Gabrielle’s Outlook: Toyota’s Turmoil

I’ve been closely following the Toyota problems since the moment it hit. I’m from a family of Toyota owners, and naturally, if our cars were to be recalled, it would be most unfortunate. What started as a problem with a few gas pedals quickly ballooned into a worldwide recall of almost 9 million cars and is being blamed for a quickly rising number of deaths. More and more people are claiming that they lost friends or family due to the acceleration issue, and now the most popular car maker in the world is facing some very critical abuse.

Akio Toyoda, the owner of Toyota, has faced heavy criticism for his slow response and general inaction. Perhaps if he had taken hold of his errant car company sooner, then this whole thing would only be a matter of the cars he governs, rather than an attack on his person. In any case, better late than never and hopefully he doesn’t screw things up while he (or his representative) pleads their case in front of Congress this week. The faster this problem is resolved is the faster that Toyota can regain the trust wavering fans of the company.

But something strikes me as a bit unfair. Comparatively, someone dies from SUV rollovers exponentially more often than a Toyota speeds out of control, yet one gets significantly more media coverage than the other. Very rarely do you see a Toyota stopped on the side of the road for something other than a flat tire. Up until now, Toyota has maintained a spotless reputation and yet they get continuous blasting for their first error in seven decades. How come this hullabaloo is such a huge deal, when recalls bigger than this have happened before? General Motors has a long history of recalls, starting in 1971 when they pulled almost 7 million cars for engine problems, returning in 1981 with recalls of almost 6 million cars, and 8 million more from 1998 to last year, according to Reuters. That’s far more than Toyota’s affected cars, with repeat offenses at least once a decade. Obviously there’s a severe bias here, how come GM doesn’t get the vicious lambasting Toyota does?

The fact that there are still so many Toyotas on the road from the mid to late 1980s is a strong testament to the reliability of the brand. Not many Fords or Kias or pretty much any other brand can say that about their cars. Though no word has been mentioned on any recalls for Lexus or Scion, it won’t be long before we find out if Toyota’s negative attention affects the company’s hotter, younger sister or redheaded stepchild.

I suffer from intense brand loyalty. Growing up, I was driven around in a Toyota, and now I have my own. I know every make and model, too much of Toyota’s history, and I plan on naming my next cat Venza after Toyota’s most recent car. Perhaps it’s a bit of bias when I say I believe Toyota’s acceleration issues have been greatly overstated by the media, but that doesn’t mean the problem doesn’t exist. Since we all know about it by now, Toyota owners can let common sense prevail and check the gas pedals and the floor mats. If you can’t tell if something is amiss with your gas pedal, then maybe you shouldn’t be driving in the first place. The moment I heard about the problem I went and checked my carpet and tested everything out. In any case, for the gas pedal to get caught on the carpeting means that your foot is probably slammed way down on the pedal, which likely means extreme speeding, which in turn just worsens what could be an already potentially fatal situation. Toyota owners have possession of their cars, not Akio Toyoda or his cohorts or anybody else, and we can either check our cars or switch to some other brand. Since Toyota has not yet let me down personally, I will continue to drive my own until it sputters and leaves me hanging on SR 417. Depending on how this all turns out, I may switch brands. The Porsche Panamera or Maserati Quattroporte seem like a suitable substitute if the need arises.