Eugene Robinson: Stealing Fire From the Gods

[marmar]

from Truthdig:



Stealing Fire From the Gods
Posted on Feb 5, 2010

By Eugene Robinson


A friend of mine once had a Toyota that wouldn’t die. The odometer had only a dim recollection of passing 100,000 miles, the body was dinged and the paint was faded and the interior was worn, but the thing just kept running. He finally parked it at the airport, removed the plates and walked away.

But that was more than 20 years ago, long before Toyota became the world’s biggest car manufacturer. Now the gas pedal doesn’t work right on some of the company’s models and the brakes don’t work right on others. A brand name that once meant “indestructible” has become a punch line for late-night jokes.

The company’s stock has lost 20 percent of its value over the last few weeks, helped along Wednesday by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood’s warning that the U.S. owners of nearly 6 million Toyota and Lexus models with the potential accelerator problem shouldn’t even try to drive the cars. LaHood quickly withdrew his doomsday alert, explaining that all he meant to say was that people shouldn’t delay in seeking repairs. Not what I’d call a message of reassurance.

The obvious lesson for Toyota: Be careful what you wish for. Toyota set out to conquer the world. In succeeding, the company grew so fast that its vaunted mastery of quality control—the craftsmanship and care that made people want to buy a Toyota in the first place—couldn’t keep up.

For years, Toyota dominated the rankings for both initial quality and reliability. But the company’s models had begun to slip well before the current public relations disaster. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/stealing_fire_from_the_gods_20100204/

[ellenfl]

1. good point(s). i still drive my 15yo camry because i wish for a

'fully-manual' car. the more electronics, the more (expensive) things that can go wrong. since i tend to keep my cars for a long time, expensive innovations are just that . . . expensive.

ellen fl