93 and Counting - Toyota and Lexus Recall Sensationalism

SEE ALSO: TACH Toyota Recall News Page

But First Snide's Remarks: We at TACH couldn't agree more with Forbes' reporter Michael Fumento that the Toyota recall circus was just that.

In fact back on February 6, 2010, Marc Rauch TACH Exec VP and Co-founder very nicely described our editorial position on the Toyota Recall mania and wrote that it was not only BOGUS but maybe even contrived and purposeful, and he said so in his editorial; "Toyota Situation Provides Great Opportunity for America to Examine the Frivolous Lawsuit Epidemic" SEE IT HERE.

So while virtually all of the mainstream media and automotive web sites enhanced the exaggerated lies and mistruths of self-promoters, liars and other self-serving sources, The Auto Channel believed and proclaimed that a great company like Toyota would honestly make every effort to discover the truth and fix any real problem they might find (which they did). Congressional Hearing (WTF).

We are happy that Forbes has joined our side...it’s about time! What do you think? msnide@theautochannel.com

Washington DC August 9, 2010; The AIADA newsletter reported that Michael Fumento at Forbes wrote that the jig seems to be up on the runaway-Toyota scare.

Mounting evidence indicates that those Toyotas truly accelerating suddenly can probably be explained by sliding floor mats (since fixed) and drivers hitting the gas instead of the brake. That is, the media have been chasing a will-o'-the-wisp for the better part of a year, whipping U.S. car buyers and Congress into a frenzy.

The media pack (of which TACH is not a part of) is so focused on the number of those deaths supposedly from sudden unintended acceleration, now put at 93 from 75 crashes, that it can't be bothered to properly investigate them – or indeed even look at them. Otherwise reporters could have told you what Fumento says he found: that most of the claims are spurious, even to the point that some of the accidents never even occurred.

The NHTSA "complaint database," available on its website, amounts to a collection of anecdotes, many of them absurd. Anybody can enter anything. Many "complaints" are merely comments, and since NHTSA has no "sudden acceleration" category but rather uses "speed control," the sudden-acceleration claims are lumped in with entries.

But in the media conversion process they all become runaway Toyotas.

Click here to read Fumento’s perspective on the misinformation reported by the media in regard to Toyota’s recent recalls.