Posted on 02/05/2010 11:25:08 AM PST by La Lydia
A blizzard of safety concerns surrounding Toyota has put the Obama administration in a delicate position as it seeks to avoid the temptation of boosting the fortunes of Detroit's struggling US carmakers by bullying the Japanese manufacturer too aggressively. Toyota has swiftly become the butt of jokes in the US. The talkshow host Jon Stewart this week dubbed the firm's pedal problems "the Toyotathon of death".
Speculating on the reaction of the bosses of General Motors and Chrysler, Stewart said: "Boys, we're back in the game! All we had to do was have the leading competition become a death trap."
In the wake of a bailout of Detroit's ailing manufacturing industry last year the US government owns a 60% stake in GM and has a minority holding in Chrysler. This leaves it with an apparent conflict of interest as it stands in judgment over a foreign rival.
The US transport secretary, Ray LaHood, has come under fire for over-reacting to Toyota's difficulty – he was obliged to perform a swift U-turn on Wednesday after initially advising owners to stop driving all of the 8.1m v ehicles affected by the global recall...
Compounding the sensitivity of the crisis, Toyota is deeply unpopular with America's leading car plant union, the United Auto Workers. The union demonstrated outside the Japanese embassy in Washington last month in protest at employment of non-union workers and the closure of a factory in California...
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
my understanding is the defective part was made here , not Japan...but GubermintMotors wants you to buy GM cuz it’s made here. huh??
Glad I didnt replace my Toyoda last year, because this year will bring much better deals. Definitely on my list now.
Unintended consequences...The result of the DIMS in charge.
Obamaloon admininstration claims for:
1: Job creation - no belief
2: Saving the auto industry - no belief
3: Spending our way out of the depression (no misprint) - no belief
4: Global warming - no belief
5: Toyota engineering problems - no belief
Are we getting the picture here?
Remember, if the MSM believes it, it ain’t true.
Period.
I prefer Hondas partly because I’m a lifetime stickshift driver. Most other people should prefer Toyotas. The most major and expensive thing there is to break on any gasoline or diesel vehicle is an automatic transmission; Toyota’s are bulletproof, Honda’s are not.
If the UAW has anything to do with the the manufacturing of any car or truck, I won’t own it.
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. I’m planning on trading in my Ford, getting her either a new Rav 4 or Subaru and taking her ‘05 Rav4 for myself.
Buy a VW and support socialist unions in other countrys.(instead of socialist unions in ours who contribute to our elections).
by her I mean my wife. lol
A major purchase like an automobile is a personal decision each of us makes based on those factors we consider important. To some UAW involvement is the deciding factor while to others Toyota and Japan’s involvement is World War II is an important matter. Through the years, I have had to temper my attitude about the war and resulting loss of several family members and friends and I suspect that as time goes by others will likewise mellow toward the UAW.
It is ironic that the parts involved in this safety recall were manufactured by non union workers in America while similar parts manufactured by union workers in Japan were not affected. In any event, I don’t think the unions, nor for that matter the manufacturing workers in either country have anything to do with design and engineering decisions.
My first 4 cars were stick shift, and then I moved to automatic. It's just more practical in heavy traffic, with lots of starts and stops and turns while you accelerate.
My current car is made by Toyota, and I find it fairly good. Not excellent, but good. Does what I need, and is extremely fuel-efficient, allows me to travel all over the state at low cost. I haven't experienced any stuck accelerator issues (since I have a standard set of floor mats,) and though the braking issue is real and is there, it's just a minor quirk, one of those that all cars used to have - until the society started pretending that operating a vehicle should be just as simple and repeatable as operating a spoon.
...boosting the fortunes of Detroit's struggling US carmakers by bullying the Japanese manufacturer too aggressively... The [partisan shill] talkshow host Jon Stewart this week dubbed the firm's pedal problems "the Toyotathon of death". Speculating on the reaction of the bosses of General Motors and Chrysler, Stewart said: "Boys, we're back in the game! All we had to do was have the leading competition become a death trap." ...the US government [s/b the Obama administration] owns a 60% stake in GM and has a minority holding in Chrysler. This leaves it with an apparent conflict of interest as it stands in judgment over a foreign rival... Compounding the sensitivity of the crisis, Toyota is deeply unpopular with America's leading car plant union, the United Auto Workers. The union demonstrated outside the Japanese embassy in Washington last month in protest at employment of non-union workers and the closure of a factory in California...Thanks La Lydia.
a foreign rival?
how many domestic jobs does Toyota create here? .. and in north america?
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