Media Circus
The Unintended Acceleration of the Toyota Recall Scare
Robert Hayes
Issue date: 3/2/10 Section: Opinion
But was the fallout warranted? In total, 26 deaths were attributed to Pinto fuel system design, a small number, especially considering Pinto's two million unit run. In fact, in 1974, the NHTSA officially ruled that the Pinto "had no recallable problem." Why then, has it become infamous as a death trap? Simple: the media. Never ready to let facts get in the way of a good story, the media is no stranger to creating automotive scares.
In 1986, CBS' 60 Minutes interviewed six Audi 5000 owners who were suing the German automaker for injuries and damages resulting from the alleged "unintended acceleration" of their cars. During the segment, an Audi 5000 sedan was shown to accelerate without driver input, and a video was shown of the pedal depressing to the floor, seemingly of its own accord. The resulting scare from the story devastated Audi sales in the United States, and left consumers wondering how the car could simply start accelerating on its own. Audi wondered as well, and investigated the claims. In its tests, the results of the 60 Minutes film couldn't be duplicated, and Audi found that if both pedals were pressed, the 5000 would simply stall.
Further investigations into the 60 Minutes piece found that CBS had modified their Audi 5000 by installing an elaborate compressed air pumping system, designed to create the acceleration the producers wanted. In reality, nothing was wrong with the Audi 5000 used by CBS, nor with any other. Investigation showed that the pedals in the 5000 were closer together than in American cars of the era, and the NHTSA attributed all "runaway" 5000 incidents to driver error. Audi sales, which reached 74,000 by 1986, fell to a low of just over 12,000 by 1991. Audi sales did not recover to 1986 levels until 2000.
With the unscrupulous behavior of 60 Minutes revealed shortly after the segment aired, one would think the news media would back away from such fabrication, but it wasn't the case. In 1992, Dateline NBC aired a special hour report entitled "Waiting to Explode" about alleged faults with General Motors pickup trucks and their unique "side-saddle" gas tanks, which were supposedly more vulnerable in collisions. In the course of the segment, NBC showed a slow speed side impact in which the truck was immediately engulfed in flames. Upon analysis by General Motors, it was discovered that during the film, smoke was seen coming from the fuel tanks a full six frames before the impact. In the resulting libel lawsuit, NBC producers admitted planting explosive charges in the gas tank and detonating them remotely, in an effort to fabricate the results their story required.
In 1986, CBS' 60 Minutes interviewed six Audi 5000 owners who were suing the German automaker for injuries and damages resulting from the alleged "unintended acceleration" of their cars. During the segment, an Audi 5000 sedan was shown to accelerate without driver input, and a video was shown of the pedal depressing to the floor, seemingly of its own accord. The resulting scare from the story devastated Audi sales in the United States, and left consumers wondering how the car could simply start accelerating on its own. Audi wondered as well, and investigated the claims. In its tests, the results of the 60 Minutes film couldn't be duplicated, and Audi found that if both pedals were pressed, the 5000 would simply stall.
Further investigations into the 60 Minutes piece found that CBS had modified their Audi 5000 by installing an elaborate compressed air pumping system, designed to create the acceleration the producers wanted. In reality, nothing was wrong with the Audi 5000 used by CBS, nor with any other. Investigation showed that the pedals in the 5000 were closer together than in American cars of the era, and the NHTSA attributed all "runaway" 5000 incidents to driver error. Audi sales, which reached 74,000 by 1986, fell to a low of just over 12,000 by 1991. Audi sales did not recover to 1986 levels until 2000.
With the unscrupulous behavior of 60 Minutes revealed shortly after the segment aired, one would think the news media would back away from such fabrication, but it wasn't the case. In 1992, Dateline NBC aired a special hour report entitled "Waiting to Explode" about alleged faults with General Motors pickup trucks and their unique "side-saddle" gas tanks, which were supposedly more vulnerable in collisions. In the course of the segment, NBC showed a slow speed side impact in which the truck was immediately engulfed in flames. Upon analysis by General Motors, it was discovered that during the film, smoke was seen coming from the fuel tanks a full six frames before the impact. In the resulting libel lawsuit, NBC producers admitted planting explosive charges in the gas tank and detonating them remotely, in an effort to fabricate the results their story required.
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Mark
posted 3/03/10 @ 8:53 AM EST
Feeding frenzy? Possibly. But that doesn't change the facts. Have government officials ever flown to Detroit to demand a recall from a domestic manufacturer? No. (Continued…)
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