Toyota driver reportedly rams dealership with truck

I was thinking a class action suit might be in order against Toyota for handling this in about the most unprofessional manner possible, thus killing our resale values. However, in all class action suits the lawyers get millions and the plaintifs get pennies. So I guess if you have to have your throttle get stuck, in front of a Toyota dealer might be the ideal place . And if it happened a few times to every dealership in the country, Toyota might actually take notice.

 

I have kin in Louisiana... there may be some validity to the hot-head, red-neck not taking no for an answer theory...



I'm just saying.

 

I'm calling BS too for a couple of reasons that don't make sense to me..
Where was his truck parked? In front of the dealership facing it presumably. So he started it and shifted into gear ( Reverse or Drive ? ). Well if it was facing the dealership he probably should have shifted to Reverse but it appears that he drove it forward!! Why?

He was parked away from the building, say across the lot, but facing the building and he shifted to Drive and it took off on him. Well it wouldn't have gone from standing still to WOT in an instant.

I think the dealership has a good case of wilfull destruction of property and reckless endangerment. I don't think that keep him as a customer is going to be worthwhile. Sue him and press charges.

 

Sounds like the customer flipped out. I know when I had that 2000 GMC Sierra, I felt like doing that several times

 

The three rentals:

1) Corvair.

2) Ford Pinto.

3) Ford Explorer w/ Firestone 500 tires.

Tom

 

Ammo......that's the dealership where I bought my '09 Tacoma and Prius. But......you are right about people down here. Don't twerk them off. Example: the recent NFL vs. Who Dat controversy that ultimately the NFL backed down from!! Don't underestimate people down here; they have a resilient spirit!!

 

Nah, Chevy Cobalt

 

Sorry, "resilient spirit" and "reckless endangerment of others
for no reason" are not the same thing.
.
_H*

 

Does "aggressively stupid and fiercely proud of it" fall into the same category?

Tom

 

it would have been a better story if it was one of these

 

Of course it is bogus. But you have to admit Toyota will be hard pressed not to pay off considering the press on the whole acceleration thing. Toyota put themselves into this position by not dealing with the problem until two governments slammed them, and then handling it in such a draconian manner (closing down production and halting sales). No jury now wouldn't support the guy - there has to be "no reasonable doubt" that he did it on purpose, and with Toyota admitting to the problem in such a public manner there is certainly "reasonable doubt."

 

Draconian Manner? Would you rather they continued production and sale of merchandise with known safety issues? Toyota is doing the responsible thing by halting sales and production of those vehicles and fixing ones that are currently on the road first. It certainly isn't the best thing for the company (in the short run) - just imagine how much money they're loosing daily by not being able to sell those vehicles.

 

"Responsible" would be for Toyota upper management to address the issue, and try to spin the fact that they did nothing until threatened by the governments of two countries. However:

http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/04/autos/toyota.fortune/index.htm

Toyota's no-show leadership
By Alex Taylor III, senior editorFebruary 4, 2010: 12:26 PM ET

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- The last time anyone looked, Toyota was a Japanese company controlled by a Japanese family. But during the entire accelerator recall crisis -- now complicated by brake problems with the Prius -- they have been all but invisible. These are no absentee owners. The Toyoda family built Toyota Motor (TM) into the largest auto company in the world and the leader of its third generation, Akio Toyoda, is president. His father, Dr. Shoichiro Toyoda, who turns 85 on February 17th, is the company's honorary chairman and, according to associates, he remains deeply involved in the company's operations.

So with this rich history behind them, who did Toyota send out this week to answer questions about the accelerator recall? An American sales executive named Jim Lentz. Now Lentz is one of the smartest and most capable executives in the auto industry, but he isn't even Toyota's number one executive in the U.S. Nor is he an engineer, which makes him less then perfectly qualified to answer technical questions about how an automobile starts and stops.

But what's really worse is that he is not a member of the Toyoda family. Akio Toyoda has strongly held views about the importance of quality and reliability in Toyota's history, and the role of his family in the company's success. But neither he nor his father has confronted the recall problem head on in public. The younger Toyoda has even gotten the nickname "no-show Akio." It is frankly surprising and hard to explain. In a good year, North America provides the bulk of the profits for Toyota and is a major contributor behind Toyota's enormous market capitalization. But now, at a time of its biggest crisis, when the flow of those profits is threatened, Toyota has allowed America to fend for itself.

One senses a deep debate going on inside the company. On one side is the American operation arguing for Japan to get significantly involved in the recall in a way that the public can see. But America has always had a difficult time making its opinions heard on the other side of the Pacific. That difficulty has been exacerbated because of the retirement at year's end of a senior California-based public relations operative. Back in Japan, executives are struggling to come up with an answer to public doubts about Toyota cars and trucks. But they are traditionally slow to act and their sense of how to communicate with American audiences is not well-developed.

 

No, that would be good PR.

What I find interesting is all this talk about Toyota being "threatened by the governments of two countries"... I've seen that in a few places on here, but haven't seen anything to back it up. Having done my research, It looks like the NHTSA has investigated uncontrolled accelerations in Toyota's many times in recent years, and each time closed the case without finding anything wrong with the vehicles. In fact, the NHTSA states:

Press Releases | National Highway Traffic Safety Administration(NHTSA) | U.S. Department of Transportation

That seems to me to be a pretty clear statement that this isn't really a huge deal - much worse was the Firestone tire recall 10 years ago - there were what, about 100 deaths at the time the recall was announced, and over 1000 injuries?

The responsible thing to do is to issue the recall when it becomes apparent something needs to be fixed. I have yet to see ANYONE present any sort of evidence of a delay on Toyota's part. I have yet to see ANY proof that Toyota is not doing everything it can to fix the issue for all of its customers as quickly as possible. But you seem to believe otherwise... can you please provide evidence?