thousands of complaints they say they got from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration database -- safety advocacy organizations and attorneys are now driving the discussion.
A little perspective: After dealing with them on the Ford Firestone media maelstrom almost a decade ago, the last people I would ever quote on a story are safety advocates.
Ten years ago NHTSA's database on Ford Firestone tires showed a total of 6,183 complaints. Safety advocates used that database and fed stories to the media on a daily basis, showing just how dangerous Firestone tires were on Ford Explorers. You heard every night on the news that one statistic, 6,183 complaints about Firestone tire separations, so you probably assumed that meant there were 6,183 accidents. Well, one of the complaints posted in that file was a gentleman who'd put more than 140,000 miles on his original Firestone Wilderness tires. He called NHTSA to complain that he wasn't getting a free set of replacement tires. His tires hadn't separated.
You may remember Firestone's admission that it had found a series of substandard tires made by its Decatur, Ill., factory. But, once the safety advocacy groups got hold of NHTSA's database, they found faulty tires being built virtually everywhere Firestone had a factory. Then they started feeding the media fatalities in vehicles -- including an animal death reported as a human, not to mention fatal accidents that never happened in real life.
Yes, they got that information from NHTSA's database -- but they never checked the database's accuracy.
That's a major oversight in a situation such as this. For what it's worth, it took me less than 45 minutes to discover that anyone using NHTSA's database for story research was unintentionally misinforming the public.
Unintentional Data Acceleration
NHTSA's database, a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, had 6,183 rows for individual complaints, and as I recall more than 20 column fields to hold information such as year, make, model, odometer miles and so on. As any Excel user will know, that made it virtually impossible to go line by line, column by column to find those cases so outrageous that they'd had to be fed to the media. But I knew a better way to read that data: Build a relational database, export the information into it. Then all of the pertinent data for a given accident would be on one easy-to-read page. And because it was a relational database, one could write automatic calculations into it and sort the cases, by any of the fields or by state.
However, any time you bring data into a new database, you have to check the field information to make sure it ported over correctly. This time it didn't, and here's why: NHTSA had made the most fundamental mistake in creating the database's sort command, and it in turn mixed up the data. Sometimes it created new "data": The media reported stories such as a Ford Expedition with only 800 miles on which the tire separated, the vehicle rolled and the occupants were killed, but that accident never happened -- except in NHTSA's database.
Dallas Channels 4 and 8 both covered that story the day I discovered it. After NHTSA was shown its mistake -- which they denied until I proved it to them -- they gave credit for the discovery to, you guessed it, one of their friends at an auto safety advocacy group. (It didn't matter. Tire Review magazine correctly credited the discovery of that flaw and why Firestone tires were really separating to my work.)
Building Panic is Good Business?
Now you're probably wondering why NHTSA would credit a safety group for that discovery. Or why they remained tight-lipped concerning what they knew about the Ford Firestone case, while the safety advocacy groups were running wild with the media. It's because, to paraphrase Adam Smith, everyone works in his or her own economic self-interest.
So numerous are motorists' complaints to the agency that NHTSA is always short of funding to investigate them. Likewise, auto safety groups have to work to ensure their organizations' continued financial survival. Auto frenzies, like the Ford Firestone case or the current Toyota situation, frankly are good for business for both entities.
This is not to knock their fine work on many automotive issues. But the net result too often is a distortion of a known and possibly minor problem.
After all, when the Ford Firestone case finally ended its news cycle, it came down to this: Firestone had built a small batch of problem tires at one factory, just as it said. But most of the actual tire failures happened when people drove on old tires, improperly inflated, at too high a speed. Any manufacturer's tires would fail under those circumstances.
Hiding Shame in Blame
A quick story from the Ford case shows how accident information can be distorted. In June of 1999 three college girls in a Ford Explorer were towing a small U-Haul trailer from California to Texas. According to the original stories, one of the Explorer's tires separated outside of Kent, Texas, right at 1,000 miles into their trip. One girl suffered serious brain injury and another broke her back. The third girl's injuries were less serious, but it was certainly a tragedy. All three families sued both Ford and Firestone.
