Talk about timing-Motorweek Driver's Choice - Prius Best Car of the Year

Have never watched it.

Anyone know what TV channel here in Los Angeles carries it? I can't find it listed anywhere on KCET's program listing.

 

"Funding for PBS programs comes from a variety of sources - member stations' dues, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, government agencies, foundations, corporations and private citizens."


The amount of money that MW gets (indirectly) from "Government Agencies" is a pittance of what GM took DIERECTLY from the Federal Government.

No "conspiracy" theories?? LOL. Part of the "smear" of toyota does have it's roots in the Federal Government's stake in GM, etc. Make no mistake, Obama carried the critical states of Pa, Ohio, and Michigan - and most of the Midwest - because of his promises to the US auto industry. Obama wouldn't have carried a single state in the Midwest without courting the unions.

As I've come to realize after living in Washington for 12 years - Everything in Washington is about politics. Everything. What the president does, what congress does, is not always about doing the right thing. What drives Washington is making sure you get re-elected, or your party stays in control. To do that, politicians do what politicians do best...they do or say anything that they feel their constituents want to hear. I'm NOT a Republican (far from it), but even the republican Senator from Indiana got it right - Enough with the "organized smear tactics" of Toyota. If Toyota is at fault, then levy a stiff fine, but what is happening with Toyota is over the top. I would agree 100%.

 

This answers the obvious question (that was not in the first post) - Did MW make their evaluations prior to all the brake issues surfacing in the media, at which time, this issue became well known to those outside the Prius community. The answer is - Yes. I would like to believe that their selection would not have changed if the selection was ongoing right now?

 

I've received a number of private messages advising me that I put you on my "ignore list", as have many others. Their point, as was mine - Since you don't own a prius...you add nothing to the discussion, with no direct experiences with which to share.

So, this is my last post to you: IGNORE. :blah:

 

So are you saying the cars they tested came to them before any brake issues, and only those that were delivered after they got there's that the problem came up?

 

What I am saying is that they did not expereince this braking phenomena. Why is that so hard to understand? I had my car for months before I felt what some people had experienced....and i only experienced this feeling because I was looking for it, and started to do my own tests. As has been pointed out on this web site, it takes a specific/unique set of circumstances before the braking release happens. Maybe the good folks at MW didn't brake while driving over pot holes? Don't know.

 

You don't think there were any "brake issues" talked / complained before or during the testing by them? You think they were unaware of any problems?

 

I'll take that as you are climbing back onboard.

Plus if you're trying to make me feel bad by suggesting that many people are ignoring me and putting me on their ignore list? I don't care.

I learned a long time ago you just have to be yourself. You can't "make" people like you. Enjoy your "ignoring" of me. That is a way to avoid problems and reality...just not a good way.

 

Is this a serious question?

I have no idea whether they were unaware. Maybe they never had the right conditions to reproduce this phenomena? Maybe they did feel something, but didn't think it was significant - ie, many people do NOT think this is a problem. I've felt it twice, and both times it was very slight and I did NOT find it to be an alarming issue. Yet some owners descibe it in terms of life or death. Who knows what they felt, or didn't feel? But I do believe that had they felt this braking phenomena, and thought it was a big enough deal, they would have mentioned it.

The "complaints" did not blow up to epic proportion until just recently. No car magazine, no car news oulet will act on a small number of disgruntled owners. If they were to do that, pretty much no car would ever get high marks. really. Every car, every year has X number of owners who have issues with this or that...but until the numbers grow to a significant %, it's nothing more than noise (at that time). Until there are accidents that can be directly linked to this issue, it's not anything they can percieve as an important issue.

 

Their station listing:

http://www.mpt.org/motorweek/carriage2009.pdf

 

MotorWeek: Drivers' Choice Awards

Motor Week is a program produced by Maryland Public Television. From the following,

"Where does MPT acquire its funding? How does MPT spend its money?

MPT has been an independent agency of the State of Maryland since its 1969 establishment, less than one-third or our budget comes from state money. That means that approximately two-thirds needs to be raised each year to fund the activities of MPT- the programs you see on your television set plus the non-broadcast, educational, outreach, telecommunications, and Internet initiatives that touch the lives of tens of thousands of Marylanders annually."

On page 12 you will see where revenues come from. From what I can tell, MPT (and that means Motor Week) gets NO Federal Funding (at least DIRECTLY), but if these grants are federal in nature, then MPT only receives about $3.5 mil, and what % of that went to produce MW?...how much did GM get?;

http://pegasus.mpt.org/about/annualreport0708.pdf

 

lol!!