Stunned by NPR!

[Stray Kat]

O kay so I should'nt be surprised at all, but damn. Listening to "All Things Considered" broadcast by National Public Radio on my way to work yesterday I hear a report on the Toyota gas pedal recall. I'm fully aware of the "angle" or should I say slant that NPR takes at the news but this report was just so blatently obvious I was steaming. To paraphrase because (I don't have a transcript), the interviewed "expert" starts describing the nature of the problem. Goes on to litterally say "it's not even Toyota's fault" "the gas pedal is a vendor supplied item" "the problem is in only in the American made version and they have found no problem in the Japanese vendor (Nippon) built gas pedal assembly". I was yelling at the top of my lungs in traffic yesterday, other drivers probably thought I was crazy and maybe so, but I am so sick of this! If this happened to Ford, Ford Motor Company and the evil cigar chomping overlords that run it would be harpooned for endangering American lives in the name of making a buck. This dipshit on the radio just gave Toyota a fricken pass and shifted the blame onto the one American made part that is the culprit. Does any American entity get the protection that those anti- Red,White and Blue dimwits seem to slather on anyone but us?

 

I'd love to hear your thoughts. I'm going to try to get a show transcript. I'm not one to jump on the bandwagon when someone is down. I've always thought that that kind of stuff comes back around to bite you. You give the average person the idea that it's not Toyota's fault it's just the American made part and all those deadheads will throw that in your face at Sunday dinner etc. I'm neither here nor there on Toyota's problems. I'm more interested in Ford staying the course, but giving Toyota a pass and shifting blame on this deal is just too much to keep me quiet. Thoughts?

Edited January 29, 2010 by Stray Kat

[RangerM]

Thoughts?

 

I'd wonder their treatment of the Explorer/Firestone story.

 

Did they place blame toward----Ford?-----Firestone?-----or the owners for failing to properly inflate the tires and overloading the vehicles?

 

No one has heard of CTS (other than the Cadillac one), but they HAVE heard of Toyota.

Edited January 29, 2010 by RangerM

[suv_guy_19]

O kay so I should'nt be surprised at all, but damn. Listening to "All Things Considered" broadcast by National Public Radio on my way to work yesterday I hear a report on the Toyota gas pedal recall. I'm fully aware of the "angle" or should I say slant that NPR takes at the news but this report was just so blatently obvious I was steaming. To paraphrase because (I don't have a transcript), the interviewed "expert" starts describing the nature of the problem. Goes on to litterally say "it's not even Toyota's fault" "the gas pedal is a vendor supplied item"

 

 

You know what? They might be right.

[rkisler]

O kay so I should'nt be surprised at all, but damn. Listening to "All Things Considered" broadcast by National Public Radio on my way to work yesterday I hear a report on the Toyota gas pedal recall. I'm fully aware of the "angle" or should I say slant that NPR takes at the news but this report was just so blatently obvious I was steaming. To paraphrase because (I don't have a transcript), the interviewed "expert" starts describing the nature of the problem. Goes on to litterally say "it's not even Toyota's fault" "the gas pedal is a vendor supplied item" "the problem is in only in the American made version and they have found no problem in the Japanese vendor (Nippon) built gas pedal assembly". I was yelling at the top of my lungs in traffic yesterday, other drivers probably thought I was crazy and maybe so, but I am so sick of this! If this happened to Ford, Ford Motor Company and the evil cigar chomping overlords that run it would be harpooned for endangering American lives in the name of making a buck. This dipshit on the radio just gave Toyota a fricken pass and shifted the blame onto the one American made part that is the culprit. Does any American entity get the protection that those anti- Red,White and Blue dimwits seem to slather on anyone but us?

 

I'd love to hear your thoughts. I'm going to try to get a show transcript. I'm not one to jump on the bandwagon when someone is down. I've always thought that that kind of stuff comes back around to bite you. You give the average person the idea that it's not Toyota's fault it's just the American made part and all those deadheads will throw that in your face at Sunday dinner etc. I'm neither here nor there on Toyota's problems. I'm more interested in Ford staying the course, but giving Toyota a pass and shifting blame on this deal is just too much to keep me quiet. Thoughts?

 

I understand your frustration, but during times like this you'll get all sorts of people talking that don't really know anything, or are presenting just their point of view.

