Car and Driver: Toyota Recall: Scandal, Media Circus, and Stupid Drivers - Editorial

cwerdna · Feb 19, 2010

Toyota Recall: Scandal, Media Circus, and Stupid Drivers - Editorial - Car and Driver

Notable quotes:

We dive into Toyota’s three-ring circus and emerge with the facts.
...
We're no Toyota apologists, but if you look past the media circus, the numbers don't reveal a meaningful problem. Every man, woman, and child in the U.S. has approximately a one-in-8000 chance of perishing in a car accident every year. Over a decade, that's about one in 800. Given the millions of cars included in the Toyota recalls and the fewer than 20 alleged deaths over the past decade, the alleged fatality rate is about one death per 200,000 recalled Toyotas. Even if all the alleged deaths really are resultant from vehicle defects—highly unlikely—and even if all the worst things people are speculating about Toyotas are true, and you're driving one, and you aren't smart or calm enough to shift to neutral if the thing surges, you're still approximately 250 times likelier to die in one of these cars for reasons having nothing to do with unintended acceleration. So if you can muster the courage to get into a car and drive, the additional alleged risk of driving a Toyota is virtually negligible.
Click to expand...

chimo · Feb 19, 2010

Good article! It's good to see that common sense is not dead everywhere.

It will be interesting to see how quickly the trolls attack this thread.

JimboPalmer · Feb 19, 2010

For Car and Driver, that was impressive. Real facts, and real analysis, distinctly separated.

efusco · Feb 19, 2010

WOW!! Nicely done C/D.

cwerdna · Feb 19, 2010

Also for some perspective, almost 38K people died in motor vehicle accidents in 2008 per FARS Encyclopedia and ~27K of them were motor vehicle occupants.

The "Nearly 43,000 people die on the nation's roadways each year" cited by AAA report says that car accidents cost Americans $164.2 B. - Mar. 5, 2008 is close to the # of 2007 deaths.

dogfriend · Feb 19, 2010

Personally, I'm more worried that a meteor somewhere out there has my name written all over it. :madgrin:

robbyr2 · Feb 19, 2010

Yes, but we have a zero tolerance policy. Like the one that had kid suspended for a 2 inch long plastic toy pistol in school.

Car and Driver: Toyota Recall: Scandal, Media Circus, and Stupid Drivers - Editorial

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Car and Driver: Toyota Recall: Scandal, Media Circus, and Stupid Drivers - Editorial

cwerdna Senior Member

chimo Junior Member

JimboPalmer Tsar of all the Rushers

efusco Moderator Emeritus Staff Member

cwerdna Senior Member

dogfriend Human - Animal Hybrid

robbyr2 New Member

efusco Moderator Emeritus
Staff Member