Posted by Tina
AP
NEW YORK – The Department of Transportation has analyzed dozens of black boxes in Toyota vehicles involved in accidents blamed on unintended acceleration, finding the throttles were open and the brakes were not engaged, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. ** That suggests that drivers of the speeding cars were stepping on the accelerator rather than hitting the brakes. The vehicles investigated came from a sample in which the drivers said they were braking but failed to stop the car before crashing, the newspaper said, citing unnamed sources familiar with the findings. ** Transportation Department officials declined to confirm the report and did not comment. Toyota spokesman Mike Michels said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has not shared its findings with the Japanese automaker but said their own findings from investigations of unintended acceleration are consistent with the report.
We must wait for the official report to come out, of course, but if the WSJ is correct then Toyota was compelled by our government (and media hype) to recall 8.5 million cars because of driver error.
According to Toyota’s lawyer this ordeal has cost the company over $2 Billion including a record $16.4 Million fine to the federal government. A number of small businesses and dealerships were also effected greatly by this rabid political witch hunt for political show.
In future a bit of calm and adequate investigation would be wise before holding humiliating congressional show trials. The propensity on the left to target, demonize and punish without adequate information or proof is tiring and costly…yet another reason to toss the bums out. If these findings are accurate our esteemed Congress owes the president and owner of Toyota, it’s dealerships and employees, and all of the associated small parts companies more than a great big apology for their troubles, losses, and expenses.