 

During the Ford/Firestone issue, Ford actually had a pretty good case to say it was the supplier's fault. At that time, tire warranties were separate from car warranties, and all the tire data went to the manufacturers. It was proprietary and not shared with Ford. When the problems cropped up, Ford forced Firestone to come clean. And Ford did a lot of testing trying to understand exactly what was going on. I will tell you it perplexed a lot of engineers -- not so much the tread separation, but exactly what was going on after the fact.

 

Ford subsequently stopped the practice of a separate data stream and now handles all warranty and issues resolution.

 

But it doesn't matter. The public still looks to the manufacturer, not the supplier.

 

In this case, Toyota doesn't have much of a leg to stand on. And although I don't especially like Toyota, I'm not gloating, because I understand how difficult and frustrating it is to pin down root cause when the incidence is very, very small. And then ensure a design fix. And then get the new part into production and on the cars. I'm sure they're comparing the North America part and the Japanese part, scratching their heads, and saying "What the F?"

 

I think the public and certainly the media is viewing this as a Toyota problem, not a supplier problem. I can tell you there was always a lot of grumbling inside the U.S. industry in the way Toyota treated its problems versus the way the U.S. industry did. There was a general belief that Toyota had a lot more secret warranty and fix programs that should have been reported to the government. True or not true, this is now coming back to bite them. Most of the press I've seen, including an article in the Washington Post this morning (link below) seem to be looking at the question "how long did you know about this?" and "if you knew about it, why didn't you do something about it?" That kind of discussion in the end can hurt one's reputation more than the specific problem.

 

Washington Post Article

 

Look on the bright side. At least you were just screaming at your car radio rather than throwing something at your new flat screen TV....

[Swizco]

O kay so I should'nt be surprised at all, but damn. Listening to "All Things Considered" broadcast by National Public Radio on my way to work yesterday I hear a report on the Toyota gas pedal recall. I'm fully aware of the "angle" or should I say slant that NPR takes at the news but this report was just so blatently obvious I was steaming. To paraphrase because (I don't have a transcript), the interviewed "expert" starts describing the nature of the problem. Goes on to litterally say "it's not even Toyota's fault" "the gas pedal is a vendor supplied item" "the problem is in only in the American made version and they have found no problem in the Japanese vendor (Nippon) built gas pedal assembly". I was yelling at the top of my lungs in traffic yesterday, other drivers probably thought I was crazy and maybe so, but I am so sick of this! If this happened to Ford, Ford Motor Company and the evil cigar chomping overlords that run it would be harpooned for endangering American lives in the name of making a buck. This dipshit on the radio just gave Toyota a fricken pass and shifted the blame onto the one American made part that is the culprit. Does any American entity get the protection that those anti- Red,White and Blue dimwits seem to slather on anyone but us?

 

I'd love to hear your thoughts. I'm going to try to get a show transcript. I'm not one to jump on the bandwagon when someone is down. I've always thought that that kind of stuff comes back around to bite you. You give the average person the idea that it's not Toyota's fault it's just the American made part and all those deadheads will throw that in your face at Sunday dinner etc. I'm neither here nor there on Toyota's problems. I'm more interested in Ford staying the course, but giving Toyota a pass and shifting blame on this deal is just too much to keep me quiet. Thoughts?

 

Here's the link to the print story:

 

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123050412

 

A bit better, but not by much.

"Seeing problems early will become even more important as automakers increasingly sell the same model with common parts across the globe, Cain said. Companies want to act quickly to avoid global recalls that will only become more costly, he said."

 

..except they didn't.

 

"J&J recalled more than 20 million bottles of Extra Strength Tylenol and burned every one. It also communicated with the public and came up with new tamper-resistant packaging.

 

The company placed consumer safety above cost, restoring its reputation quickly, said Brenda Wrigley, chair of the public relations department at Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

 

"Treating people honestly and openly is the way to go," she said."

 

...Especially when mandated by the federal government. Note the omission of that tiny detail:

"Toyota said late Tuesday it would halt sales of some of its top-selling models, including Camry and Corolla, to fix gas pedals that could stick and cause unintended acceleration. Last week, Toyota issued a recall affecting 2.3 million vehicles."

 

Someone got this very wrong.

