ON THE TABLE

February 3, 2010

The New York Times. It's good to see that The Toyota Times, aka The New York Times is comfortable, as always, in its role as the official apologist house organ of Toyota. The last bastion of Toyota=Good, Detroit=Bad cheerleading in the media has been hard at it again with a series of sugar-coated stories underselling the seriousness and scope of the Toyota recall issue, not to mention being woefully late with its coverage of the story in its entirety. You don't even have to read between the lines - the blatantly biased reporting by one so-called journalist in particular speaks for itself - to see that The Times views this as a mere blip on Toyota's radar screen and that it's only a matter of time before Toyota returns to its rightful place as the unquestioned global leader of the automobile industry and everything that's good and right and green with the world. We'll see about that.

Toyota. By not getting out front of this story you have managed to blow it up real good to the point that your reputation will be in the dumper for years. Now the chorus of "what did they know and when did they know it" is growing louder by the day, and your turn in the barrel in Washington, D.C., is sure to be embarrassing and excruciatingly painful. And oh, by the way, what if there is something wrong with your "drive by wire" electronic systems? Because something tells us that this "fix" is a band-aid designed to appease people and take the steam out of the hysteria. What if there is a "ghost in the machine" that you can't detect, let alone predict? Oh, we forgot, there are always "sun spots," right? No, this isn't going away anytime soon, as much as you - and The New York Times - want it to.

Toyota. From the "Oh, Shit" File comes word that just when Toyota's True Believers think they'll skate through this unpleasant recall business in a few months and go back to being the Jolly Green Global Auto Juggernaut, the next wave of negative stories and confirmed reports of "incidents" is going to hit, and with a vengeance. This time the focus will be on the Holy Motoring Grail of the Green Intelligentsia - the Toyota Prius - which has escaped mention in this mess, until now, that is. We first heard of reports of unintended acceleration with these cars coming from the Pacific Northwest over two years ago. There's more coming, folks. A giant heaping steaming bowl of Not Good for Toyota.

Toyota. From the "Uh-Oh, We're Busted" File comes word that the roof is starting to cave in on Toyota for real when it comes to "incidents" being reported with the Prius. Apple computers co-founder Steve Wozniak told ABC's Brian Ross last night that he believes the problem with his Toyota Prius was not the gas pedal, but software, and that he had been trying to get the attention of Toyota and the government's NHTSA for several months without success. Wozniak told Ross that when he uses the cruise control on his 2010 Prius, the car sometimes goes into an "unlimited speed up." "I tap the cruise control lever to increase the speed and it basically goes into an unlimited speed up," said Wozniak. "If I hit the brake it disables my cruise control and it goes back to normal." Wozniak went on to tell ABC's Ross that the random acceleration on his Prius can be brought under control by brake and because he has a radar system that regulates his distance from other cars and forces the car to slow down if it gets too close to another vehicle. "But since my foot never touches the pedal," said Wozniak, "[the problem] cannot be a sticky accelerator pedal. There might be some bad software in there." Wozniak also said that he had been trying to get through to Toyota and NHTSA for at least two months without success. He said he got a "runaround" from NHTSA, and that he couldn't get past lower-level people at Toyota. "They don't see that this might be something important," said Wozniak. Oops. CNET first reported that Wozniak told a crowd at an event in San Francisco on Monday afternoon that he had a "very scary" problem with his Prius and that he'd been trying to inform Toyota and NHTSA for several months that the issue was software. "Toyota has this accelerator problem that we've all heard about," said Wozniak. "I have many models of Prius that got recalled, but I have a new model that didn't get recalled. This new model has an accelerator that goes wild but only certain conditions of cruise control. And I can repeat it over and over and over again – safely." "This is software," said Wozniak. "It's not a bad accelerator pedal. It's very scary, but luckily for me I can hit the brakes." When ABC News asked Toyota for a response to Wozniak's claim, a spokesperson for the company insisted that random acceleration is not caused by electronics. Uh, whatever you say, guys. Here's a tip for Toyota: You better go into full "Duck and Cover" mode because the shit storm has only just begun.

Toyota. From the "Uh-oh, We're Busted" File, Part II, comes word that a KelleyBlueBook.com study - which surveyed over 400 in-market car shoppers from Jan. 29 to Feb. 1 - showed that consideration of the Toyota brand dropped almost 50 percent, from 29 percent prior to the recall to 18 percent afterward. As first reported by AdAge, the study found that consideration and interest in Toyota vehicles has plummeted dramatically since the announcement of its series of massive recalls. More than 20 percent of consumers who said they were considering a Toyota for their next vehicle before the recall now have deleted the brand from their shopping lists, according to the study. Even more sobering? The automaker's overall brand consideration dropped to third place behind Ford - which now holds the top spot - and Chevrolet. Ouch, Baby.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. He urges Toyota owners to stop driving the recalled Toyota models in comments before a House appropriations hearing, and then afterwards reverses himself saying he "misspoke." Uh, nicely done, Ray. Oh, and by the way, is this guy the very best we can come up with for that post at this very moment in time? And the answer? How about no? We're just sayin' is all.

James P. Womack. The Toyota author/aficionado/homer tells The New York Times (of course) that, “People forget about a lot of things, betting against Toyota has been a good way to lose money.” Oh, really? And that's our AE Quote of the Week, Part I.

Christopher Jensen. Our refreshingly honest AE Quote of the Week, Part II, goes to Chris Jensen, who writes car reviews for The New York Times (and is definitely not a fan of The Autoextremist). Writing about the new Land Rover LR4 he had this to say: "I AM old and comfortably set in my ways, so the 2010 Land Rover LR4 presents a dilemma. I like vehicles that are small, cheap, practical and interesting to drive. Think Honda Fit. So I find it puzzling to the point of distress that I genuinely like the new LR4. It is big, heavy and fast. And it is capable of the kind of amazing off-road feats that I would rarely engage in. Its fuel economy is so bad it could qualify for the Oil Company Association’s 'Guzzler Truck of the Year,' if there were such an association or award. But, hey, I like it..."

 Tom Friedman. Publisher's Note: From the "Dicks We Have Known" File, the last time we checked with the infamous New York Times columnist and High Priest of the Green Movement - who repeatedly went on a witch hunt against GM and the rest of the domestic auto industry for the unforgivable sin of not being "green" enough (at least to his make-it-up-as-he-went-along standards), and other egregious atrocities against humanity - he was suggesting that the American automobile industry should cease to exist and that the United States would be much better off if Toyota became the sole maker of vehicles available here. Because after all, Toyota was just so darn good and green and wonderful. We said it then and we'll say it again, Friedman is a two-bit grandstanding blow hard who doesn't have the first clue as to what he's talking about when it comes to anything to do with cars and the automobile industry - or reality for that matter - and he and his Shiny Happy acolyte-zealots in California and Washington - and the New York Times, of course - can now go back over in the corner, sit down, and shut the fuck up. - PMD (1/27)

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