Toyota’s big recall raises big questions

Toyota issued a massive recall and stopped production of several models last week after acknowledging the gas pedal on these vehicles could stick, causing sudden acceleration.

It’s a big deal, but it needs to be and it may not be enough.

Some auto safety advocates and car industry insiders have suspected that Toyotas were plagued with this problem for 10 years.

I first got wind of this in September, 2003. I was a cub reporter in Napa, California and a woman driving a Toyota minivan at high speeds crashed through the median on a nearby stretch of multi-lane highway. She and another motorist were killed when her minivan crashed headfirst into the second woman’s vehicle.

A few people I interviewed for the story (police, mechanics) said it was “another” instance of a Toyota suddenly accelerating. When I probed further, they wouldn’t say another word about it.

Thinking back, the minivan driver’s behavior is almost identical to the California State Highway patrolman who was off duty and driving with family last year when his Lexus (made by Toyota) started speeding through traffic. All four people in the car died when it left the highway at around 120 mph and rammed into the hilly roadside terrain.

It was this accident that finally prompted Toyota’s internal tests and this huge recall.

Congressional hearings are planned and Toyota executives will be asked what they knew and when they knew it.

We should all pay close attention to these hearings, whether we drive a Toyota or not.

There is no end to speculation that corporations only admit potentially dangerous product flaws if they can’t quietly “fix” the problem behind the scenes and settle a few, isolated lawsuits.

I have no idea whether this speculation is justified in Toyota’s case. There are only a handful of people who know what was happening inside the company and whether this has been a long-term problem. I am eagerly awaiting their testimony.

Not because I’m a “car guy”–but because last month the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that corporations can put money into election campaigns because they have the same rights as individuals to free speech.

Debate is raging right now over the kind of political influence corporations can buy and what these corporations can do with that influence.

Could a car maker–or a baby-stroller maker–ultimately secure legislation that would protect them from lawsuits if they make life-threatening products?

The Toyota hearings may give us some insight into how large, multi-national corporations think about customers, politics and the bottom line.