Toyota criticism is accelerating

Maybe ambulance-chasing lawyers should change their nicknames to Prius-chasing attorneys. The Toyota unexplained acceleration adventure continues. Even after Toyota has recalled about 6 million vehicles and filled television breaks with "I love my Toyota" testimonials, new reports of unexplained acceleration keep cropping up.

I don't own a Toyota, but I did own one — the only new car I ever bought — for 16 years, putting around 125,000 miles on it. I bought it before my eldest daughter was born, and before I traded it, she got to drive the car that had brought her home from the hospital. That car experienced some problems (I think I was up to four water pumps by the time I traded it for a Plymouth "K-car"), but I loved the car and found it mostly quite reliable — just don't let it overheat.

When I bought that 1971 Toyota Corona, the brand was little known in North Carolina. Some co-workers asked me why I bought a "Tie-Yoda." In 1971, Toyota was trying to build its brand by emphasizing high quality at a lower price, and that strategy, along with the gasoline scares of the 1970s, succeeded in changing Toyota from a curiosity into an automotive juggernaut. By the time I decided to replace my old Corona in 1987, Toyota owned the market in quality design and reliability. I really, really wanted one of the new Camrys (the model that replaced the Corona), but its cost was a couple of thousand more than a comparable K-car. I opted for the cheaper car, which I drove for nine years before mechanical problems exceeded the car's value.

Now, with all the unexplained-acceleration complaints, Toyota's reputation for quality has taken a serious hit, and even the Japanese business culture is being questioned. But don't be too quick to judge. Automotive recalls have become pretty common. The Honda Del Sol I'm still driving was recalled soon after I bought it (used, two years old). A problem with the passenger-side airbag made it possible that a deploying airbag would be accompanied by a piece of metal that could decapitate the passenger. Just a minor problem. With most recalls, huge numbers of vehicles are recalled but only a portion of those have the flaw. And although every death is tragic, the number of deaths blamed on Toyota accelerator problems is minuscule in relation to total traffic deaths in a year.

Complaints about unexpected acceleration have cropped up before. In the 1980s, Audi was nearly run out of the American market by claims of "unintended acceleration" in its new Audi 5000 model. Some news outlets jumped on the bandwagon, but government investigators found the cause of the unintended acceleration: drivers. Audi's brake pedal and accelerator pedal were closer together, and the brake pedal was smaller than on many American cars of the day. Drivers accustomed to the wide brake pedal on their Buicks misjudged their footwork on the narrower pedals on the Audi; while they thought they were stomping the brake, they were stomping the accelerator. In the computer age, this would be known as "operator error."

Investigators have been unable to duplicate the acceleration problems many Toyota drivers have reported. Could operator error be a factor here, too? I don't know. But before this is all over, some Prius-chasing lawyers will have lined up a trunk full of class action lawsuits, and Toyota will spend years rebuilding its reputation.