By sheer volume of sales, China is the biggest automotive market in the world. 13.6 million new vehicles were sold in China in 2009, compared to only 10.4 million in North America…and that trend is only going to become more pronounced as the world’s economy revs up again.

Note that China’s market is only bigger by volume – the average new car in China costs about a third as much as a new car in the U.S. or Canada, so it will be awhile before the actual value of China’s market exceeds the value of the North American market…but that day is coming. Fast.

In other words, an automaker’s success in the 21st century depends on having an effective presence in China. While Toyota’s unintended acceleration problems might seem important to U.S. consumers, the truth is that the unintended acceleration issue is minor compared to Toyota’s struggles in China.

In news that’s good for America’s economic future, China is one market where many U.S. automakers have the upper hand. Buick (believe it or not) is tremendously popular in China. Chrysler and Ford are strong in China as well.

Sidebar: I’ve seen Buicks in Beijing with my own eyes – I spent more than 6 weeks in China in 2008 – and the number of Buicks I saw was nothing short of astounding. Jeep Grand Cherokees are also quite popular, as is the Ford Focus. In fact, most American brand vehicles are something of a status symbol.

When it comes to China, GM and VW are the big dogs, with Ford, Hyundai, Nissan and local automakers Geely and Chery rounding out 9 of the top 10 manufacturers in China. GM might even sell more cars in China in 2010 than they do in the USA (but that’s using some tricky accounting).

Toyota…not so much. They’re predicted to lose market share over the next three years. Here’s why:

1. Part of the issue is cultural. You don’t have to be a history expert to remember that Japan invaded China 60 years ago, and there’s a lot of residual cultural animosity from this event.

As I interviewed drivers about what car to buy, I realized that a large part of Toyota’s or Nissan’s problems in China come from nationalism…When we interviewed drivers in Shanghai, they overwhelmingly told us not to buy a Japanese car because the “Japanese are evil.” – link

2. Part of the issue is being late to the party. Toyota didn’t start seriously investing in the Chinese auto market until 2004, years after VW, GM, Ford, Hyundai, Nissan, and Honda. While Toyota experienced strong sales in China in 2008, their Chinese market share has been falling ever since. Part of the problem is that they simply don’t have the manufacturing and sales capacity of their rivals.

3. Part of the issue is poor public relations. Toyota’s P.R. gaffes in the last 6 months could occupy a semester of graduate-level study. Not only did Toyota completely mishandle pedal gate in the USA, they also completely screwed it up in China. According to one poll (albeit somewhat suspect in terms of accuracy):

According to a survey conducted by Chinese website sina.com, 73.6 percent of [Chinese] online respondents said they would not buy Toyota or Honda branded cars after the recalls, with only 16.4 percent maintaining Japanese cars are still their preference in terms of choices.

The online poll was conducted on 258,000 participants between March 1 and March 8, 2010.

In addition to bad publicity from recalls, there’s Toyota’s “Climbing-ability-gate” scandal in China. A Chinese Toyota Highlander owner, angry at the fact that his Camry-based SUV couldn’t climb a 30% grade, decided to post video on a popular Chinese video sharing site showing his Highlander failing to climb a hill that other competing SUVs could climb…as well as a cheap little car from Geely (image the Chinese version of the Yugo beating an SUV up a hill and you get the idea).

In the United States, a video of a Highlander failing to climb a 30% grade probably wouldn’t be a big deal. After all, the typical Highlander buyer isn’t looking for an off-road vehicle. Anyone with those concerns living in the United States probably wouldn’t be caught dead in a Highlander (I know I wouldn’t).

However, China’s relatively poor infrastructure and rough country roads means that any vehicle pretending to be an SUV should actually be an SUV.

Toyota’s “Climbing-ability gate” demonstrates a key point we’ve made about Toyota’s leadership: Because Toyota is managed from Japan, they simply do not understand the needs of every market. Just like Japanese managers fail to understand how to market the Toyota Tundra, they’ve failed to recognize Chinese consumers need REAL SUVs – not Highlander SUV wanna-be’s.

