Beginning of a Trade War with the World?

[Prazak]

Re: Beginning of a Trade War with the World?

Perhaps overly simplistic, but it sure does speak volumes to me:

Wasn't it also a significant safety issue -- unintended acceleration -- that Toyota first concealed, then tried to avoid? As the facts out it looks worse and worse for Toyota's culpability in this, not (just) for the obvious benefits to Toyota's North American adversaries.

[bart]

Re: Beginning of a Trade War with the World?

Wasn't it also a significant safety issue -- unintended acceleration -- that Toyota first concealed, then tried to avoid? As the facts out it looks worse and worse for Toyota's culpability in this, not (just) for the obvious benefits to Toyota's North American adversaries.

This one might fit Toyota a bit better.






The excessive media concentration on Toyota bothers me too - its not like they're the only ones ever with significant defects and recalls.

[sunskyfan]

Re: Beginning of a Trade War with the World?

How often does Ford, GM or Chrysler shut down plants when a recall happens?

[raja]

Re: Beginning of a Trade War with the World?

The excessive media concentration on Toyota bothers me too - its not like they're the only ones ever with significant defects and recalls.

But . . . don't you think that runaway cars really capture the imagination? :eek:

The last recall I can recall was the shredding tires causing cars to fly out of control. That was a good one . . . in the headlines for days if not weeks. Wasn't it BF Goodrich?

How soon we forget . . . .

[GRG55]

Re: Beginning of a Trade War with the World?

But . . . don't you think that runaway cars really capture the imagination? :eek:

The last recall I can recall was the shredding tires causing cars to fly out of control. That was a good one . . . in the headlines for days if not weeks. Wasn't it BF Goodrich?

How soon we forget . . . .

I think you are referring to the incidents with Firestone tires on the Ford Explorer. Certain sizes of the tire failed catastrophically with the tread separating, tending to cause the high-centred Explorer SUV to roll over and kill the occupants.

Just as with Toyota today, US investigators believed that both Ford and Firestone were aware of the problem and had collected data before they finally started the recall. Some 250 deaths were attributed to this.

The whole thing, which played out in the summer of 2000, is now a business school case study. Firestone and Ford, which had a relationship that started with the founders - Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone - spent the summer issuing damning reports about the other's product. Firestone insisted there was nothing wrong with their manufacturing and it was faulty tire pressures under hot conditions [most of the accidents appeared to be happening in the southern USA and Venezuela] and that it was the design of the Explorer that caused it to roll over. Firestone petitioned the National Highway Transportation Safety Admininstration to start an investigation into the Ford Explorer. Ford countered that tires supplied by Goodyear for the Explorer showed no similar failure history, in an effort to arrest the plunging sales of one of its most profitable vehicles at the time. It all ended when each company announced it would no longer do any business with the other.

[bart]

Re: Beginning of a Trade War with the World?

But . . . don't you think that runaway cars really capture the imagination? :eek:

Add *rimshots* and a few quarts of bread & circuses MSM moments, to taste. ;)


Thank goodness that there aren't more cars etc. with nasty defects that cause fatalities, and my hope is that it causes at least a small rethink of MBA (aka, Money Before All) values.

[dummass]

Re: Beginning of a Trade War with the World?

Many of you are old enough to remember the Ford Pinto.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcNeorjXMrE

[thriftyandboringinohio]

Re: Beginning of a Trade War with the World?

I think you are referring to the incidents with Firestone tires on the Ford Explorer. Certain sizes of the tire failed catastrophically with the tread separating, tending to cause the high-centred Explorer SUV to roll over and kill the occupants.

Just as with Toyota today, US investigators believed that both Ford and Firestone were aware of the problem and had collected data before they finally started the recall. Some 250 deaths were attributed to this.

The whole thing, which played out in the summer of 2000, is now a business school case study. Firestone and Ford, which had a relationship that started with the founders - Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone - spent the summer issuing damning reports about the other's product. Firestone insisted there was nothing wrong with their manufacturing and it was faulty tire pressures under hot conditions [most of the accidents appeared to be happening in the southern USA and Venezuela] and that it was the design of the Explorer that caused it to roll over. Firestone petitioned the National Highway Transportation Safety Admininstration to start an investigation into the Ford Explorer. Ford countered that tires supplied by Goodyear for the Explorer showed no similar failure history, in an effort to arrest the plunging sales of one of its most profitable vehicles at the time. It all ended when each company announced it would no longer do any business with the other.

Don't forget the Audi 5000 sudden acceleration headlines back in 1989 or so.

[thriftyandboringinohio]

Re: Beginning of a Trade War with the World?

Many of you are old enough to remember the Ford Pinto.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcNeorjXMrE

I am -and watch your tone, sonny boy!

[bcassill]

Re: Beginning of a Trade War with the World?

If they are trying to kill a top Japanese brand, they are going to have to go further than this. For decades, Japanese car brands have been synonymous with quality when compared to their American counterparts. Given this new information, I guess we're all supposed to go out and buy a new vehicle from Government Motors, the very same company that for decades couldn't put a car on the road that didn't have significant mechanical issues.

Sorry, my memory goes back a little further than yesterday's news. :p

[jneal3]

Re: Beginning of a Trade War with the World?

I think you are referring to the incidents with Firestone tires on the Ford Explorer. Certain sizes of the tire failed catastrophically with the tread separating, tending to cause the high-centred Explorer SUV to roll over and kill the occupants.

