Comments on: Column: On the Road

By: Rob Cleveland

Rob Cleveland — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:45:44 +0000

It’s important to remember that most of the claims made by Dimitrios P. Biller, former managing counsel for Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. are part of larger lawsuit efforts and so far no proof has been put forward in court, only allegations. When big class-action lawsuits are in play, it pays to keep an open mind as the mud gets slung back and forth across the net. On the other hand, if Biller can put forward evidence (evidence that probably won’t see the light of day considering he was legal counsel for Toyota at the time) then it could be one of the biggest whistle-blowing programs since Jeffrey Wigand.

By: Rod Johnson

Rod Johnson — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 04:47:28 +0000

There's a detailed timeline here. The record of evasions and denials seems pretty damning, though in some ways it seems like the NHTSA is equally at fault. I believe the first fatal crash was in 2004? when a Camry with a family in it suddenly accelerated off the fourth floor of a parking deck, and that was two years after the first complaints were filed.

By: Stephen Cain

Stephen Cain — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 03:19:51 +0000

Here’s a measure of the damage to Toyota’s reputation: The Japanese carmaker has eclipsed Palin as a target of the Letterman gag machine.

By: Andy

Andy — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 21:00:58 +0000

“Is it fair to penalize Toyota for not having experience with recalls? Probably not.”

What a joke, the company has known about these issues since at least 2004 when they used a former government employee to ask his previous agency to direct an inquiry in such a manner to make it look like their vehicles were safe. That seems like the understand the system pretty well. They deserve to be completely raked over the coals on this one. It’s not like the media put explosives into a vehicle to try to make this story a bigger deal, such as Dateline did to GM in the 90′s. These are cars that are deathtraps and Toyota has known this for years and chosen to do nothing.

By: Paul Rizza

Paul Rizza — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:56:49 +0000

It is not just culture. Toyota and Japan have a disregard for foreign law.
Read about Toyota’s exproduct liability lawyer who has exposed them for withholding evidence in product liability case. Those decisions came from corporate headquarters in Japan.

Read about how Japan’s ‘cash for clunkers’ program has unfolded and how Japan has eliminated foreign brands from participating. Japan is very good at providing lip service but they are not concerned about conducting business fairly and honestly.

The proof of their intentions is in their actions, which is to hide, deflect, suppress that which interferes with their goal, which is to acheive what they could not in WWII, economic domination.