The bottom line: Toyota is losing market share in the world’s biggest auto market. While this isn’t a major concern in the here-and-now, Toyota can’t afford to be a minor player in China going forward. As big as Toyota’s problems in the USA might be, they pale in comparison to Toyota’s problems in China.

Toyota has a lot of work to do, don’t they?

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Independent journalist and blogger Michael Fumento doesn’t pull any punches. A quick scan of Fumento’s blog posts regarding the Toyota recall fiasco shows that he’s not afraid to be blunt. He calls Prius driver James Sikes a “media whore liar.” blatant liar. [NOTE: We misquoted Mr. Fumento - our apologies.] He takes big media to task for glossing over key facts and details. He outlines the conflict of interest between GM, Chrysler, and NHTSA. At first glance, Fumento definitely seems “pro-Toyota.”

Maybe so. But a story from Fumento’s past would seem to indicate that he doesn’t have a lot of love for the automaker:

While driving with my future wife along California’s scenic but treacherous Pacific Coast Highway in 1991, my brand new Toyota suddenly fishtailed and dove straight off a cliff…I was uninjured, but my wife suffered both a broken neck and crushed skull. I was told I would probably lose her, but she had a miraculous recovery and today only suffers epilepsy. A week after the accident I read Toyota was replacing the model at half year because, according to one car magazine, driving experts said it suffered from sudden “terminal” oversteering.

If any journalist has a reason to dislike Toyota, it would be Fumento…so why is he producing so many articles that seem to be in defense of the automaker?

The answer: He’s not. Fumento says that “The bottom line appears to be that Toyota doesn’t know what the problem is,” when it comes to all these acceleration complaints. He’s critical of Toyota’s CEO, their Japan-centric management, and their poor P.R. work.

But he’s also been critical of the media for failing to report the truth. He’s careful and diligent in analyzing the actual facts surrounding these unintended acceleration incidents. Frankly, he’s saying a lot of the things we’ve been saying…but he’s got a much better journalism reputation than we do.

• Fumento received his undergraduate degree in political science while an Army paratrooper
• In 1985 he was graduated from the University of Illinois College of Law and is currently a member of the Pennsylvania bar.
• He has been a nationally syndicated columnist for the Scripps Howard News Service, a legal writer for the Washington Times, a science correspondent for Reason magazine, editorial writer for the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, and was the first “National Issues” reporter for Investor’s Business Daily.
• He was an embedded journalist a total of four times in Iraq and Afghanistan, seeing combat with the Navy SEALs and the 101st Airborne Division.
• Fumento has been a finalist for the prestigious National Magazine Award.
• His articles have appeared in such magazines as Readers’ Digest, The Atlantic Monthly, Forbes, USA Weekend, The Weekly Standard, National Review, The New Republic, The Washington Monthly, Reason,  Policy Review, The American Spectator, and The Spectator (London).
• He’s published in such newspapers as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribunethe Christian Science Monitor, The Sunday Times of London, The Sunday Telegraph of London, and the Jerusalem Post.
• His television appearances include Nightline; ABC World News; ABC News 20/20; numerous programs on CBS; NBC; CNN; and Fox; PBS; MacNeil-Lehrer; CNBC; the BBC; the Canadian Broadcasting Network; C-SPAN; the Christian Broadcasting Network; Donahue; This Week with David Brinkley, ESPN, and many others.

Basically, Fumento is the real deal. He’s got personal negative experience with Toyota, and yet he still manages to say that Toyota is being railroaded by uninformed and uneducated members of big media.

If you haven’t already done so, check out Fumento’s blog.

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Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas has announced his office will partner with a local private law firm to sue Toyota USA for selling defective vehicles and deceptive business practices. Here’s what Rackauckas is arguing:

1. Toyota knew about floor mat entrapment, over-sized accelerator pedals, and sticking pedals as far back as 2007 (and some data shows 2005). While Rackaukas will have to prove that Toyota hid this information from consumers intentionally, documents uncovered by congressional testimony seem to prove Toyota had known about some of these problems for at least the last 3 years.