But the first reporting of that accident omitted certain highly pertinent details.
According to the court case, the girls left California late on the night of June 17 and the accident occurred around 4:30 the next afternoon near Kent -- 1,000 miles in less than 24 hours. Further, it appeared that, having driven through the night, the girls had been smoking marijuana for hours before the accident. Oh, and the trailer they'd rented bore a large safe speed label warning users not to exceed 45 miles per hour.
Instead of a black and white situation, where the negligence of Ford and Firestone seemed to be the only factor, we now had excessive speed, unsafe operation of a vehicle with a tow vehicle, and drug use by possibly exhausted drivers. Two of the families knew the real score; not only did they sue Ford and Firestone, they also sued the third family, whose daughter was driving the vehicle when the accident occurred. That's right, they suspected the real problem was with the impaired driver.
It's still an automotive tragedy. But it's the one that repeats itself around 109 times each and every day in America.
Been Here, Done This!
Car and Driver tested Toyotas for its March issue and ruled out brakes as the malfunction in these cars. The vehicles in question stopped just 16 feet further with the gas pedal pressed fully to the floor than with no power to the engine. That's just like what happened in the Audi 5000 case: Owners were complaining to the media nonstop that their brakes failed to halt their runaway cars, but every last brake in every last such Audi was tested and found to be working just fine.
Now we have complaints about Toyota's software being the real culprit, but we should all remember that electronics were also the problems first blamed in the Audis. It wasn't true in that case and it's unlikely in this one.
I'm a little surprised by how many reporters say Toyota's officials would not talk to them on this issue. They called me back in a matter of 30 minutes. In fact, a Congressman who sits on one of the committees that held hearings on this situation called me this past Saturday to get the full details on the Toyota case. To the Congressman I gave one piece of information; it's been hiding in plain sight, but the media missed its engineering significance. In any case, it deals with CTS, which manufactured some of Toyota's gas pedals, and not with Toyota.
Not Under Oath
Let's look at our own local case. This tragedy involved a member of the Hardy family, whose Avalon was driven into a pond in Southlake. It has been reported that the wife told police the car had been taken into the Grapevine Toyota store with complaints of unintended acceleration.
Randy Roberts, the attorney hired by the family, added that the car had been taken to the dealership multiple times for that issue. There's just one problem: Chris Grady, general manager of Texas Toyota of Grapevine, has turned over the car's service records to both Toyota and to Mr. Roberts, and those records show that the vehicle has been in his shop exactly once -- for an oil change and nothing more. It has never been in for a complaint involving unintended acceleration.
Let's just set the record straight. Over the decades the government has received thousands of complaints of "uncontrollable" unintended acceleration covering virtually every manufacturer who sells cars in America. Have you not noticed that as of now no car has ever been recalled for having that specific defect?
I have.
© 2010 Ed Wallace
Ed Wallace has received the Gerald R. Loeb Award for business journalism, given by the Anderson School of Business at UCLA, and is a member of the American Historical Association. He reviews new cars every Friday morning at 7:15 on Fox Four's Good Day, frequently contributes articles to BusinessWeek Online and hosts the top-rated talk show, Wheels, 8:00 to 1:00 Saturdays on 570 KLIF. E-mail: wheels570@sbcglobal.net; access all of Ed's work at his Web site, www.insideautomotive.com.
http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/02...ake-three.html
02-28-10, 09:29 PM
#827
Guest
Posts: n/a
Now it seems in 27,000 miles nothing has been reported wrong with the 2nd owner. The U.S will buy the ES in question.
If they somehow find something wrong with it, then this will turn into LEXUS and LEXUS will be pushed to the forefront of this PR disaster and witchhunt.
Lexus spotlighted in House testimony
Automotive News -- February 27, 2010 - 4:00 pm ET
Rhonda Smith told a House panel Tuesday that her Lexus accelerated out of control for six miles as she headed to Knoxville, Tenn. Toyota U.S. sales chief Jim Lentz looked on.
