Media coverage of the Toyota sudden acceleration problem

I sent the following comment to Japan without the sugar:

The Toyota problem is a story that isn't really there.

A constellation of different factors just happen to hit at the same time to make people think there was a story. The media has been awful in its reportage. If you really want some perspective on this, go to the Wikipedia article on this and read the criticism section. Specifically, follow the links to the related articles in auto magazines, popular mechanics, and consumer reports.

After that, ask if it's even fair that the owners of GM should be in a position to judge Toyota at all. Then, remember that the LDP and Toyota management were probably very cosy. Not so with the DPJ and Toyota management.

In my opinion, which I regard as fallible and downright prone to error, you are latching on to a misleading narrative here.

The types of articles we would really need to read to study this issue would be articles like this: http://www.aceee.org/pubs/t021full.pdf

No, I'm not a Toyota apologist, but the amount of apparent mendacity and hypocrisy I've seen in the mass media over this is just so overwhelming, I find it hard to stomach sometimes. But I guess it's all par for the course.

Then again, I could be wrong.

[I'll add this now -- The media is having a heyday calling Japanese who try to grasp what's actually going on conspiracy theorists. That is if you don't buy the ludicrous narrative the media has provided, you are a conspiracy nut. Not only this, but those wacky Japanese just have a propensity for such nuttiness. The LA times goes so far as to quote a professor of Asian studies as saying, "the conspiracy theory on these Toyota hearings is alive and well in Japan ... Conspiracy theories don't deal with the facts, but there's a comfort factor among the Japanese public in believing that Japan is being made the scapegoat for U.S. economic problems." And Newsweek notes, "Initially, many in Japan denied the problem, called the controversy an American overreaction, and concocted conspiracy theories about the U.S. government or unions sabotaging Toyota cars to boost sales of the government-supported General Motors." Whatever.]