2. It seems likely Toyota tried to hide these problems. It seems that Toyota’s culture of secrecy led managers and engineers to hide many of these problems, but Rackaukas will have to prove it in court. This is the rub – did Toyota hide evidence, or did their huge bureaucracy simply swallow the information on accident?

3. Orange County’s D.A. could be joined by other D.A.’s and State Attorney Generals across the country. This could be the opening of a flood gate of piggyback lawsuits, similar to the lawsuits against big tobacco a few years ago that alleged cigarette companies hid the dangers of smoking from their customers.

Toyota’s Next Moves

First, Toyota must argue that the Orange County D.A. has no legal right to sue. NHTSA has the responsibility of protecting consumers from automakers, and it seems that Rackaukas might be overstepping his bounds.

After all, it sets a bad precedent if any county D.A. can sue a major automaker for any reason he or she sees fit. NHTSA’s role is to protect the public – it would seem that their regulatory authority would superced the Orange County D.A. … but who knows.

Second, Toyota has to figure out how to keep this from spreading. Any Attorney General or D.A. is going to want to put his or her name in the ring simply because of the political benefits. Toyota will likely try to “drown” Rackaukas and his office in paperwork, which will help to dissuade other offices from joining in.

Third, Toyota has got to have a “come to Jesus” meeting in Toyota City and decide if it’s time to tell the truth. If Toyota really did hide evidence intentionally (the key is that it was intentional), then the smart move is to come clean and settle. Considering some of the comments that Akio Toyoda has made to congress, it seems Toyota will argue they weren’t trying to hide the problem…but who knows what evidence Rackaukas may have.

The irony here is that, in order for Toyota to prove they were following the rules and not trying to hide evidence of safety problems, Toyota must prove that NHTSA has been “in the loop” since problems started cropping up a few years ago. As part of that process, Ray LaHood (the head of the D.O.T., which manages NHTSA) is going to have to work closely with Toyota to prove his own agency is competent…which seems unlikely at best.

At the end of this whole thing, both NHTSA and Toyota could look pretty bad if it comes to light that they worked together to hide this problem.

The Silver Lining for Toyota

Toyota sales in March are very strong, with no sign that they’re letting up. The fact is, consumers are quick to forget and it seems like the news cycle on this whole issue is just about over. Unless the media gets really excited about following a lawsuit that will take 2-10 years to process, today’s announcement is probably the worst of it (in terms of P.R.).

Have you read our Toyota Tundra towing guide?

We’ve been following the closure of NUMMI for a few months now, and it seems that the story is just about done. Earlier today, Toyota announced that they are giving NUMMI workers a $250 million dollar “transition” fund that could be used to pay out bonuses to NUMMI employees, as well as offer career counseling and training.

While it’s obviously not this simple, $250 million divided up amongst 4,500 workers (plus or minus) is about $55k per person. While this severance isn’t tremendous, it’s certainly nothing to sniff at…especially considering Toyota was forced to close NUMMI when GM filed bankruptcy.

Here’s a history of our coverage of the closure of NUMMI:

• When we first heard the rumor, we didn’t think Toyota would close NUMMI
• We were wrong – Toyota closes NUMMI, get ready for a backlash
• Toyota moves production of the Tacoma from NUMMI to San Antonio, alongside the Tundra
• We wondered if California’s anti-business laws and regulations killed NUMMI
• We ridiculed the UAW for picketing Toyota at the San Jose auto show
• We found out 80% of NUMMI workers were angry with the UAW
• We saw a video of UAW local leadership cursing and NUMMI workers
• Despite the well-documented chain of events, we questioned why the UAW doesn’t blame GM for this situation

Finally, we’re left with just one question: will the UAW take a percentage of this final severance package for “representation fees?”

What do you think – did Toyota do right by NUMMI’s workers?