Photo credit: Reuters
Thought Leadership
WASHINGTON -- U.S. regulators have purchased and will test the Lexus ES 350 once owned by a Tennessee woman whose testimony in Congress personalized allegations of unintended acceleration in Toyota Motor Corp.
The Transportation Department said on Friday the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration would conduct the evaluation at its research center in Ohio, but seek outside expertise, if necessary.
Rhonda Smith told the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Tuesday the luxury sedan suddenly accelerated out of control for six miles while she was headed to Knoxville in October 2006.
"I lost all control of the acceleration of the vehicle," Smith said in her testimony, adding that the model year 2007 car reached a top speed of 100 miles per hour before slowing.
A local dealer could not find any problems, Smith said.
An NHTSA investigator examined the vehicle and suspected the problem was related to floor mats that can jam the accelerator, according to a 2007 agency report on the incident.
The report said that the unsecured heavy rubber all-weather mat rested atop the factory installed carpet mat, a point NHTSA said later could cause it to move forward unintentionally.
The NHTSA report also said a follow-up demonstration at a service bay showed how the loose all-weather mat could jam a fully depressed accelerator when placed just 2 inches forward of its intended location.
Smith it would have taken a "magic trick" for the heavy mat to slide forward enough to jam the pedal, and said she and her husband were not shown that the mat could slide forward accidentally.
A follow up test drive found no problems with drive systems, NHTSA said.
Original recall
Smith's vehicle was among the models included in a Toyota recall of 55,000 floor mats that was carried out several months after the alleged mishap. Regulators and the company warned that loose mats could be jammed by the accelerator.
A second, much larger floor mat-related recall in October 2009 was triggered by renewed government scrutiny after a Lexus crash in California last August that killed four people.
Smith said her husband inspected the car after her incident and found nothing unusual with the accelerator. She insists the mats are not to blame and that the vehicle's electronic throttle system should be examined closely.
NHTSA did not perform tests on electronics, and the car was later sold to an owner who drove it for 27,000 miles and reported no acceleration problems, the Transportation Department said.
Regulators believe floor mats are linked to at least five U.S. crash deaths, with 29 other consumer reports under review alleging fatalities associated with unintended acceleration in Toyota models.
U.S. regulators and Toyota are again looking into whether there are problems with electronic throttles. Toyota executives this week said that those systems have been tested exhaustively and are sound. NHTSA found no problems in previous reviews.
But Congress in two hearings this week questioned whether regulators probed hard enough on unintended acceleration over the years and whether NHTSA has the expertise to handle investigations into the sophisticated electronic systems equipped in today's vehicles.
"NHTSA will thoroughly examine the Smith's car as we work to get to the bottom of possible causes for sudden acceleration," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement.
The Senate Commerce Committee plans to examine the issue at as part of a hearing on Toyota recalls on Tuesday.
On Friday, the panel added Toyota vice president Takeshi Uchiyamada, considered the father of the hybrid Prius, to its witness list. LaHood, NHTSA Administrator David Strickland, Toyota North American President Yoshimi Inaba and Toyota quality control chief Shinichi Sasaki are also scheduled to appear.
Read more: http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dl...#ixzz0gtqPLpN7
Lexus
Below is the lady who needs to be fed to the fishes.
If they somehow find something wrong with it, then this will turn into LEXUS and LEXUS will be pushed to the forefront of this PR disaster and witchhunt.
Lexus spotlighted in House testimony
Automotive News -- February 27, 2010 - 4:00 pm ET
Rhonda Smith told a House panel Tuesday that her Lexus accelerated out of control for six miles as she headed to Knoxville, Tenn. Toyota U.S. sales chief Jim Lentz looked on.
Photo credit: Reuters
Thought Leadership
WASHINGTON -- U.S. regulators have purchased and will test the Lexus ES 350 once owned by a Tennessee woman whose testimony in Congress personalized allegations of unintended acceleration in Toyota Motor Corp.
