Toyota Corolla May Be Recalled over Steering Problem

Can you summarize the article. I don't subscribe, so I could only see the teaser. Sounds like another Government scandal in the making.

Ed

Here's a link to Strassel's article:

Eddie

just follow it, you don't need to subscribe.

" That vague screeching noise you hear in D.C., the slight odor of burning rubber? That's the government trying to brake its anti-Toyota campaign. It may be a little late."

All I got was:

"BY KIMBERLEY A. STRASSEL

"That vague screeching noise you hear in D.C., the slight odor of burning rubber? That's the government trying to brake its anti-Toyota campaign. It may be a little late.

"The Toyota spectacle has become slightly surreal, as a few uncertain questions about "sudden acceleration" morphed into a media and political firestorm over the safety of its entire fleet. It is also proving an interesting case study in the treacherous politics that accompany government ownership of U.S. industry. "Washington's initial enthusiasm in bashing Toyota is beginning to backfire. "There's no question that in the first, heady days of recall, at least ...

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I wanted to continue reading and couldn't figure out how to get any further without subscribing. Am I missing something? I realize it is an opinion piece, but I'd really like to read more. I suppose I can go by the library later.

Ed

In article , snipped-for-privacy@invalid.inv says...

Right. Probably GM and Obama operatives are employing NSA black ops, wiring up Toyotas to remotely crash them. But it's hard to get at them when they set up a 3 agency cover through CIA and the Navy Intelligence "gray group" teams. That's called a "triple-hide." Or maybe the WSJ is an anti-Obama, anti-union rag. Strassel is a yakker on one of those Saturday Fox Wall Street shows every week being one the usual suspects, kissing the asses of the Bernie Maddows with the rest of them. Hardly a respected journalist, she is a right-wing mouthpiece who has been caught lying before. What I've been hearing all day on TV, various channels, including Fox, is that Toyota documents have come to light showing that they saved hundreds of million by avoiding initial recalls. Big deal, but it will be spun anti-Toyota. You should get yourself on TV so the real truth is revealed to a larger audience than wacky Strassel has. See what Republican Congressman Issa has to say about your ideas. He said he would supoena old man Toyota. They're all idiot grandstanders. And you're no less an idiot for your wacky bullshit. Personally, I think it's all overblown, but I'm not a Jap fanboy like you, so I don't get my panties in a wad and get all paranoid. BTW, guess who is complaining the most about Toyota? Toyota owners! I do think the news media leads them by the nose though. So what's new? Toyota buyers being led by the nose is hardly news. Most car buyers are led by the nose.

Just becasue she is a right wing conservative doesn't mean she is wrong. I'd like to read her entire column before I decide.

My personal opinion is that NHTSA went from under-reaction to over-reaction on the Toyota vehicle speed control complaints. I think they paid to little attenting in 2007 and now they are going off the deep end trying to cover their rears. I suppose the change in administration is also a factor.

And then their is the congressional investigation - grand standing. They don't want to solve any real problems, so they drag a few buisness guys in front of the cameras and torture them. The hope is that the people will forget what a lousy job congress is doing and blame buisness.

Ed

"C. E. White" wrote in news:hluc6l$2ko$ snipped-for-privacy@news.eternal-september.org:

Shhh... don't tell anybody, but Google's cache contains the whole article.

Here's the URL to the cached copy:

You'll probably get a couple of errors as the page loads, but the text is all there.

"C. E. White" wrote in news:hludqu$95v$ snipped-for-privacy@news.eternal-september.org:

The Google cache copy is here:

Ignore any errors; the text is all there.

THANKS!

It is an interesting read (once I got past IE not letting me read it - FireFox did).

I agree with most of what was said. I do think the Government over reacted. I also think all sorts of polictical pressure is being applied with a lot of it coming from the groups that have a vested interest in toning things down (pro-Toyota voices so to speak). The article never indicated there weren't grounds for a recall, just that the whole thing was over blown and was mishandled by the Obama administration. I can agree with that sentiment. But I also think the original 2007 compalints were mishandled when the Bush administration was in power. So what we have, in my opinion, is two Goverment screw-up leading to a massive over reaction.

I liked the following line form the final paragraph:

"Only a year ago, Democrats were wailing about economic damage if GM or Chrysler went bust. They forestalled that with government ownership. They, and Toyota, are now dealing with the all-too-easy-to-predict political behavior that followed such meddling in the private economy."

Some medling is justified, even necessary ( some level of safety standards for instance), but all to often politicians try to micro-adjust the economy to buy votes. It rarely works out well.

Ed

That vague screeching noise you hear in D.C., the slight odor of burning rubber? That's the government trying to brake its anti-Toyota campaign. It may be a little late. The Toyota spectacle has become slightly surreal, as a few uncertain questions about "sudden acceleration" morphed into a media and political firestorm over the safety of its entire fleet. It is also proving an interesting case study in the treacherous politics that accompany government ownership of U.S. industry.

Washington's initial enthusiasm in bashing Toyota is beginning to backfire.

There's no question that in the first, heady days of recall, at least some in the Obama administration and Congress saw advantage in undermining Toyota. The majority owner of Government Motors felt it couldn't hurt to fan the image of a "foreign" auto maker disregarding the safety of American drivers. Shoppers might just buy a Chevy instead, propping up government investment and bolstering United Auto Worker union jobs. And of course the trial bar would be thrilled by a fat new class-action target.

Vehicle recalls (there were 16.9 million in 2009 alone) are usually handled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration-but the Toyota case was commandeered by Obama Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. He skewered the firm for being "a little safety deaf," complained it hadn't been responsive, and bragged it was the government that forced a recall.