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Perhaps lost in all the recall news, we’d like to touch base on the pending closure of New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc., an auto plant that was a joint venture between GM and Toyota. Started in 1984, NUMMI is the very last major auto manufacturing plant in California. While California’s anti-business regulations contributed to NUMMI’s closure, there’s no denying that General Motor’s bankruptcy was the event that started it all.

When General Motors backed out of NUMMI, Toyota followed suit. Why isn't GM getting any of the blame from the UAW?

When GM abandoned NUMMI, Toyota followed suit…as is the fashion when one business partner abandons the other. However, rather than blaming GM for decades of mis-management (or perhaps looking in the mirror at decades of outrageous labor policies), the UAW is protesting against Toyota.

These UAW orchestrated anti-Toyota protests (which some say are pure unadulterated nationalism) are interesting because 80% of NUMMI’s workers feel that protesting against Toyota is the wrong move. Rather than attacking Toyota with protests, workers feel that the UAW should be negotiating a severance package with Toyota…and going after GM for money too. However, the UAW feels that going after GM for their role in NUMMI’s closure is “pointless.”

NUMMI workers find this explanation infuriating, and for good reason: the UAW is a shareholder in the “new” GM. Attacking GM doesn’t make a lot of business sense for the union. Instead, the UAW is attacking GM’s competitor Toyota, hoping that some nationalist fervor can boost GM’s stock price and help the UAW’s bottom line.

Worker anger and UAW ineptitude were on full display at a UAW meeting for NUMMI workers last month. Not only did the UAW’s chief negotiator with Toyota yell “shut up you mother****ers” at a room full of workers, but he later accused the Toyota of somehow “planting” people in the crowd in order to undermine the union. All the while, negotiations for a severance package dragged on.

One worker’s wife commented:

The UAW has put my family and many others in a tight spot, if there is not retention package we can lose everything…We are not one of these people who are demanding thousands and thousands of dollars in severance, we just want the union to get off their asses and provide the employees something to sign so we know how to prepare for the next few months

We’re still not certain if NUMMI’s workers have a severance package, but whatever that final severance is, the UAW is likely to take a percentage as part of their contract to represent NUMMI. Imagine being laid off, yet having to pay the UAW membership dues from your very last paycheck.

As workers prepare for unemployment and demand details of a severance package, UAW leaders rail at Toyota. Bob King, who is soon to be the head of the UAW, says “[Toyota has made] a number of bad decisions, and we’re saying that the worst one is to close [NUMMI].” (link)

Obviously, Bob doesn’t get it. GM completely abandoned NUMMI, while Toyota stuck around, gave workers months of notice, and has offered to pay workers a severance. Toyota isn’t perfect of course, and no one wants to see a plant closed, but where does King get off blaming this whole thing on Toyota?

Have you read our Toyota Tundra towing guide?

BusinessWeek contributor Ed Wallace wrote an article titled “The Toyota Witch Hunt” that is a must-read for anyone following Toyota’s unintended acceleration debacle. Here are some of the highlights:

Wallace has uncovered information that contradicts the testimony of Rhonda Smith (below) who claimed her 07′ Lexus ES350 accelerated out of control despite her every effort to stop the vehicle. Smith claims that the vehicle would not stop no matter how hard she hit the brakes, and that shifting into any other gear – even reverse – would not stop the car. For many, Smith’s testimony was heart-felt and compelling. However, both the facts of the investigation and statements that Smith has given in the past disagree with her testimony.

Rhonda Smith's testimony about her 2007 Lexus ES250 and unintended acceleration left out the fact she had two floor mats in her car - one on top of the other.

When Smith’s accident occurred, NHTSA sent an investigator to her home to try and determine the cause of her problem. By Smith’s own admission, her Lexus had two floor mats installed – one on top of the other – and NHTSA determined this was likely the cause of her problems. In 2007, Smith commented negatively about the way her floor mats were installed, which would see to indicate she believed the mats contributed to her experience.

