TOYOTA'S "ACCELER-GATE": GREAT QUOTES ON TOYOTA'S UNINTENDED ACCELERATION FIASCO

[Get the latest "Truth With Speedzzter" here]

As the firestorm over Toyota's deadly unintended acceleration problem grows, the story, which Truth With Speedzzter has dubbed "TOYOTA ACCELER-GATE," is literally exploding faster than 'Yoda's now-tattered "quality" image.

Here's a few choice highlights.

13. "U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Tuesday it took pressure from the government to get Toyota to take action over its sticking gas pedals.

'[I]t unfortunately took an enormous effort to get to this point. DOT officials flew to Japan in December to remind Toyota management about its legal obligations and followed up with a meeting at DOT headquarters in January to insist that they address the accelerator pedal issue,' LaHood said"

From CNN.com


12. Bangshift.com is reporting that "Congressmen Henry Waxman and Bart Stupak are challenging Toyota on its explanation of the problems with the cars because they conflict directly with statements that Toyota officials made last week when they told staffers of a congressional committee that the causes of the issues were, 'very, very hard to identify.'"

11. "To paraphrase L.A. Confidential's Captain Dudley Smith, we wouldn't trade places with Toyota right now for all the whiskey in Ireland." -- Autoblog.com

10. "Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak told a crowd today of an unintentional acceleration problem with his 2010 Toyota Prius, which isn't under a recall. 'This is software. It's not a bad accelerator pedal,' he told the crowd. 'It's very scary.'"
--jalopnik.com

9. "I have many models of Prius that got recalled, but I have a new model that didn't get recalled. This new model has an accelerator that goes wild but only under certain conditions of cruise control. And I can repeat it over and over and over again--safely." --Steve Wozniak, Id.

8. "'It becomes a whole other ball game if it turns out to be an electronics issue,' said Autoconomy analyst Erich Merkle. 'Not only does it get more expensive to fix, but there's a trust factor between Toyota and its consumer.'" --www.reuters.com

7. "In recent interviews, two former NHTSA administrators, Ricardo Martinez and Joan Claybrook, have said they believe that some kind of electronic glitch may be causing the Toyota problems. Similar conclusions are being drawn by independent automotive safety experts, forensic mechanics and automotive electronics researchers, as well as many consumers." --www.latimes.com

6. "Of more than 2,000 motorist complaints of sudden acceleration in Toyota and Lexus vehicles over the last decade, just 5% blamed a sticking gas pedal . . . ." -- www.latimes.com

5. "Quebec car-owners are joining a class action lawsuit against Toyota, as the car company scrambles to repair faulty gas pedals on millions of vehicles worldwide." --montreal.ctv.ca

4. "The firm says it has received 3,000 hits on its website since Monday, and of the 400 Canadians who have signed up for the class action lawsuit, 25 percent are Quebecers." Id.

3. "CINCINNATI -- An area attorney has filed a major class action lawsuit against Toyota and its affiliates. The suit, filed Tuesday by attorney Stan Chesley, alleges the automaker fraudulently concealed safety hazards and breached its own warranties and contracts. . . . 'It is clear that Toyota is hiding something under the carpet,' Chesley said. 'Toyota has long known about the defect and has done too little, too late to correct it.'" -- www.wlwt.com

2. "In a statement from the law firm filing the [California] class-action lawsuit, attorney David Wright said, 'Neither driver error nor floor mats can explain away many other frightening instances of runaway Toyotas.' Wright also said, 'Until the company [Toyota] acknowledges the real problem and fixes it, we worry that other preventable injuries and deaths will occur.'" -- www.leftlanenews.com

1. "Since November, at least 10 lawsuits seeking class-action status have been filed against Toyota in U.S. courts and in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Canada. . . . David Owen, a law professor at the University of South Carolina and director of its Office of Tort Law Studies, said Toyota might be more at risk in U.S. states that impose on manufacturers of a "duty to warn" consumers about a defect. . . . 'If it turned out that Toyota delayed the recall beyond the point when a reasonable manufacturer would have done so, then punitive damages in substantial amounts might be available to whoever was physically injured,' Owen added." ] --www.reuters.com

And to think that all of this could have been avoided . . . . Aftermarket gas pedal "fix"

www.speedwaymotors.com


BTW, has anybody noticed that the 'Yoda pedal fix reduces pedal travel See Diagram of the Toyota pedal fix at CNN.com(not that full-throttle motoring is all that likely or rewarding in the WUSSMOBILES that 'Yoda sells . . . make that used to sell . . . .)

SPEEDZZTER ON BANGSHIFT.COM: ELEVEN THINGS THAT "JAM" BANGSHIFTERS

[Get the latest "Truth With Speedzzter" here]

Truth With Speedzzter's done it again . . . another front page column at Bangshift.com This time, Truth With Speedzzter rips on eleven things in motorsports and hot rodding that "jam" enthusiasts. The column is entitled "Speedy Says: The Top 11 Things That Get Speedzzter's Goat." Happy reading.

ROLEX 24 AT DAYTONA: FRUSTRATING START FOR FORD

[Get the latest “Truth With Speedzzter” here]

The 2010 racing season got off to a frustrating start for Ford fans in the first weekend of Grand-Am competition at Daytona International Speedway. Ford racing afficionados were buoyed by a Ford-powered Daytona Prototype on the pole for the 48th Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Ford’s 2009 success in the supporting “Challenge Series” (Formerly Koni, now Continental Tire Challenge) fueled ebullient hopes for a strong start to 2010 in the “Fresh From Florida 200.”

