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Report: Toyota wins right to view unintended acceleration plaintiff data {Autoblog}
Mar 17th 2011 5:32PM The point is to find out if the plantiffs are doing this for some sort of financial gain as opposed to the suit being legitimately about safety issues (which, in the end, are linked to driver error, even though the head of the NTHSA is too pansy to just out and say it as it is).
Opinion: Turning the tide at Toyota? {Autoblog}
Feb 17th 2011 7:15PM imo, the closest thing to lying that Toyota did was not outright state that the problem was with the users. Stacking floormats? User error. Using the wrong floormats? User error. Stepping on the wrong pedal? User error. Not knowing how to handle your car in an emergency? User error.
Vintcase giveaway: Your chance to win this sexy iPad case {TUAW.com}
Feb 1st 2011 3:44PM Raiders of the Lost Ark!!!
Should you eat at American chain restaurants when you travel? {Gadling}
Jan 26th 2011 3:54PM I eat American chains often when I'm in Taiwan. Pizza Hut runs pizza buffets that go for about $12 USD and they have some awesome flavors that I don't think I'll ever get in the US like kimchi beef and takoyaki (they even have a pizza where the crust is formed into mini hot dogs); KFC is surprisingly one of the better places to get egg tarts at. McDonalds has an epic dessert menu. Restaurants like Chilis and TGI Fridays are, for the most part, still the same, though.
Report: Toyota recalls fuel massive spike in complaints to NHTSA {Autoblog}
Dec 30th 2010 4:30PM The "floor mat entrapment" was due to people putting floor mats designed for different vehicles. NHTSA preliminary results thus far (as well as numerous other studies) are, by the vast majority, driver error. The preliminary findings in that original Lexus crash was that floormats from a different vehicle were placed in the loaner car and not hooked in either, therefore increasing the possibility of pedal entrapment. Later findings show possible electronic errors, however that hasn't been proven whereas the floormats were. How about you read some facts first.
Report: Toyota recalls fuel massive spike in complaints to NHTSA {Autoblog}
Dec 30th 2010 1:19PM Actually, the unintended acceleration issue just showed how the typical American won't take responsibility for something that is more likely than not their own fault and doesn't mind suing about it, either.
The increase in complaints is most likely customers that think their car has a problem when their car actually doesn't have a problem. Mass hysteria is often fueled by "If someone with the same stuff has problems, then that means I have problems, too. If I can gain something out of this, then hell yeah I'm complaining".
Report: Toyota requests federal court throw out acceleration lawsuits {Autoblog}
Nov 3rd 2010 12:45PM Defective how? The vast majority of signs so far point to driver error (even past precedent, the Audi case, points to the same). This means the drivers are defective, not the car. Floor mat recall? Pedal entrapment was caused by customers stacking floor mats or using floor mats with wrong cut-outs, therefore making it easy for the pedals to become entrapped. Pedal fix recall? I don't even know if there really was a defect there, but in the case that there wasn't, Toyota had to do something instead of nothing.
Toyota Prius MPV leaked ahead of Detroit debut? [UPDATE] {Autoblog}
Oct 26th 2010 2:21PM Why is it that the Verso, which is based on the same damn platform, can look so good but this looks completely bland?
By the Numbers: Your statistical chance of dying in an unrepaired recalled Toyota {Autoblog}
Oct 12th 2010 4:24PM How was their lying detrimental? It was established that pedal entrapment was caused by customers putting the wrong floormats in their cars, but Toyota still issued a recall instead of being honest and saying customers are stupid. The Audi case and those preliminary findings establish that UA is driver error, but Toyota still went and issued a recall (most likely as a placebo) and had to start implementing brake override (which, by the way, is completely useless if your foot is on the wrong freaking pedal which is generally the case unintended acceleration, therefore making brake override a waste of money and weight) instead of being honest and saying customers need to learn to drive.
Best way to fix all these problems before some other automaker becomes the victim of consumer stupidity? Force customers to read the damn instructions and make learning stickshift part of getting a license.
Toyota Prius MPV teased on billboard {Autoblog}
Oct 11th 2010 12:43PM From the looks of it, I'd expect the Prius MPV to be the European-market Verso with modified details on the inside and outside.
