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Here's the part of this Toyota fiasco I've been wondering about. It's only been a few days now that they stopped selling various models because of the problem. They did so because they're either too dangerous to sell, or because they don't want to face the additional liability if someone gets hurt/killed due to whatever the malfunction happens to be. Perhaps a combination of both.
But now, just days later, they've either started shipping or will soon certain parts or whatever to dealers to install in cars to fix the problem. But that didn't happen overnight. There had to be some period of time - days, weeks, months? - for them to engineer the part(s) to fix things and then manufacture and ship them. But during that period of time they were okay with dealers selling the same models they now won't let them sell? Hmmm...
They are just doing a cheapo fix with a shim.
To the US made accel assys only. the Jap built ones are fine.
I would not go that far just yet, but such an outstanding object lesson in the dangers of government power can't be let go without comment...
First a little history. Back in the late 80's the Audi 5000 (and other auto's) was suspected of the same "sticky gas pedal" problem that may be a factor in some Toyota models today. Back then they were called SAI's or "sudden Acceloration incidents". After a massive government investigation SAI's were given a more, shall we say, accurate discription... "pedal misapplication". P. J. O'Rourke wrote about that history in a chapter of his book "Parlament of Whores". See short exerpt... (a must read for vital context)
Parliament of Whores: A Lone ... - Google Books
Moving on into modern day we have something that deserves a very close look. First however, for the record, Toyota has admited there may be a problem with the floor mats in some vehicles. At issue though, is if the "sticky gas pedal" "problem" is anything more than that and if a recall of over two million cars is justified. Is this an issue of saftey or an issue of government putting it's fat thumb on the scale to aid a "public" car company over a successful private one. (yeah, yeah in a "mixed economy it's all a matter of degree)
From the New York Times:
Safety Agency Rebukes Toyota Over Floor-Mat Issue - Wheels Blog - NYTimes.com
Toyota and the safety administration issued a warning in September to the owners of the Toyota and Lexus vehicles to remove the driver-side floor mat because it could jam the accelerator pedal. The warning was issued after the problem led to the deaths of four people in a Lexus in August in California.
Clarence Ditlow, the executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, an advocacy group, said he could not recall any other case in which the safety agency had publicly chastised an automaker in such a manner.
For obvious reasons this is big news in Detroit:
Toyota, NHTSA talking about pedal fix, LaHood says | detnews.com | The Detroit News
"Toyota executives and technical staff met today with officials at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and presented a remedy regarding sticking accelerator pedals on certain models, which NHTSA is examining. Toyota will continue to work to address this situation for our customers as quickly as possible," spokeswoman Martha Voss said.
LaHood declined to criticize Toyota's conduct.
Toyota stopped selling eight models that accounted for 60 percent of its sales because they were required to do so under the law.
"They are doing what they are supposed to do," LaHood said.
LaHood didn't repeat the comments he made to a Chicago radio station Wednesday that the government had to insist that Toyota stop selling the recalled vehicles until they had a fix.
The last link goes to a NB page with a video embed of CNBC's "Power Lunch" where host Michelle Caruso-Cabrera and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala) talk about the recall:
Media Oversight: Is GM Stakeholder Federal Government Playing Politics with Toyota Recall? | NewsBusters.org
(the video is one minute long)
"Ray LaHood is on the record saying that he told them they had to do this," Caruso-Cabrera said. "They had to stop selling. Are you looking into whether or not that was absolutely necessary? Are you convinced this was necessary?"
Sessions expressed his concern over that possibility and noted the amount of money the federal government had recently pumped into GMAC, the auto financing arm of General Motors.
"Well, you know - we were in until late last night and I hadn't heard that," Sessions said. "I worry about those kind of things. I worry about Ford working hard and having to compete against the federal government. With an unlimited - they just gave $3 billion more to GMAC. The President's got to be careful here. He can not be playing politics and union politics or regional politics with the economy of this country."
There is no evidence that I am aware of that says someting screwy is going on. However, this is an all to obvious example of how complex things can get (and how quickly they can get so) when the government is both your competitor, your protector and your watch dog. Imagine trying to run a "mixed economy" even in a land of benevolently genious political regulators. Now imagine running a mixed economy with the ones we do have.