 

Swizco

[grbeck]

O kay so I should'nt be surprised at all, but damn. Listening to "All Things Considered" broadcast by National Public Radio on my way to work yesterday I hear a report on the Toyota gas pedal recall. I'm fully aware of the "angle" or should I say slant that NPR takes at the news but this report was just so blatently obvious I was steaming. To paraphrase because (I don't have a transcript), the interviewed "expert" starts describing the nature of the problem. Goes on to litterally say "it's not even Toyota's fault" "the gas pedal is a vendor supplied item" "the problem is in only in the American made version and they have found no problem in the Japanese vendor (Nippon) built gas pedal assembly". I was yelling at the top of my lungs in traffic yesterday, other drivers probably thought I was crazy and maybe so, but I am so sick of this! If this happened to Ford, Ford Motor Company and the evil cigar chomping overlords that run it would be harpooned for endangering American lives in the name of making a buck. This dipshit on the radio just gave Toyota a fricken pass and shifted the blame onto the one American made part that is the culprit. Does any American entity get the protection that those anti- Red,White and Blue dimwits seem to slather on anyone but us?

 

I'd love to hear your thoughts. I'm going to try to get a show transcript. I'm not one to jump on the bandwagon when someone is down. I've always thought that that kind of stuff comes back around to bite you. You give the average person the idea that it's not Toyota's fault it's just the American made part and all those deadheads will throw that in your face at Sunday dinner etc. I'm neither here nor there on Toyota's problems. I'm more interested in Ford staying the course, but giving Toyota a pass and shifting blame on this deal is just too much to keep me quiet. Thoughts?

 

 

This is one media source. Most people don't listen to NPR.

 

There are no major automotive plants or suppliers located in the area where I live. The auto industry's presence here is limited to dealers. But this story was still the lead story on last night's 11-o'clock news. This morning's paper had a huge front-page story on the opening of the annual Harrisburg Auto Show, and 90 percent of it was devoted to the Toyota recall. Potential customers, current Toyota owners and Toyota dealers were all interviewed. It is receiving HUGE play here, and the media isn't saying that is strictly a supplier problem. There hasn't been an effort to soft-peddle the story in the local media.

 

Interestingly, all of the current Toyota owners said that they still love their vehicles, and weren't worried about the recall. One lady who owns a 2004 Cobalt and is looking for a new car said that she'd still like a Toyota, but her Cobalt is worthless as a trade. One man who owns a Ford Explorer did say that he now won't always be on the defensive when his friends and co-workers razz him for driving a Ford instead of a Toyota or Honda. But his wife still owns a Honda, and loves it.

Edited January 29, 2010 by grbeck

[Mark B. Morrow]

Today on Morning Edition, they pointed out CTS' claim that the parts were manufactured to Toyota's design specs. Both reports referenced Toyota's continuing decline in quality and the loss to the company's reputation.

[grbeck]

Toyota, right now, is where GM was at in 1971, when the news of the Chevrolet motor-mount issue really broke. All Chevrolet V-8s manufactured between 1965-69 were found to have defective motor mounts. When the motor mount collapsed, the engine titled to the side. If it tilted far enough, it jammed the steering. If if tilted even more, it cut the brake lines, and it if tilted even MORE, it jammed the throttle in the wide-open position. So, in a worst-case scenario, you had a car at full throttle with no steering and no brakes. Several people were killed in the resulting accidents.

 

At that time, Chevrolet was still the king. The 1960-64 Corvair was controversial, but there was a healthy debate as to whether it was really dangerous, or just "different." (Several foreign cars with swing-axle suspensions were also tricky at the limit, and the VW Beetle wasn't exactly the handling champ. Plus, the federal government eventually cleared the car, and, after its insurer settled out of court in an early case, an angry GM aggressively fought subsequent Corvair cases and won.) Chevrolet's quality control had been sliding since about 1965-66, but the division still had a good reputation thanks to tough, reliable drivetrains.

 

But, looking back, that recall was the beginning of the end for GM in many ways. The Vega debuted that year; the fuel crisis forced GM to rush hastily designed V-8s and V-6s into production; the Oldsmobile Diesel debuted in the late 1970s; GM put under-sized automatic transmissions in its full-size and intermediates in the late 1970s that were guaranteed to self-destruct at about 40,000 miles; the disastrous X-cars debuted in the spring of 1979; and...on and on.

 

The motor-mount recall was, in many ways, a wake-up call for GM. But it was on top of the world at the time, so it chose not to change the way it did business. Will Toyota make the same mistake? Is this the beginning of a very long and painful slide for Toyota?

[RichardJensen]

You know what? They might be right.