Smith’s other claims – that she tried applying the emergency brake and putting the car in reverse – did not match the facts. Applying the emergency brakes would have locked up the rear wheels (the ES350 is FWD), leaving tell-tale marks on the tires. However, no tire damage was found. Smith’s claim that she tried reverse is laughable – if she really believes that happened, she was clearly flustered. Shifting into reverse and highway speed would have destroyed or severely damaged the engine and/or transmission. While Smith was undoubtedly scared, her testimony last week shouldn’t be given a great deal of weight.

Wallace also comments about David Gilbert, the associate professor of automotive technology at Southern Illinois University. Gilbert’s testimony was sponsored by Sean Kane, the “safety expert” who reluctantly admitted to being paid by attorneys bent on suing Toyota. More importantly, Gilbert claims to have found a problem with Toyota’s system in less than 4 hours, yet he hasn’t shared his findings with Toyota, nor has he agreed to demonstrate the problem he’s found in front of Toyota engineers.

Sidebar – Wallace doesn’t mention this in his article, but we’ve learned that David Gilbert isn’t in fact an engineer. His Bachelors and Masters are in “Industrial Arts Education,” and his PhD is in “Workforce Education and Development.” They’re worthwhile disciplines for sure, but it seems that electrical engineering would be more pertinent to the issue at hand. What’s more, the Automotive Technology program at Southern Illinois University is frighteningly lacking in engineering classes. This isn’t to say that the program isn’t valuable, but it’s hard to believe that Gilbert is more qualified to test vehicles than NHTSA, Toyota, or Exponent.

Wallace closes his article by saying:

…let the mechanics and engineers do their jobs and either find the fault or give everyone a reasonable explanation for what happened. The only problem with that suggestion is it’s already been done. And no one wants to accept the conclusions

Wallace is yet another independent voice that believes “Recallmagedeon” is a farce. Toyota has problems, but electronic throttle controls that suddenly accelerate out of control aren’t one of them.

Read Ed Wallace’s bio.

Have you read our Toyota Tundra towing guide?

For all of our boasting here at TundraHeadquarters about the fact that the Tundra is more ‘American’ than the Dodge Ram or the GM pickups, and that Toyota’s profits on the Tundra don’t really go overseas, the recent recall fiascos (officially known as “Recall-mageddon” – shout out to J.D.) illustrate that Toyota’s leadership is frighteningly lacking.

The similarities between Toyota leadership and Soviet Russia - just for fun.

Here are some facts and figures about Toyota’s senior executives and management chain-of-command…and how eerily similar it is to old-time Soviet Russia:

1. Neither Toyota or the USSR had many “foreigners” on the “board of directors” or Politburo. Despite the fact that North America is Toyota’s largest market, there is not one North American currently on Toyota’s board of directors. In fact, in the entire history of the company, only one American has sat on Toyota’s board (Jim Press)…and he defected to Chrysler in 2007.

In the USSR, there were foreign born members of the Politburo, but they were all Soviets first. Their individual nationalities were a distant second to party loyalty.

2. Toyota’s regional divisions don’t have much authority, and neither did the USSR’s “member nations.” When I first heard that Toyota USA didn’t have the authority to announce a recall, my response was “Are you $#%@ kidding me?!” Evidently this has been fixed lately, but talk about a dumb way to run things…kind of like Soviet Russia.

Yakov's jokes could apply to Toyota's culture of secrecy and loyalty to the Toyoda family.

3. Toyota’s PR team and the Communist Party: Always protect the leader. Automotive News Asia editor James Treece, who has lived and worked in Japan for 22 years, believes that Toyota’s PR team was trying to protect Akio’s reputation ahead of the company’s reputation:

my suspicion during this crisis has been that the PR folks thought their job was to protect President Akio Toyoda’s reputation. If mud were to fly, don’t let any land on the bearer of the founder’s name

Sounds sort of like…communist Russia. Better to let the whole thing burn down than harm the reputation of our fearless leader.

