The Toyota problem
Toyota is in trouble these days over alleged technical safety hazards in some of their models. The models affected does not include the Prius which have found itself in the media spotlight lately. The last two incidents, one in USA and one here in Norway, both have similar taglines and both involved Prius. It is interesting to read how these owners allegedly have experienced their accelerator getting stuck while fully pressed in, especially since no proof of that ever happening have been found. Toyota engineers in USA have unsuccessfully tried to replicate and trigger this event.
So to the latest analysis of the incident involving James Sikes on an Californian hiway. Toyota have released their preliminary findings after doing an analysis of the Prius’ systems. It is very interesting to see how the system records show how the accelerator and the brakes have been floored every other time in a rapid sequence. They also found the brakes to severe wear and damage from overheating. Can’t help thinking that mr Sikes intentionally overheated the brakes. All tests, as per the design of the Prius, shows that applying the brakes while the accelerator is pressed will cut the engine power and thus stop the car. This is just one of the factors making mr Sikes story stinks of deception, read this comment on Forbes.com for the rest of the story. it is a pretty good read.
So what did really happen to mr Sikes Prius? After reading Toyota’s findings and the indications of mr Sikes financial past by Jalopnik.com I will openly speculate that mr Sikes had alterior motives causing this incident. What they are are unclear to me as he claims he will not sue Toyota. Maybe he was hoping for a lump settlement from Toyota, or maybe he was hoping to revitalize his career in pron. Whatever his motives are, I don’t believe the story and I think his reasoning behind it will come to us one day.
The incident in Norway have yet to be properly analysed and the following results published but it is already becoming clear that this story also lacks logic and reason. For someone doing over 100km/h stopping by the means of running into the guard-railing would cause a lot more damage than actually was on the car. Again I will speculate that the man driving probably had an incident of some sorts, maybe an silly accident. Whatever it was he probably found it too embarrasing, for whatever reason, and decided to try and bluff his way out of it. My bet is he didn’t count on this to hit big media like it did but was just jumping on the current media story in a hope that this would justify the accident for his insurer. I have no proof of this, but I wonder…
The big question here is what kind of consequence does this have for Toyota? Only time will tell, and only educated speculators can make an educated guess, but history will tell us that rumors can, and have, killed companies before. I wonder if these incidents will trigger more money hungry scammers to try their luck at Toyota’s faith. It is not unheard of that americans jump on the bandwagon to try and get a piece of the action, rightfully or not. So will this be the latest “gold rush” for the money lusting scam artist? Will all the bad publicity sink or hurt Toyota?
I believe that in a country like USA where lies and rumors can become “truths” faster than you think Toyota are in for a bumpy ride. When false rumors come alive they sometimes become an unstoppable train leading up to a horrific wreck…I hope this is not the faith of Toyota.