Whose name is on the car?

 

Ford created the cruise control problem, even if they didn't build those switches themselves. Ditto Toyota. This is their problem, not CTS's, not anyone else's.

[Kev-Mo]

Wouldn't surprise me one bit if 3 months down the road they extend the recall to all models regardless of CTS pedal assemblies. That seems to be the way this thing is going. It appears that they are looking for something to BLAME the problem on other than bullet proof Toyota. First - floor mats, now; an "American" supplier. I am NOT convinced that these problems are not related. Toyota is sneaky in the way they are announcing this in increments, with two different but "un-related" issues. Sit back and watch how it goes...

 

However, I agree with RJ - It is Toyota's problem.

Edited January 29, 2010 by Kev-Mo

[aneekr]

Stray Kat - did you get the name of the interviewee on that radio program?

[Deanh]

Whose name is on the car?

 

Ford created the cruise control problem, even if they didn't build those switches themselves. Ditto Toyota. This is their problem, not CTS's, not anyone else's.

Bingo...too much deflection going on...which leads me to belive they are stalling or there is WAY more too it....

[stephenhawkings]

O kay so I should'nt be surprised at all, but damn. Listening to "All Things Considered" broadcast by National Public Radio on my way to work yesterday I hear a report on the Toyota gas pedal recall. I'm fully aware of the "angle" or should I say slant that NPR takes at the news but this report was just so blatently obvious I was steaming. To paraphrase because (I don't have a transcript), the interviewed "expert" starts describing the nature of the problem. Goes on to litterally say "it's not even Toyota's fault" "the gas pedal is a vendor supplied item" "the problem is in only in the American made version and they have found no problem in the Japanese vendor (Nippon) built gas pedal assembly". I was yelling at the top of my lungs in traffic yesterday, other drivers probably thought I was crazy and maybe so, but I am so sick of this! If this happened to Ford, Ford Motor Company and the evil cigar chomping overlords that run it would be harpooned for endangering American lives in the name of making a buck. This dipshit on the radio just gave Toyota a fricken pass and shifted the blame onto the one American made part that is the culprit. Does any American entity get the protection that those anti- Red,White and Blue dimwits seem to slather on anyone but us?

 

I'd love to hear your thoughts. I'm going to try to get a show transcript. I'm not one to jump on the bandwagon when someone is down. I've always thought that that kind of stuff comes back around to bite you. You give the average person the idea that it's not Toyota's fault it's just the American made part and all those deadheads will throw that in your face at Sunday dinner etc. I'm neither here nor there on Toyota's problems. I'm more interested in Ford staying the course, but giving Toyota a pass and shifting blame on this deal is just too much to keep me quiet. Thoughts?

did the jap auto workers protest infront of our dealerships and factories?

[jpvbs]

Does CTS really supply all these parts worldwide for Toyota? I believe the recall also includes vehicles made in Japan. I would agrue that CTS has some responsibility if it turns out that they are supplying a part that doesn't meet the technical requirements as ordered. However, Toyota still has to accept a lot/most of the blame considering they continued to use them for as long as they have without any periodic testing to ensure they were up to spec.

[390 PI]

I heard the Prius comes from the factory with the radio already tuned to NPR...

[Bored of Pisteon]

I heard the Prius comes from the factory with the radio already tuned to NPR...

 

That's because the assholes who drive Priuses are too stupid to change the friggin radio station, let alone know how to drive a real car.

 

Toyota and NPR can both MY !!!

[suv_guy_19]

Whose name is on the car?

 

Ford created the cruise control problem, even if they didn't build those switches themselves. Ditto Toyota. This is their problem, not CTS's, not anyone else's.

 

I would say that the problem belongs to both of them. Who is originally to blame is another matter (though it seems to be Toyota).

[SVT_MAN]

Doesn't surprise me. I honestly think NPR is full of incorrect "facts" on a regular basis though. They're definitely not what I'd call "mainstream" media. And the mainstream media is fairly liberal too.

[BB390fe]

I still think even the pedal assembly is simply another stop-gap measure. Did anyone read the complaints (not the sensationalized accidents) regarding sudden acceleration? It seems to my mind that about 1/2 were occurring when the drivers were BRAKING and not on the throttle at all. The fact they were on the brakes was why there wasn't an accident. I really think it is a software bug.

[Noah Harbinger]

I understand your frustration, but during times like this you'll get all sorts of people talking that don't really know anything, or are presenting just their point of view.