4. Both have a well-documented culture of secrecy. Arguably, Toyota’s biggest problem with the whole unintended acceleration issue is that they seem to have kept it a secret for a long time. Toyota is big on keeping secrets (all of corporate Japan, in fact), but secrets don’t make friends…which is why no one was friends with the People’s Commisariate for Internal Affairs (NKVD), the USSR’s secret police force.

5. Toyota and the USSR almost took over the world. In the year 2000, Toyota sold about 1.6 million vehicles, giving them about 11.5% of the U.S. market. By May 2008, Toyota was sitting on 18.4% of the U.S. market. That’s an increase of about 60% in less than 9 years. However, by late 2009 Toyota’s market share started to crumble like the Berlin wall. Today, it’s estimated that Toyota will close out 2010 with less market share than Ford, not to mention GM.

Toyota's market share is crumbling like the USSR's Berlin wall.

OK – Truth Time

This post is meant to be a bit of a joke. While Toyota’s corporate culture definitely needs an overall, no one should see Toyota’s recent struggles as evidence of their inevitable collapse. Once this news if off the front page, Toyota will lick their wounds, learn from their mistakes, and focus even more on building great products.

Hopefully, during that process, they’ll give Toyota USA more autonomy, recognize that secrecy isn’t a core business value, and start putting some freaking North Americans in charge at Toyota headquarters in Japan.

In the meantime, we’ll try and laugh about the screwed up management at Toyota. Happy Friday.

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This week a congressional committee interviewed a handful of people claiming to be unintended acceleration victims, safety experts, and Toyota execs. While Toyota has focused this week on enhanced recall measures and a re-commitment to quality, the media has focused on rampant speculation.

Here’s a breakdown of all the major developments from the hearings:

1.Toyota execs actually apologized. Both Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda and Toyota USA President James Lentz offered apologies.  This may be symbolic to some, but it represents a shift in thinking at Toyota in Japan.

2. Exponent has an unlimited budget. Jim Lentz testified that:

“in December we asked Exponent, a world-class engineering and scientific consulting firm, to conduct a comprehensive, independent analysis of our electronic throttle control system with an unlimited budget”

That’s right – an unlimited budget to find the problem. Exponent is world-renowned for their skills in technical investigations and engineering. They’ve been hired by GM, Ford, the Department of Defense, FEMA, and countless other large companies and governments. Exponent was hired to investigate both the Oklahoma City bombing and the September 11th attacks. Giving Exponent a blank check should be universally viewed as a major commitment to finding any potential problems. [Read this PDF to learn more about Exponent]

3. Sean Kane works for trial lawyers.  Kane, who has been cited as a “safety expert” by the L.A Times and other news sources, reluctantly disclosed that his company’s principal source of revenue is working with trial attorneys in product liability studies. One automotive executive said that Kane is one of many “supposed safety advocates who are actually just shills for trial attorneys,” – and that auto exec works for Ford! Consider Kane’s testimony to be less than independent.

4. NHTSA is a clearing house for stupid consumer complaints. When many “experts” discuss the Toyota’s unintended acceleration issue, they often cite the number of complaints NHTSA has received as evidence or proof of a problem. However, NHTSA receives thousands of ridiculous and absurd complaints every year. Here’s just one example:

The wife of the driver in a $40,000 Mercedes SUV in West Bloomfield, Minn., complained that her husband was commuting at 20 mph on a road with one-inch of snow and turned his steering wheel but — despite new tires — the three-ton SUV slid straight ahead. “He ended up smashing the front end on a huge stone and ricocheting to a fire hydrant,” she said.

Could this account be evidence of a safety problem? Possibly. More likely, it’s just simple physics. While this isn’t meant to dismiss all of the NHTSA complaints against Toyota, it should serve as a warning that not all NHTSA complaints are equal. The volume of complaints doesn’t necessarily mean anything.

5. David Gilbert is a charlatan. Dave Gilbert, an assistant professor of automotive technology at Southern Illinois University, claims that Toyota’s electronic throttle controls are flawed because they do not “trap” an error that could cause unintended acceleration. Gilbert “proved” this by short-circuiting two throttle outputs that, according to Toyota, would be impossible to short-circuit accidentally. A noted auto journalist has referred to Gilbert’s claims and the ABC news report as potentially fraudulent, and at least highly suspicious.