"This is a big deal, this is a big safety issue," he exclaimed as part of the LaHood Vs. Toyota Media Tour. It was, in fact, the "most serious safety issue" of his tenure. It was, to repeat, such a huge, scary, safety deal that his "advice is, if anybody owns one of these vehicles, stop driving it." Mr. LaHood later claimed he'd misspoke.

Over in Congress, a geographically notable contingent of representatives piled on. Rep. Bart Stupak (D., Mich.) announced an investigation into "dangerous" malfunctions. Toyota was ordered to report to his Oversight subcommittee hearing next week. Rep. John Dingell (D., Mich.) berated the company for taking "two years" to step up and ripped them for not recalling more models.

UAW lobbyist Alan Reuther demanded Toyota make amends by keeping open a unionized factory in California, currently scheduled for closure. Chrysler, GM and Ford started offering cash incentives for car buyers to trade in recalled Toyotas for domestic wares.

The results of this campaign are now making pols queasy. It was inevitable that such a loud attack would lead to questions as to whether the administration was carrying water for the domestic industry. The White House is today fielding as many queries about its role as owner and regulator as Toyota is fielding about recalls.

This thinking also inspired reporters to dig into Congress's Toyota ties and to question, conversely, whether it can be tough enough. The press dredged up Senate Toyota investigator Jay Rockefeller's role in landing his state of West Virginia a Toyota plant. Did you know, the head of NHTSA, David Strickland, worked eight years for Mr. Rockefeller? Or that California Democrat Jane Harman, who sits on the House investigating committee, once made money selling stereo systems to Toyota? You do now.

It is also occurring to some Democrats that, while Toyotas are mainly assembled in red states, they are, uh, sold in blue ones. In addition to idled Toyota factory workers, Toyota dealerships and suppliers are getting hit by the company's sharp drop in sales. Some of these folks even live in Michigan.

The angry phone calls to Washington only increased last week when four governors-three Republicans and Kentucky Democrat Steve Beshear-sent a sharp letter to Congress, accusing the administration of a "conflict of interest." They unsubtly noted that many recent recalls were "as serious as or more serious" than Toyota's.

This sent the media digging into the recall record of U.S. auto makers, which may have to revisit their own safety issues. Some politicians are worried about Japanese retaliation against U.S. auto makers.

All of which accounts for Washington's recent piping down. Mr. LaHood devoted a lot of this week to touting stimulus grants. Quite a few Democrats have gone mute, leaving the issue to NHTSA and wishing it would go away. Some lawmakers are even stepping up to defend Toyota.

Yet having revved up the drama, the administration is now all but obliged to take action against Toyota, say with civil penalties. Mr. Rockefeller and other Democrats with ties to the carmaker are under pressure to get rough. And if Toyota bungles Washington as badly as it did the initial recall PR, this could go on a long time.

Toyota has not yet laid off a single one of its 34,000 U.S. workers, but that may change. Only a year ago, Democrats were wailing about economic damage if GM or Chrysler went bust. They forestalled that with government ownership. They, and Toyota, are now dealing with the all-too-easy-to-predict political behavior that followed such meddling in the private economy.

Write to snipped-for-privacy@wsj.com

Ignore

Thanks for that. I saved it as a PDF.

She was saying the fruhaha is because of the GM takeover. Bullshit. She was saying Lahood was taking an unusaul role. Bullshit. He was summoned by the Congress for a subcommitee hearing, then put his foot in his mouth when questioned by the press, which is leading the charge against Toyota, and demanded his attention. She's all Dem this and Dem that, not mentioning Republican Issa wanted to supoena old man Toyota. You're right about interests more likely to tone it down than not. And they are Dems.

But that's not how she played it. It was the big bad gov Dems and GM versus Toyota. She makes a big deal about LaHood (not mentioning he's a lifelong Republican) now being out touting the stimulus, as if this proves something about her "conspiracy theory". Duh. Stories die down without new revelations or press persistence. And LaHood never gave a shit about it anyway. Typical pol enjoying camera time.

The biggest meddler here is the press - including her - and Toyota owners who want the issues resolved. And most of the "pressure" is coming from Toyota owners. The conspiracy wackos and fanboys are in another category.

correct.

oh, i know a little. and i've even driven cars with it. unlike the blowhards that apparently haven't but still [amazingly] feel qualified to have an opinion.

just like real cars actually use???

couldn't agree more. we put men on the freakin' moon, but we can't engineer a decent car? utterly ridiculous. and if you've ever looked at gm's public accounts, you'll see why - it's a bunch of whining crap from idiots that have no interest in making cars, but who spend their whole lives politicking and whining for handouts. that's what's WRONG with the gm picture.

Latest news is the Toyota Memo where they all pat themselves on the back for talking their way out of a recall (which has now backfired) and saving $100 million in the process. When Ford allegedly did that with the Pinto you Toyota fan boys were all over Ford for it, where's your condemnation for Toyota?

It's an opinion piece without a shred of evidence for it's allegations. A typical right wing hit piece aimed at undermining the Obama Administration. The WSJ has no credibility anymore.

Look up Ford Automatic Transmission Recall. 14M vehicles. Ford printed 14M stickers for the dash that said "This vehicle may go from Park to Reverse at any time without warning."

My roomate stuck his to our refrigerator.

Reminds me of the VW solution to cars that burned oil: a "check oil" sticker around the fuel filler.

I see you avoided answering the question.