Toyota Had Prior Knowlede of Diffects
At this point is a trivial fact that Toyota Motor Company is in deep troubles over their repeat recalls in recent month. What people did not know is the previous knowledge of the issues by high ranking Toyota officials.
Did Toyota know about the issue and chose to continue with the production of their vehicles or were they as surprised as we all were? Documents handed over to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are painting a very scary picture of the company that many Americans have come to regard as one of the most trustworthy car manufacturers on the market.
In an internal document dating back to June 6 of 2009, a top executive boasted how by negotiating the recall to be an “equipment only” recall versus a much larger and costly “total vehicle recall” the company was able to save $100M plus. This recall was directly mentioning the problem [re: sudden acceleration].
The presentation was given by one of Toyota’s most respected executive,, head of Toyota’s North America division – Mr. Yoshi Inaba.
Following this presentation in 2009, a family of four died when their Lexus ES – yes included in the internal memo – crashed due to a malfunction with the gas pedal causing it to accelerate without control.
But this is not all that Toyota has been found to be guilty of, if one would study their trouble time line, many other inconsistencies will become obvious, all risking our lives. I am not going to go into too much detail about it but there were the Tundra brake issues, then the Camry acceleration problems, the Corolla and Camry and Lexus floor mats disaster, all more or less kept very well under cover.
The companies position even to this date remains the same – refusal to deal with U.S. government agencies. Before he changed his mind, the president of Toyota, Mr. Akio Toyoda , has refused on numerous occasions to testify before a senate or house committee. However that string of avoidance will end this coming Wednesday when he will have to address the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
I for one will not be purchasing a Toyota for many years not because I am scared but only because I condemn large corporations making a profit on my safety and that of my children. I personally don’t care if Mickey Mouse is endorsing the new Camry, the faith in their product is gone especially after it became transparent that they ignored all the tell tell signs and much more they plotted to hide safety concerns that I, as a consumer, should have been aware of.
Lives could have been saved if this document was released publicly, and if consumers, costumers and potential customers would have been made aware of the situation. I still believe that it is a moral obligation that one has to warn others of potential dangers even if that leads to loos of profit. But I guess in a world where investors no longer scrutinize the company’s way but rather only the bottom line, executives have to focus much less on safety concerns and much more on the balance sheet.