What We Have Learned

No one has any proof that Toyota’s electronic throttle system is flawed, only accusations.

Toyota has demonstrated confidence in their electronic throttle control systems by giving a blank check to a world-renowned engineering analysis and testing firm.

Sean Kane and David Gilbert are experts with dubious qualifications.

Toyota execs “negotiated” their way out of a floor mat recall at some point in 2009, bragging that they saved $100 million in the process.

Congress is just as much about grandstanding as they are about finding the truth.

Comments – any major revelations we’ve missed?

Have you read our Toyota Tundra towing guide?

Toyota PR Machine Finally Gearing Up

Toyota has made two critical errors over the last 6 months. First, Toyota (admittedly) dragged their feet on a series of floor mat and accelerator pedal recalls. Second, when the “sticky pedal” recall hit, Toyota’s PR machine responded terribly. It was as if Toyota tried to do the exact opposite of the right move. They responded slowly. They avoided making a statement. They acted as if the problem would “go away” if they ignored it.

Things have changed. Now that some time has gone by, Toyota’s media team is starting to churn out some great work.

Toyota’s first official response to their sticking pedal recall – and subsequent stop sale announcement – came nearly one week after the fact. This response was an underwhelming “temporary pause” Sunday newspaper ad, which fell short for a few reasons. Partially, the medium was to blame (the newspaper is limited and less popular than ever), and partially the ad didn’t do enough to explain the issues behind the accelerator.

Over the last 2 weeks, Toyota has begun a full-scale media offensive. Company press releases and statements are now coming fast and frequently, and Toyota has begun to embrace the “power of the internet” by releasing a video demonstrating the basics of their electronic throttle control system.

Click here to view the embedded video.

While this video isn’t likely to convince naysayers that Toyota’s system is bullet-proof, it’s a great tool for explaining the basics of an electronic throttle system (thanks to Danny for sending us this link).

Toyota Hits Back at ABC

Imagine a news report that shows a vehicle accelerating wildly out of control. Now, imagine that this news report:

• Never explains how they’re getting this vehicle to accelerate – only that they’ve modified the throttle circuitry.
• Never offers the vehicle’s manufacturer a chance to rebut or explain the report.
• Never bothers to present the other side of the facts

By any definition, that type of report wouldn’t be called news. ABC presented claims of unintended acceleration on Toyota vehicles earlier this week, yet they didn’t offer any details, nor did they attempt to contact Toyota or offer the “other side” of the issue.

If the “old” Toyota would have issued a response to this type of report, it would have taken days. The “new” Toyota had a statement ready almost immediately following the ABC report. What’s more, the statement had a little “edge” to it:

After watching the story today on ABC News featuring Mr. Gilbert, Toyota was surprised to learn that Mr. Gilbert appears now to be making a different claim regarding the electronic throttle control system and in a vehicle other than as described to Toyota last week.  Although it is difficult to tell from the footage used in the story, Mr. Gilbert appears to be introducing a different external and artificial method to manipulate the throttle.  In order to set the record straight, Toyota welcomes the opportunity to evaluate the Toyota Avalon shown in today’s story and the method by which Mr. Gilbert allegedly caused the vehicle to accelerate unintentionally.  We welcome the attendance of ABC News at any such evaluation of this vehicle and Mr. Gilbert’s testing

This statement represents a break from an old, conservative way of doing things at Toyota. Hopefully, it’s an indicator of changes to come.

Have you read our Toyota Tundra towing guide?

This promises to be a tough week for Toyota. While they’ve finally gotten their PR team in gear, the CEO of the company (Akio Toyoda) is going to be testifying before congress and it’s not likely to go well. Toyoda’s not a confident English speaker, a lot of embarrassing facts have come out about Toyota, members of congress are going to be working hard to get a good anti-Toyota sound bite or two, and despite a mountain of evidence that Toyota’s unintended acceleration problem is completely overblown, mainstream media continues to harp on the issue. Here’s a break-down of what you can expect.