The Transportation Department said on Friday the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration would conduct the evaluation at its research center in Ohio, but seek outside expertise, if necessary.
Rhonda Smith told the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Tuesday the luxury sedan suddenly accelerated out of control for six miles while she was headed to Knoxville in October 2006.
"I lost all control of the acceleration of the vehicle," Smith said in her testimony, adding that the model year 2007 car reached a top speed of 100 miles per hour before slowing.
A local dealer could not find any problems, Smith said.
An NHTSA investigator examined the vehicle and suspected the problem was related to floor mats that can jam the accelerator, according to a 2007 agency report on the incident.
The report said that the unsecured heavy rubber all-weather mat rested atop the factory installed carpet mat, a point NHTSA said later could cause it to move forward unintentionally.
The NHTSA report also said a follow-up demonstration at a service bay showed how the loose all-weather mat could jam a fully depressed accelerator when placed just 2 inches forward of its intended location.
Smith it would have taken a "magic trick" for the heavy mat to slide forward enough to jam the pedal, and said she and her husband were not shown that the mat could slide forward accidentally.
A follow up test drive found no problems with drive systems, NHTSA said.
Original recall
Smith's vehicle was among the models included in a Toyota recall of 55,000 floor mats that was carried out several months after the alleged mishap. Regulators and the company warned that loose mats could be jammed by the accelerator.
A second, much larger floor mat-related recall in October 2009 was triggered by renewed government scrutiny after a Lexus crash in California last August that killed four people.
Smith said her husband inspected the car after her incident and found nothing unusual with the accelerator. She insists the mats are not to blame and that the vehicle's electronic throttle system should be examined closely.
NHTSA did not perform tests on electronics, and the car was later sold to an owner who drove it for 27,000 miles and reported no acceleration problems, the Transportation Department said.
Regulators believe floor mats are linked to at least five U.S. crash deaths, with 29 other consumer reports under review alleging fatalities associated with unintended acceleration in Toyota models.
U.S. regulators and Toyota are again looking into whether there are problems with electronic throttles. Toyota executives this week said that those systems have been tested exhaustively and are sound. NHTSA found no problems in previous reviews.
But Congress in two hearings this week questioned whether regulators probed hard enough on unintended acceleration over the years and whether NHTSA has the expertise to handle investigations into the sophisticated electronic systems equipped in today's vehicles.
"NHTSA will thoroughly examine the Smith's car as we work to get to the bottom of possible causes for sudden acceleration," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement.
The Senate Commerce Committee plans to examine the issue at as part of a hearing on Toyota recalls on Tuesday.
On Friday, the panel added Toyota vice president Takeshi Uchiyamada, considered the father of the hybrid Prius, to its witness list. LaHood, NHTSA Administrator David Strickland, Toyota North American President Yoshimi Inaba and Toyota quality control chief Shinichi Sasaki are also scheduled to appear.
Read more: http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dl...#ixzz0gtqPLpN7
Lexus
Below is the lady who needs to be fed to the fishes.
03-01-10, 04:27 AM
#828
Pole Position
My blood was boiling as I watched her testimony last week. We all know what this is about. Heck, she told congress, and all of America, what her story was about.
"all I ever wanted was for Lexus to take the car back"
Buyers remorse. The car was brand new, with only 3k on the clock. They decided they didn't want/couldn't afford the car anymore and they used this magnificent story so that Lexus would buy the car back. Lexus wouldn't buy the car back so they got angry and decided to make Toyota "pay". Anybody with any sense can see right through her story.
"all I ever wanted was for Lexus to take the car back"
Buyers remorse. The car was brand new, with only 3k on the clock. They decided they didn't want/couldn't afford the car anymore and they used this magnificent story so that Lexus would buy the car back. Lexus wouldn't buy the car back so they got angry and decided to make Toyota "pay". Anybody with any sense can see right through her story.
