Posts Tagged ‘Toyota’

Reacting to the growing public denunciation of distracted driving and consumer distrust of the auto industry following Toyota’s massive worldwide safety recall, an auto safety overhaul is moving rapidly through Congress. Last week, the Senate Commerce Committee voted to pass a bill that, after debate and compromise, has earned the support of consumers and automakers.

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Your car’s definitely not supposed to catch on fire. Recognizing this, General Motors has announced a recall of nearly 1.5 million trucks and SUVs over windshield wiper fluid that can cause fires. In 2004, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigated a similar windshield-wiper defect among GM models and fined the Detroit-based company $1 million for failing to conduct a timely recall.

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Chrysler announced today that it will recall more than 600,000 vehicles for safety problems in the brakes and wiring of popular Jeep and Dodge models. The company will recall a quarter of a million 2008-2009 minivans for an electrical problem with sliding doors that could “possibly result in a fire”; nearly 300,000 2007-2010 Jeep Wranglers for brake fluid leaks and break failure “increasing the risk of a crash”; and 25,000 2007 Dodge Calibur and Jeep Compass models for sticky accelerator pedals.

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Toyota managed to survive the last week of May without being threatened with any multi-million dollar fines. That’s likely because the embattled Japanese auto company already paid the Department of Transportation $16.4 million due to the hullabaloo surrounding its unintended acceleration problems, or because safety advocates are focusing on the BP oil disaster in the Gulf Coast for now. But that doesn’t mean Toyota had a dull week.

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Congress has made clear that it intends to launch a safety overhaul for the country’s fledgling auto industry. And despite years of heightened safety complaints and automobile recalls, Detroit, along with leading international automakers, appeared set to resist such restrictions, which they say will drastically increase the consumer cost of new cars.

At a Congressional hearing today, lawmakers had some harsh words for Toyota, which has recalled nearly 9 million vehicles worldwide, including 6 million here in the United States. “Toyota has repeatedly told the public it has conducted extensive testing for electronic defects,” said California Rep. Henry Waxman, chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee. “We can find no basis for these assertions.”

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A national survey conducted by Consumer Reports and the National Research Center found that Americans’ faith in the quality and safety of Toyota vehicles has evaporated, while confidence in other leading automobile manufacturers has improved. This is no doubt the result of Toyota’s constant stream of recalls spanning the past few years, which prompted the Department of Transportation to fine the Japanese automaker $16.4 million, the largest penalty ever sought by the agency. But Toyota’s reputation in the gutter hasn’t stopped it from posting impressive profits already this year.

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Ever since it became clear that Toyota lawsuits would be consolidated in federal court, personal injury plaintiff’s lawyers have been vying for the opportunity to take on the embattled auto maker for claims that resulted from unintended acceleration in a number of Toyota models. On Friday, District Judge James Selna announced plaintiff’s attorneyson both the consumer and non-consumer sides of the issue.

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The country’s top auto safety regulator put his rubber stamp on legislation introduced in congress this week that would increase the power of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to force automobile recalls. Responding to the legislation, the NHTSA’s head hancho David Strickland said “whether it’s negotiating with manufacturers or the ability for the agency to move forward in a mandatory fashion — those are the core of what we want to achieve.” With that in mind, we bring you This Week in Automobile Industry Recalls and a Toyota recall rap video.

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Until recently, Toyota has done everything it can to minimize the impact of its embarrassing string of safety violations and product recalls by admitting fault and forking over government fines without protest. Last week, the Detroit News reported that Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va) and Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) have teamed up to demand more accountability from Detroit’s massive but flegling car industry. Now, the car industry is poised to remove the tail from between its legs and is starting to fight back.

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Toyota’s in damage control mode. Feeling the backlash from their delayed recall of on vehicles with faulty brakes, the company now seems to be pulling any model with reported safety issues, whether or not they’ve caused accidents, injuries, or deaths. Toyota announced today that it will add 50,000 2003 Sequoia SUVs to its list of recalled vehicles to fix stability control issues that arise when accelerating from a stop. Knowing that the public relations damage has already set in, the company is taking steps to emerge as a leader in auto safety.

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