Toyota’s Legal Troubles

First and foremost, there’s some damning evidence that Toyota’s leadership team purposefully attempted to avoid a floormat recall during the 1st or 2nd quarter of 2009. This is bad news for Toyota’s leadership, as well it should be.

What’s even worse – and perhaps most appalling – is that Toyota’s senior management was bragging about saving the company $100 million because they “negotiated” a reduced floor mat recall. There are also allegations of unfair influence with NHTSA, but as of now there doesn’t seem to be anything concrete (but that’s subject to change).

On another front, trial lawyers are salivating at the thought of suing Toyota over acceleration problems (both real and perceived). It’s not clear at this point, but multiple analysts have pointed out that many of the documents Toyota has handed over to congress will be used against them in civil court. Of course, anyone who is looking to “cash in” would be wise to remember that all Toyota vehicles have a black box which records a driver’s actions…but more on that below.

Last but not least, both the SEC and a federal grand jury are investigating allegations that Toyota tried to hide safety problems. Don’t be surprised if Toyota ends up paying a multi-million dollar fine to NHTSA and the federal government for their mis-handling of this issue.

Independent Testing Shows Toyota Throttles Are Safe

Despite the fact that Toyota made a cold (and ultimately stupid) decision to put profits ahead of safety precautions last July, the stats and the independent analysis is pretty clear on the fact that Toyota’s electronic throttles are completely safe.

In response to a lot of bad press (all of which was based on nothing more than a simple correlation), Toyota hired Exponent, an internationally renowned engineering firm to research their throttle systems. Exponent has an extensive list of services, including quite a bit of testing and evaluation for the auto industry. Exponent has won awards for their research, and they even boast their own vehicle testing and proving grounds in Phoenix.

Toyota hired Exponent because they needed a high-profile company to tackle questions about their electronic throttle system. After acquiring six test vehicles in December (all of which were purchased randomly from dealers), Exponent has yet to find anything wrong with Toyota’s systems. Considering all the tests that have been done, this shouldn’t be much of a shock. There’s literally a mountain of test data to show that Toyota’s electronic systems are perfectly safe.

Unfortunately, the negative publicity from Toyota’s board-room bragging will likely outweigh the facts and figures:

• Toyota’s electronic throttles are completely safe. No problem has ever been found.
• Toyota’s floormats and gas pedals weren’t designed with stupidity in mind. Toyota’s accelerator pedals often got caught up on over-sized after-market mats, unattached factory mats, or a combination of both. Is this Toyota’s fault? Not really, but that’s not how America works, is it? (Read a great blog post at TruckTrend regarding this point.)
• Toyota gas pedals made by CTS have a minor flaw. There are 20 confirmed cases of sticking CTS-made throttles as a direct result of failing friction pads ( that’s out of 2.4 million vehicles).
• Toyota’s new smart throttle systems will make unintended acceleration impossible. Toyota is going to implement the brake-to-idle failsafe system we profiled a few months ago on all of their models ASAP.

The Black Boxes Don’t Lie

One of the members on TundraNetwork.com (Danny) has sent us a lot of great links lately (along with many others – thanks to all of you), including one to this video which sums up the black box issue quite well:

Click here to view the embedded video.

The guy you see in the video – Mark Whinton of CarQuestions.ca – does a nice job of explaining why he believes Toyota’s acceleration problems are media hype. He also points out that a lot of the threatening litigators don’t understand that Toyota’s vehicle computers track each and every event in a vehicle prior to a crash. It’s very likely that many of these black boxes will be used to impeach drivers who wrongly claim “unintended acceleration” in an attempt to scrape a few bucks of Toyota.

What do you think:

• Does Toyota deserve all the negative publicity they’ve gotten?
• When will mass media organizations start reporting that Toyota’s electronic systems are safe?
• Will Toyoda’s testimony before congress make things better or worse?

Have you read our Toyota Tundra towing guide?