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I totally don't understand Toyota now. Why are they complaining about this, drawing attention to the problem? ABC comes back and says "yes, we had to fake the

I totally don't understand Toyota now. Why are they complaining about this, drawing attention to the problem? ABC comes back and says "yes, we had to fake the shot, because when the accelerator is jammed down the car starts to shake dramatically and it's so terrifying that we couldn't get a good camera shot". PR fail. Why aren't Toyota simply saying 'if a Toyota - or any other make of car - accelerates as if the accelerator was jammed, you can simply stop it with the brakes, or by putting the car into neutral, or by turning the key in the ignition'? I wrote a blog post about this the other day: http://justinsb.posterous.com/what-is-toyota-doing http://justinsb.posterous.com/what-is-toyota-doing

pavel_lishin 17y ago
Well, if your company makes a product that mangles children's toes, and the media creates a video that shows your product burning children's legs off, you might want to complain. (I am not proud of that analogy, but it's been a long day.)
- justinsb 17y ago
  Except then you're talking about the damage your product does. Suppose you're selling guns (kills a comparable number of people to cars), and you have a PR problem because kids are shooting their toes off. Your gun has a lock, and you suspect that your customers aren't locking it properly, but the customers are claiming that the lock is magically becoming unlocked. ABC shows a video with a child shooting their whole leg off. Maybe it's not even a real child but a reenactment with a mannequin, because TV people are funny like that when it comes to shooting children. You could talk about how that's not fair, because we're only supposed to be talking about kids shooting their toes off and the video didn't even use real toes, but then you're just drawing attention to the fact that kids are eliminating their extremities with your product. Or you use your time in the spotlight to talk about how it's a bad idea to keep a loaded gun around where children can find it easily, whatever the make, and that simple steps like keeping the gun unloaded or putting it on a high shelf will eliminate the whole problem.
xsmasher 17y ago
Saying "these are the steps" might be seen as admission that the problem is widespread or likely to affect you. By the way, if there really is a software problem (which Toyota has denied so far) then your steps will not help. The key is a button, and the brakes and the shifter are just inputs to the computer. Your steps would help if it's just the floor mats or a malfunctioning accelerator switch.
- justinsb 17y ago
  Thanks for providing a possible explanation. A recall is also an admission that the problem is widespread, so I think that horse has bolted, but it's possibly the reason Toyota are behaving so oddly (at least in my world view). If it is a software problem, it's certainly possible that e.g. the brake pedal might not work. I think it's likely that one of the three would work, because the code is likely to be broken into modules, and I think it unlikely that all 3 modules would be affected by one bug. Anyway, what's the harm in telling people to try the 3 step process? Right now, people think they're doomed if their car accelerates - I'm thinking that some people are panicking because of this and making bad situations a lot worse. Take the case of the Prius driver in California the other day: he called 911, a police car was dispatched, to tell him exactly the same steps through a megaphone, and - sure enough - the car stopped. Why not tell people in advance so they don't have to make a cellphone call at 90mph?

pavel_lishin 17y ago

Well, if your company makes a product that mangles children's toes, and the media creates a video that shows your product burning children's legs off, you might want to complain. (I am not proud of that analogy, but it's been a long day.)

justinsb 17y ago
Except then you're talking about the damage your product does. Suppose you're selling guns (kills a comparable number of people to cars), and you have a PR problem because kids are shooting their toes off. Your gun has a lock, and you suspect that your customers aren't locking it properly, but the customers are claiming that the lock is magically becoming unlocked. ABC shows a video with a child shooting their whole leg off. Maybe it's not even a real child but a reenactment with a mannequin, because TV people are funny like that when it comes to shooting children. You could talk about how that's not fair, because we're only supposed to be talking about kids shooting their toes off and the video didn't even use real toes, but then you're just drawing attention to the fact that kids are eliminating their extremities with your product. Or you use your time in the spotlight to talk about how it's a bad idea to keep a loaded gun around where children can find it easily, whatever the make, and that simple steps like keeping the gun unloaded or putting it on a high shelf will eliminate the whole problem.

xsmasher 17y ago

Saying "these are the steps" might be seen as admission that the problem is widespread or likely to affect you. By the way, if there really is a software problem (which Toyota has denied so far) then your steps will not help. The key is a button, and the brakes and the shifter are just inputs to the computer. Your steps would help if it's just the floor mats or a malfunctioning accelerator switch.

justinsb 17y ago
Thanks for providing a possible explanation. A recall is also an admission that the problem is widespread, so I think that horse has bolted, but it's possibly the reason Toyota are behaving so oddly (at least in my world view). If it is a software problem, it's certainly possible that e.g. the brake pedal might not work. I think it's likely that one of the three would work, because the code is likely to be broken into modules, and I think it unlikely that all 3 modules would be affected by one bug. Anyway, what's the harm in telling people to try the 3 step process? Right now, people think they're doomed if their car accelerates - I'm thinking that some people are panicking because of this and making bad situations a lot worse. Take the case of the Prius driver in California the other day: he called 911, a police car was dispatched, to tell him exactly the same steps through a megaphone, and - sure enough - the car stopped. Why not tell people in advance so they don't have to make a cellphone call at 90mph?