There is no denying Toyota have been associated with some very depressing headlines lately, and let’s face it a driver being reported as being unable to stop his car because of an alleged fault and subsequently dying as a result is pretty much as about as bad as it gets.
We can only begin to imagine the pain and heartache of the people involved. It’s also pretty hard to imagine just how bad things probably are inside Toyota right now, the long nights, heated conversations and sudden aging of anyone involved in PR and the fact that the problems are apparently so serious means that there possibly won’t be a light at the end of the tunnel for quite some time.
People being killed and injured and the inevitable colossal lawsuits if any part of the manufacturing is at fault makes worst case scenario seem barely adequate a phrase to describe the situation.
Of course they will all start coming out of the woodwork now and if a recent report from Minneapolis is anything to go by, it’s already started.
The attorney for a man imprisoned after a fatal car crash says he will try to have the man’s Toyota re-examined in light of the car maker’s recent recall over accelerator issues.
According to court papers, on June 10, 2006, 29-year-old Koua Fong Lee was travelling eastbound on Interstate 94 when his car hit an Oldsmobile at a red light. The accident killed the driver of the Oldsmobile along with his 10-year old son. His 7-year old niece was left a quadriplegic and died a year. Lee was eventually sentenced in 2008 to eight years in prison after being convicted of criminal vehicular homicide.
Lee’s attorney is now trying to get the case reopened, amid the news of millions of recalled Toyotas for problems relating to sudden acceleration.
“I don’t know who could disagree with this being a possible cause — because otherwise he’s just a wild kamikaze guy trying to kill somebody,” said the attorney Brent Schafer.
However before we decide that every Toyota ever built is affected by these current problems its worth remembering that most models and certainly many earlier versions have never had any problems whatsoever in this regard.
If watching the sales at auctions are anything to go buy, buyers seem confident enough to continue buying and selling Rav4’s, Avensis and Previa without much pressure being put on prices.
This is clearly good news and whilst we wait for Toyota to sort out its global problems, it’s important that buyers do not adopt the sheep mentality and bail out of their current Toyota losing potentially thousands of pounds in the process.
Remember there is always someone waiting to take advantage of the chaos so let’s trust a solid major player like Toyota to get it right and bring consumer confidence back to its product range.
Um…make that as soon as possible.
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