Take Toyota bashing comments with a grain of salt 
James Daw
Business Columnist
Think like a shrewd investor when you hear anyone trashing Toyota’s hard-won reputation, or rattling your confidence in its cars.
The potential for ulterior motives and distortion is huge. Even U.S. President Barack Obama and his cabinet are not immune from suspicion here.
At stake in the handling of complaints about Toyota Motor Co. cars that may, in rare cases, accelerate unexpectedly is the administration’s political capital.
They want to maintain a reputation for guarding public health and safety with decisive action, and made much of requesting the automaker to stop selling and producing several models until a fix was found.
Yet, as The New York Times reported Sunday, U.S. safety regulators had conducted six separate probes over several years into consumer complaints.
None of these investigations found defects in Toyotas other than unsecured floor mats, which could just as easily be blamed on sloppy drivers. Three petitions for further investigation were denied.
But pressure for action soared last summer after broadcasts of a scary 911 emergency call from a passenger in a Toyota Lexus that was being driven by an off-duty highway patrol officer.
x “Our accelerator is stuck. We’re in trouble. There’s no brakes. We’re approaching the intersection. Hold on. Hold on and pray. Pray,” he said before the collision that killed him, the officer and two others in the car.
The incident was truly shocking, and evidence that even an experienced driver would not think to pull on the hand brake and put the transmission into neutral to stop.
Yet was Toyota any more deserving of extreme government action after regulators’ own inaction? Each year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration receives hundreds of complaints about vehicle speed and pedal controls in other makes of cars.
A graph in The Wall Street Journal Tuesday showed Toyota had 596 complaints in 2009, fewer than Ford Motor Co. in 2007 and 1999. The graph showed Toyota’s numbers soaring over the past 20 years, without relating the figures to the rising number of its vehicles on the road.
Dare we also point out that Obama’s administration invested $80 billion (U.S.) of public funds to save General Motors and Chrysler Group? Should we not wonder if any investor who buys 61 per cent of a company — which is what the U.S. owns of GM — is being totally impartial or dispassionate about a rival company?
The fine line between public guardian and alarmist was apparent Wednesday in remarks by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a rebranded Republican from Illinois.
Under pressure over his department’s handling of complaints about Toyota, LaHood reportedly blurted out: “If anybody owns one of these vehicles, stop driving it and take it to a Toyota dealer.”
Shortly afterward he recognized the ridiculousness of his statement. “What I said in there was a misstatement,” he told reporters outside the meeting room.
He had decided what he should have said was that owners concerned about unintended acceleration should seek out dealers for advice and necessary repairs.
Canada’s Transport Minister, John Baird, delivered a similarly self-serving platitude to a Bloomberg News reporter: “I would urge Canadian Toyota drivers who are affected by the recall to avoid taking risks and get the repair done quickly.”
We should also regard class-action lawyers, dramatic news stories and commentary with caution. We are all in it for the money. We all want attention. But we also need advertisers. None of us has the whole story yet.
Disclosure: I own a Pontiac, but it was designed by Toyota. I once also owned a purebred Toyota. It was recalled for a defective drive shaft. The resale value held up well after seven years, but not as well as a used Chevy Nova we once owned. It was badly rusted when we bought it cheaply, worse when we sold it. I loved my Ford Focus.