Ford racing fans, of course, are not unlike fans of the Chicago Cubs – always waiting for “next year” while fondly recalling glory in times past. After all, Shelby’s Cobras and Ford’s mighty GT once boomed at Daytona during the “Total Performance” era. More recently, Ford-powered cars prepared by Jack Roush once held a mighty ten-in-a-row streak in the Rolex 24 (sadly in the days before it was nationally televised). And with the retrenchment of Lexus and euthanasia of Pontiac, a fairly respectable number of Roush-Yates Ford powerplants were competitively in the Rolex 24 starting field. Surely this would be a breakout year for Ford at Daytona.

Yet when the last shard of carbon fiber from Grand-Am’s season kick-off had finally been deposited on track and Speed Channel’s part-time cameras turned their attention to NASCAR, Ford’s sports car racing fans were left with lots of dust, but little glory.

The results of the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the supporting Fresh from Florida 200 are fully reported elsewhere. But from a Ford-centric perspective, it was a weekend of frustration and missed opportunities.

Ford left Daytona behind BMW and Porsche in the “Grand Sport” division of the Continental Tire Challenge standings. The mighty Ford Racing Mustangs came up short. But since most of America won’t have a chance to see the Florida 200 until it is televised on February 13, most Ford racing fans probably aren’t even aware of how the Mustangs lost.

In the lesser “Street Tuner” division for Sport Compact cars, Ford has ceded the field to Honda, BMW and its corporate partner Mazda, among others. Given Ford's new emphasis on smaller cars, this omission seems short-sighted.

Similarly, in the Grand Touring division of Rolex-series competition, Ford fans could only root for a phalanx of Mazdas. Meanwhile, a couple of silhouette Chevrolet Camaro GT-Rs, along with a few stray Corvettes and Pontiacs soaked up seemingly hours of television time. More than a few Ford racing supporters undoubtedly wondered where the Mustangs were at the so-called “Superbowl of Sports Car Racing.”

At least a SpeedSource Mazda took the win in the GT class, albeit one that may have been marred by Speed Channel’s reporting about Nick Ham’s apparent release from the team and forced retirement.

But the big show was in the Daytona Prototype class. Despite the pole and an extraordinary number of entrants “Powered by Ford,” Prototype glory went to the unheralded Action Express team, running a non-factory authorized Porsche Cayenne V8 and a host of Dinan BMW-powered prototypes that gave chase. The Fords all managed to take themselves out of competition, mostly with a number of bizarre, non-engine-related failures and avoidable mistakes.

Even then, Ford-powered cars were often the fastest cars on track. A.J Allmendinger, in one of Michael Shank Racing’s Ford-powered prototypes, led as late as early afternoon until he collided with a GT car off-camera, starting a downward spiral that eventually resulted in a fiery D.N.F.

So what can Ford fans take from the frustration of the Rolex 24 weekend?

1. Ford stands a decent chance of winning races in Daytona Prototype. Clearly the Fords D.P.s are fast. And in the sprint races that make up most of the Grand-Am schedule, the numbers and quality of the Ford teams suggests that Ford will take some races in 2010.

2. Mazda is serious about winning the GT manufacturers’ title in 2010. While the Camaros will probably snag a disproportionate share of the publicity and fan affections, Mazda seems poised to make a serious challenge to Porsche’s GT hegemony.

3. Ford is missing out by not seriously contesting the GT Class. Because Grand-Am events are generally televised live, more potential sports car buyers will see the Camaros run than Ford’s brilliant Continental Tire Challenge racers. Even though the Challenge cars are more relevant to what Ford sells on Monday, continuing to opt out of GT is an obvious mistake.

4. Speed Channel’s coverage of the Rolex 24 needs improvement. Speed Channel should be celebrated for showing at least part of the Rolex 24 live. But the event (and the 24 Hours of Le Mans) merits flag-to-flag coverage. Nothing is more frustrating than waiting through stupid infomercials just to learn at 7:00 a.m. EST that most of the Fords took themselves out of D.P. competition during the hours when Speed was airing forgettable, non-time sensitive programming. And Speed Channel seemed to miss many of the pivotal crashes and other moments that affected Ford’s chances. While the Speed Channel announce crew is solid and entertaining, Speed simply doesn’t employ enough cameras to adequately cover the event. And Speed Channel sometimes forced commercial breaks when they should have stayed with developing on-track action.

5. At least Ford beat Chevrolet . . . sort of. When Ford’s partner Mazda is factored in, Ford did much better in the final Daytona results than GM. But Ford shouldn’t underestimate the appeal of the GT Camaros. Along with Team Corvette in the ALMS series, GM probably still has more sports car racing presence than Ford.

6. Where’s Roush? The Rolex 24 used to belong to Roush Fords. Surely the Roush organization is large enough to return to endurance racing. If Chip Ganassi can do it, why not Jack Roush?

7. Isn't it time to outlaw or restrict carbon fiber? Grand-Am has a number of rules to limit costs and ensure close racing. But one of the biggest problems for side-by-side racing is tire-popping shards of expensive carbon fiber. A casual fan might think that the cars are built out of "shards" as much as that phrase was uttered during the telecast. Surely a return to older, cheaper materials would both reduce costs and eliminate another source of groove-narrowing "clagg" on track.

While the 2010 Rolex 24 weekend temporarily dampened the spirits of Ford fans, hope still springs eternal that 2010 will be a banner year for the Blue Oval.