Four people died in this runaway Avalon.

Was this because of arrogance?

In December 2009, in Southlake, Texas, a blue Toyota Avalon raced through a stop sign at more than 45 mph, blasted through a pipe fence, and overturned in a pond six feet deep.  Four persons from the same church who were inside the Avalon all drowned.  The wife of the driver (who was not in the car) said that her husband loved his Toyota Avalon but “the only problem he had was that the accelerator would stick.”

Would this tragedy have been avoided if Toyota had simply owned up to the problem they knew about in 2008?

Since the first problems of its cars experiencing sudden car acceleration and slow brakes, Toyota, has reacted slowly.  It has failed to address the issue in a satisfactory and public manner.  It has taken too long to start dealing with this issue in the public forum. 

Toyota dealers were misled or left in the dark about the reasons for the problems with the acceleration and brake issues.  The company is either dishonest or inept, or both.

Toyota recalls and disclosures in recent months are part of a decades long pattern where the automaker has often reacted slowly to safety concerns, in some instances making design changes without telling customers about problems with vehicles already on the road.

Toyota had received complaints from customers in Europe about sticking accelerator pedals as early as December 2008.  In a Congressional committee meeting on January 27 of 2010, Toyota officials lied and said they first learned of this problem through reports of sticking pedals in vehicles in England and Ireland in the spring of 2009.  However, Toyota later acknowledged it had received reports that there were problems with the accelerator pedals as early as December 2008.  And, three years ago, it recalled 2007 and 2008 Toyota Camry and Lexus ES 350 models because the accelerator could supposedly stick under floor mats.  This floor mat red herring story was maintained until the end of 2009, until the U.S. Department of Transportation started an investigation.

U.S. Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood, decided to confront Toyota late last year when it did not announce a recall for the sticking pedals, even though it had recalled millions of cars because it claimed that the floor mats interfered with the gas pedal.  “Maybe they were a little ‘safety deaf’ in their North American office,” Mr. LaHood told The Associated Press.

In early 1996, Toyota engineers discovered that a crucial steering mechanism could fracture on the Hilux Surf, which was sold as the 4Runner in the United States.  Toyota started installing a stronger version on new models.  However, it took Toyota eight more years to start recalling Hilux Surfs and 4Runners built before the 1996 design change, and only after an accident involving an out-of-control Hilux Surf prompted a police investigation.

David Bergamini was born in Japan and felt Japanese prejudices of superiority first hand.

David Bergamini, writer and historian, who spent many years in Japan, wrote that the Japanese consider Americans to be “red headed barbarians” and feel far superior to us and our culture.

If you review objectively the Toyota commercials that have aired in the last decade, there is a clear implication that the average American is stupid and can only be related to with silly messages.

Recommendation:  Americans should reject the chauvinistic attitude of the Japanese and not buy their cars anymore.