 

During the Ford/Firestone issue, Ford actually had a pretty good case to say it was the supplier's fault. At that time, tire warranties were separate from car warranties, and all the tire data went to the manufacturers. It was proprietary and not shared with Ford. When the problems cropped up, Ford forced Firestone to come clean. And Ford did a lot of testing trying to understand exactly what was going on. I will tell you it perplexed a lot of engineers -- not so much the tread separation, but exactly what was going on after the fact.

 

Ford subsequently stopped the practice of a separate data stream and now handles all warranty and issues resolution.

 

But it doesn't matter. The public still looks to the manufacturer, not the supplier.

 

In this case, Toyota doesn't have much of a leg to stand on. And although I don't especially like Toyota, I'm not gloating, because I understand how difficult and frustrating it is to pin down root cause when the incidence is very, very small. And then ensure a design fix. And then get the new part into production and on the cars. I'm sure they're comparing the North America part and the Japanese part, scratching their heads, and saying "What the F?"

 

I think the public and certainly the media is viewing this as a Toyota problem, not a supplier problem. I can tell you there was always a lot of grumbling inside the U.S. industry in the way Toyota treated its problems versus the way the U.S. industry did. There was a general belief that Toyota had a lot more secret warranty and fix programs that should have been reported to the government. True or not true, this is now coming back to bite them. Most of the press I've seen, including an article in the Washington Post this morning (link below) seem to be looking at the question "how long did you know about this?" and "if you knew about it, why didn't you do something about it?" That kind of discussion in the end can hurt one's reputation more than the specific problem.

 

Washington Post Article

 

Look on the bright side. At least you were just screaming at your car radio rather than throwing something at your new flat screen TV....

 

 

Oh don't you go rationalizing - NPR is COMMUNIST and a TRAITER TO AMERICANS and we should tear down their transmitters NOW!

 

 

/sarcasm

[Noah Harbinger]

Is this the segment you were referring to, Stray Kat? http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=123081473&m=123081448

[Stray Kat]

Is this the segment you were referring to, Stray Kat? http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=123081473&m=123081448

 

 

 

No this is not the report I heard. The person being interviewed said specifically "this is not even Toyota's fault". Just for the record, I'm not happy to see Toyota having problems. I've got no axe to grind. I've been watching and listening to media for a long time run hard on America and American matters. I feel that if there is a way to give this foreign manufacturer some slack the media pinheads will try. If it were Ford, I believe the whole attitude would be different. I've seen many examples of this type of bias. Just real sick of it.

[Sizzler]

Has this "problem" officially and definitely been identified as being with the the pedal assembly?

 

Once these millions of pedals have been replaced/repaired the problem will go away?

 

What if it isn't the pedal? What if the problem resurfaces? Could Toyota survive that kind of fiasco?

 

I think it's Toyota's fault, no matter what the root issue is. Their name, their choice to out-source production. Blaming a vendor actually seems like more of an issue to me than the actual problem itself. That's pretty low.

Edited January 30, 2010 by Sizzler

[FordPaul]

I read early on the pedals were manufactured in Canada by an American owned company. Either way you shake it, it's still a Toyota design installed on their product.

[retro-man]

1.) Yes, it was reported - buried in the story about TOYOTA that the pedal assembly was made by an Indiana based vendor.

2.) The bad mojo is still going to stick to Toyota. Toyota is who the spot was about. Toyota is whose President felt compelled to issue an apology. Toyota is the company recalling the cars. Toyota is the known name associated with this that the public will remember. I'm a car guy, and I've already forgotten the name of the vendor company. Slightly different situation than Firestone.

3.) Young people don't like Toyota. They like VW, Audi, BMW. And the ricer traffic is starting to notice Hyundai for the Genesis.

4.) It seems to have escaped everybody's notice here, but Ford had to recall some vehicles (a small number - about 2,000 - of small trucks I think) in China because they have gas pedal assemblies supplied by the same vendor. Shall we puff ourselves up and shit all over Ford for that one too? I didn't think so.

5.) NPR is great and balanced. Imagine a world without NPR: listening to Rush and Sean bloviating between ads for Polydent, The Clapper, and Gold commemorative coins.

6.) Stray Kat: This is what gets you exercised? Grow a skin fer crissakes. (Well, I will give you credit for even having the dial tuned to NPR - however briefly.)