Just as with Toyota today, US investigators believed that both Ford and Firestone were aware of the problem and had collected data before they finally started the recall. Some 250 deaths were attributed to this.

The whole thing, which played out in the summer of 2000, is now a business school case study. Firestone and Ford, which had a relationship that started with the founders - Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone - spent the summer issuing damning reports about the other's product. Firestone insisted there was nothing wrong with their manufacturing and it was faulty tire pressures under hot conditions [most of the accidents appeared to be happening in the southern USA and Venezuela] and that it was the design of the Explorer that caused it to roll over. Firestone petitioned the National Highway Transportation Safety Admininstration to start an investigation into the Ford Explorer. Ford countered that tires supplied by Goodyear for the Explorer showed no similar failure history, in an effort to arrest the plunging sales of one of its most profitable vehicles at the time. It all ended when each company announced it would no longer do any business with the other.

Speaking as a member of the engineering team defending the Explorer during this period, this is as good a summary of this history as I've seen from someone on the "outside", though to quibble, it actually all ended when the NHTSA concluded in their final report that the tires were the sole cause of the issue, and that tread separations in Explorers were "no more likely to lead to a crash than other SUV's". Just speaking the phrase 'tread separation' used to cause reporter's eyes to glaze over, it was impossible to get them to think and understand the physics behind this. I empathize completely with Toyota on this, this is an extremely complex phenomenon and getting the MSM and politicians to see the whole story is next to impossible (when you make millions of anything as complex as a modern vehicle, chances are a few hundred of them will experience problems).

What doesn't get much attention is the effect of the plaintiff's bar in all this auto-company bashing; they feed the MSM tons of garbage to get claims up, which is what happened (and continues to happen) with the Explorer and is now just getting started with Toyota. Reporters/producers being naturally lazy gobble it up because of how easy it sells. Follow the money....

[dummass]

Re: Beginning of a Trade War with the World?

If they are trying to kill a top Japanese brand, they are going to have to go further than this. For decades, Japanese car brands have been synonymous with quality when compared to their American counterparts. Given this new information, I guess we're all supposed to go out and buy a new vehicle from Government Motors, the very same company that for decades couldn't put a car on the road that didn't have significant mechanical issues.

Sorry, my memory goes back a little further than yesterday's news. :p

I'm thinking a small fine to punish those evil Japanese baby killers... rrr...auto makers. Should help even the score.

How about the top line of the balance sheet that reads "cash and equivalents" in the amount of 26,926,548 (in thousands). That's 27 billion.

http://finapps.forbes.com/finapps/js...=tm&period=qtr

[DToM67]

Re: Beginning of a Trade War with the World?

I think you are referring to the incidents with Firestone tires on the Ford Explorer. Certain sizes of the tire failed catastrophically with the tread separating, tending to cause the high-centred Explorer SUV to roll over and kill the occupants.

Just as with Toyota today, US investigators believed that both Ford and Firestone were aware of the problem and had collected data before they finally started the recall. Some 250 deaths were attributed to this...

All of this talk of Toyota and the Ford Explorer Firestone fiasco had me recalling an old Chrysler/Dodge Caravan failure. It had to do with rear-bench seat hardware and rear-door/gate latch failures... Basically, the rear bench seat (usually occupied by children) would fly out the back doors during a collision. I could've sworn there were a bunch of deaths attributed to this, but it seems the story has faded from the inter-webs.

Americans will spend oodles of money on 2 groups: Children & pets. If you or your product should bring harm to either, you're normally up one certain creek.

I don't ever recall the deaths of various children - unnecessarily falling out of the backs of vans (due to cheap hardware) dredging up as much fuss as these Toyota issues.

The best I could find for reference is here

Last, but not least... Anyone remember the Pinto scene in National Lampoon's "Top Secret"?:p

[sunskyfan]

Re: Beginning of a Trade War with the World?

This is going to get bigger and bigger ...

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/03/09/t...gm-incentives/

[dbarberic]

Re: Beginning of a Trade War with the World?

An update to my earlier post regarding the air base in Okinawa. In the time that has passed since I posted the prior article that was written, it seems that the dispute between Japan and the United States regarding the location of this base still has not been resolved.

Futenma commander defends Okinawa Marine base
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/ar...e=rss_breaking


Quote:

Ozawa unhappy with gov't idea to relocate Futenma base within Okinawa Monday 08th March, 07:08 AM JST TOKYO — Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa has expressed dissatisfaction over the government’s idea to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps’ Futenma Air Station within Okinawa Prefecture, saying the plan would work against the party as it prepares for the House of Councillors election this summer, DPJ sources said Sunday. http://www.japantoday.com/category/p...within-okinawa

Quote:

Q+A - Japan PM suggests US base row could force him to quit By Isabel Reynolds TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama sugggested at the weekend that a failure to resolve a dispute over plans to relocate a U.S. military base on Okinawa island could prompt him to resign. http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp...c=Worldupdates

So you have the full force of the American news media slamming Toyota on the front page of every news paper, website, and nightly news cast. You have the spectical of the Secutrary of Transportation telling the American public not to drive their Toyotas (which has never occurred before in any other automotive recall). You have Toyota being dragged infront a "special" commission investigating the issue.

Is America trying to send Japan a message?