03-01-10, 05:28 AM
#829
Lexus Fanatic
iTrader: (20)
hughh - outstanding post/article.
it's beginning to remind me of the climate change fiasco. these safety outfits will do anything to promote their funding, i mean 'cause'...
it's beginning to remind me of the climate change fiasco. these safety outfits will do anything to promote their funding, i mean 'cause'...
03-01-10, 06:57 AM
#831
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Here is a headline in todays Ft Worth Star-Telegram:
Woman driving Toyota killed in Southlake wreck
The wreck happened shortly before 1:30 a.m. Sunday in the 1800 block of Shady Oaks Drive, as Ricord drove home from her job at a Dallas/Fort Worth Airport hotel, police said.
Ricord was northbound when her car veered off the road and hit a tree, bounced off and hit a second tree, Page said.
A resident in the neighborhood heard the wreck and called police.
"We don't know if she fell asleep or if it was mechanical," Page said. "Something happened to make her lose control."
http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/02...killed-in.html
She was 77 yrs. old, driving at 1:30AM. My first and only reaction would be..."fell asleep"...common sense. Why bring in Toyota in the headlines? Just because she was driving a Corolla?
Woman driving Toyota killed in Southlake wreck
The wreck happened shortly before 1:30 a.m. Sunday in the 1800 block of Shady Oaks Drive, as Ricord drove home from her job at a Dallas/Fort Worth Airport hotel, police said.
Ricord was northbound when her car veered off the road and hit a tree, bounced off and hit a second tree, Page said.
A resident in the neighborhood heard the wreck and called police.
"We don't know if she fell asleep or if it was mechanical," Page said. "Something happened to make her lose control."
http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/02...killed-in.html
She was 77 yrs. old, driving at 1:30AM. My first and only reaction would be..."fell asleep"...common sense. Why bring in Toyota in the headlines? Just because she was driving a Corolla?
03-01-10, 07:21 AM
#833
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Ed Wallace three articles dealing with the Toyota witch hunt:
Ed: Dragging Toyota Through the Media Muck Pt. 1
Ed: The Real Scandal Behind the Toyota Recall Pt. 2
Ed Wallace: The Great Toyota Witch Hunt Pt. 3
http://www.insideautomotive.com/
Ed: Dragging Toyota Through the Media Muck Pt. 1
Ed: The Real Scandal Behind the Toyota Recall Pt. 2
Ed Wallace: The Great Toyota Witch Hunt Pt. 3
http://www.insideautomotive.com/
03-01-10, 11:05 AM
#835
Guest
Posts: n/a
Its amazing all these accidents are happening all of the sudden. Lame people.
This is a PR disaster. I have never been asked so much about problems about Lexus/Toyota in my life. Old friends, new people all either make a joke or talk about it.
What an amazing mess.
This is a PR disaster. I have never been asked so much about problems about Lexus/Toyota in my life. Old friends, new people all either make a joke or talk about it.
What an amazing mess.
03-01-10, 12:02 PM
#838
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The media is simply now reporting every single Toyota accident they hear about, no matter how irrelevant.
The witch hunt continues
.
03-01-10, 04:23 PM
#839
Lexus Champion
The Congress is doing a very good job by get all the attention on Toyota,while they're working on the Health Care reform quietly.
Who will get the most benefit from the Toyota witch hunt?
Who will get the most benefit from the Toyota witch hunt?
03-01-10, 06:38 PM
#840
Lexus Fanatic
iTrader: (20)
yes, and that's why i'm saddened that toyota didn't wake up and smell the napalm sooner and respond VIGOROUSLY. being 'nice' in all this is a sucker's game. i would bring defamation suits against all those newspapers and other media reporting only accidents about toyotas that have nothing to do with anything toyota has done. i would run some 'straight talk' ads, you tube videos, print, etc., not this soft stuff, but direct, on toyota's RECORD, rebutt the lies and misrepresentations and confusion (mixing mats, pedals, software, DRIVER ERROR), etc. and yes, i'd hire celebrities. lots of 'em. maybe get donald trump to say it's b*llsh... or SOMETHING.