Page 181 - Toyota Under Fire

TOYOT A UNDER FIRE

is actually the only company I can remember actually doing any-
thing to address these complaints.”* Businessweek, Forbes, and the
Wall Street Journal all ran multiple articles debunking many of
the myths that had run rampant.†
The news and analysis debunking sudden acceleration claims
finally stemmed the tide of negative publicity. Based on our anal-
ysis, reporting of incidents became more cautious. For instance,
most coverage of a Camry crash in November of 2010 noted that
none of the allegations of SUA other than the Saylor accident
had been proven. The number of negative articles written about
Toyota in six major news sources went from 235 in the month of
February to just 7 in August.
Another key decision in containing the damage was not to
contest fines related to the series of recalls that were levied by the
NHTSA. As we noted in Chapter 3, the NHTSA’s frustration
with the way information was shared about the sticky pedals, in
particular, is understandable. Given the public uproar over the
recalls and the suggestions that the NHTSA had been too soft on
Toyota, the fact that the NHTSA levied the maximum fines al-
lowable isn’t surprising. However the validity of those fines can
be reasonably called into question: the regulations that Toyota
violated, according to the NHTSA, are vague and ultimately turn
on opinions as to whether a particular issue is a “safety” defect or

* http://www.edmunds.com/car-news/distracted-driving-summit-letter.html.
† See, for instance, http://blogs.wsj.com/drivers-seat/2010/05/14/why
-do-so-many-cars-crash-into-beauty-salons/;
http://blogs.forbes.com/michaelfumento/2010/11/16/in-black-and
-white-the-toyota-hysteria-exemplified/;
http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/feb2010/bw20100225
_403524.htm.

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