A good buddy of mine just put his Prius into the back of a Tahoe at 94MPH and walked away without a scratch. He engaged CC, then tapped the brake and the car accel'd. No stopping it the old fashioned way, so he had to pick between shoving 1 car off a cliff, another into a hillside or bruising a Tahoe. I know him, he's a brilliant software and electrical engineer and has rally driving experience... he's not one to mistake a pedal or freak out.

Congress is diverting attention from other matters but this pervasive series of issues with the latest Toy cars is a sign of deeper engineering quality problems and needs to be addressed as a serious problem. Kind of a catch 22 for congress and a PR nightmare for Toyota.

 

haterade flows strong through your veins.

funny link tho. stupid, but funny.

 

HAHA, okay got me there.

I dont know much about this because I dont have cable to watch this stuff on TV. I do catch about 20-30 minutes of CNN everyday but I'm busy eating at the same time.

Toyota screwed up and people are dead because of it. The DOT and NHTSA are not going to let this one slide that easily. What I'm saying is that Toyota is being the "example" for all other companies to learn from.

I dont feel this is some sort of PR scandal. People are dead and are still at risk. I belive that is what is driving this whole matter. Families want justice as I'm sure any of you all would want.

 

No doubt Toyota fucked up big time. Im not trying to defend Toyota...they fucked up. I dont think its a PR scandal either, I just think Congress went overboard compared to other similar cases of auto maker failures in the past, and its happening right after the govt spent a **** ton of $ to bail out GM...and when Toyota/import sales fall, Domestic sales rise.

Im just not convinced its just a coincidence.

 

I agree with you somewhat, however health care is a real issue for millions of people. If you are a 22 year old single guy in good health, yeah healthcare probably isn't a big deal. If you are a 32 year old guy with a family and having to decide if you want to spend $1,000 a month on healthcare or put food on the table....I'd say that makes it a real issue. How we solve that issue is where it gets fuzzy. Anyway, I don't want to make this a healthcare debate cause that's not what this thread is about.

I agree that Congress is useless for the most part, but I do think they have a responsibility to look into this issue because one of the basic roles of government is to ensure the safety of its citizens. If Toyota is building faulty products that are harming people and Congress did nothing or said nothing people would be outraged. So we can't have it both ways people.

With respects to the union issue. Toyota has 1 union plant I believe and that's located in Fremont, CA. They are closing that plant and laying off 4,700 workers. That's a lot of people, but it amounts to nearly 20,000 people in California affected because of all the support businesses. I've heard the closure of this one plant could possibly affect nearly 50,000 people nationwide. I have no doubt in my mind Toyota targeted the Fremont, CA plant because it's union and they don't want to pay higher wages and health benefits for the employees....whatever floats their boat, but it's going to hurt a lot of people

 

Yup, that would be the NUMMI plant. My stepmoms company had contracts with them for years. I know they produced, the Matrix, Pontiac Vibe, and a few other cars. I just heard though that some new company looking to do electric vehicles I believe wants to take over the plant which would produce a lot of jobs. But they need about $500 Billion to do so.

 

Yeah, there's been several companies interested in the plant, but it's pretty darn expensive to convert something into what they want. Sometimes it's cheaper to start from scratch. Hopefully it works out.

 

wasn't NUMMI supposed to be ajoint venture with Toyota and GM? with GM pulling out last year.

PS: not to make this a healthcare discussion....but most of congress has not even read the "health care bill", don't know what it will do and are just following orders from Obama and Pelosi.


if given a choice between jobs or healthcare...i think we need jobs first.

when everybody has jobs, a place to live and food for thier families.....then we can worry about healtcare.

 

Yes, that is true. I'm not sure the inner workings of that deal, but I don't think Toyota needed to shut down because GM pulled out.

 

well if i had a choice to close a UAW plant, in CA.....and transfer that line to another plant that does not have to deal with the crooks at the UAW and all the anti business taxes and regulations in California.

i would move it too....