Media Circus
The Unintended Acceleration of the Toyota Recall Scare
Robert Hayes
Issue date: 3/2/10 Section: Opinion
With the onslaught of media stories covering the recent rash of Toyota recalls, which at latest count included eight separate safety recalls, encompassing safety defects ranging from faulty floor mat placement and "sticky" accelerator pedals, to hybrid braking systems and faulty Tundra drive shafts. In all, approximately nine million vehicles have been recalled - a staggering number, considering all these recalls were issued in less than six months.
In their attempts to cover this unprecedented exposure of safety defects, the world's media has created such a frenzy that has seen Toyota owners rushing to their dealers, refusing to drive their recalled vehicles until fixed, and has turned public opinion against the Japanese automaker, long heralded as the pinnacle of automotive quality, so dramatically that the recall is estimated to cost Toyota dealers in excess of $2.4 billion dollars, with the cost to Toyota itself in excess of $2 billion.
So, is this recall reason for panic? Surely, if you own one of the recalled vehicles, you're concerned, but should others be worried? Well, only after a history lesson.
Our story begins back in May of 1972, where we find Lily Gray and her passenger driving through San Bernadino, California in Mrs. Gray's 1972 Ford Pinto hatchback. Suddenly, the Pinto stalled, due to a flooded carburetor float, and came to a stop in the middle lane of the highway. A driver of a Ford Galaxie traveling behind Gray's Pinto was unable to swerve to avoid the disabled hatchback, and collided with the Pinto at an estimated 28-37 miles per hour. The results were immediate and devastating. The Pinto hatchback was engulfed with flames, killing Gray and seriously burning Richard Grimshaw, her passenger.
The resulting legal case was the subject of such relentless media furor, not due to the accident and fire, but due to the "Ford Pinto Memo", a 1968 cost-benefit analysis conducted by Ford's engineering staff to weigh the benefits of additional reinforcement to the Pinto's fuel system. In it, Ford priced the modification that would have prevented the fire that engulfed Gray's Pinto at $11 per car, the costs of which, over an estimated 11-million vehicle production run, would exceed the costs of future lawsuit payouts. Ford decided, therefore, to manufacture the Pinto without modifying its fuel system design, the results of which, as they say, are history. Ford was crucified in the media as the stereotypical heartless big corporation, preying on innocent customers. Even today, 30 years after the last Pinto rolled off the assembly lines, people not even old enough to have seen a Pinto know about Ford's "barbeque that seats four."
In their attempts to cover this unprecedented exposure of safety defects, the world's media has created such a frenzy that has seen Toyota owners rushing to their dealers, refusing to drive their recalled vehicles until fixed, and has turned public opinion against the Japanese automaker, long heralded as the pinnacle of automotive quality, so dramatically that the recall is estimated to cost Toyota dealers in excess of $2.4 billion dollars, with the cost to Toyota itself in excess of $2 billion.
So, is this recall reason for panic? Surely, if you own one of the recalled vehicles, you're concerned, but should others be worried? Well, only after a history lesson.
Our story begins back in May of 1972, where we find Lily Gray and her passenger driving through San Bernadino, California in Mrs. Gray's 1972 Ford Pinto hatchback. Suddenly, the Pinto stalled, due to a flooded carburetor float, and came to a stop in the middle lane of the highway. A driver of a Ford Galaxie traveling behind Gray's Pinto was unable to swerve to avoid the disabled hatchback, and collided with the Pinto at an estimated 28-37 miles per hour. The results were immediate and devastating. The Pinto hatchback was engulfed with flames, killing Gray and seriously burning Richard Grimshaw, her passenger.
The resulting legal case was the subject of such relentless media furor, not due to the accident and fire, but due to the "Ford Pinto Memo", a 1968 cost-benefit analysis conducted by Ford's engineering staff to weigh the benefits of additional reinforcement to the Pinto's fuel system. In it, Ford priced the modification that would have prevented the fire that engulfed Gray's Pinto at $11 per car, the costs of which, over an estimated 11-million vehicle production run, would exceed the costs of future lawsuit payouts. Ford decided, therefore, to manufacture the Pinto without modifying its fuel system design, the results of which, as they say, are history. Ford was crucified in the media as the stereotypical heartless big corporation, preying on innocent customers. Even today, 30 years after the last Pinto rolled off the assembly lines, people not even old enough to have seen a Pinto know about Ford's "barbeque that seats four."
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
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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