Toyota in deep,,,,

**Pedro_The_Swift** · 27th February 2010, 08:37 AM

Report: Toyota 'whistleblower' documents trouble House panel

by Jeremy Korzeniewski (RSS feed) on Feb 26th 2010 at 5:00PM

And the saga continues. According to House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Ed Towns (D-N.Y.), documents obtained by the committee under subpoena from Dimitrios Biller – managing counsel in the product liability group of Toyota Motor Sales USA from April 2003 to September 2007 – "indicate Toyota deliberately withheld records that it was legally required to produce in response to discovery orders in litigation."

Towns further says that many such documents "concern 'rollover' cases in which a driver or passenger was injured, including cases where victims were paralyzed." In a letter sent to Yoshimi Inaba, president of Toyota's operations in North America, Towns wrote:

In sum, the Biller documents indicate a systematic disregard for the law and routine violation of court discovery orders in litigation. People injured in crashes involving Toyota vehicles may have been injured a second time when Toyota failed to produce relevant evidence in court... Moreover, this also raises very serious questions as to whether Toyota has also withheld substantial, relevant information from NHTSA.

It has also come out that Toyota keeps so-called "Books of Knowledge" containing information from Toyota engineers on internal design and testing data. So closely held was this information that the automaker supposedly agreed to multimillion-dollar civic settlements to safeguard the data. Serious charges indeed, and Towns has given Toyota until Friday, March 12th, to respond."

Have you guys been following this??
This is not just a couple of runaway cars,,
This could be the end of Toyota in America,,

The yanks will continue to dig at this,,

and if (when?) they find Toyota have deceived the USA Gov,,,,,

**Lotz-A-Landies** · 27th February 2010, 09:12 AM

It all began back with Ralph Nader and FoMoCo's Ford Pinto. Ford did similar things hiding flaws in the Pinto, as Toyota has done recently and it was looking like going onto successful prosecution of Ford and it's execs for corporate murder (I think that the Yanks call it "depraved indifference murder") before FoMoCo decided on recalling the entire Pinto fleet.

Toyota have gone into the US market with their eyes open knowing about the Pinto case. So they can expect very little compassion from the US courts and legislators.

I'm watching with great interest.

**Slunnie** · 27th February 2010, 09:22 AM

How many Toyota owners will be disappointed about the lie that they have bought.

**Redback** · 27th February 2010, 07:58 PM

Ya know, most of the buying public won't even know or care

and I would imagine they will still put crap on Land Rovers, cause if you know any one with a Toyota, they can do no wrong

**Ace** · 27th February 2010, 08:36 PM

Originally Posted by Redback

and I would imagine they will still put crap on Land Rovers, cause if you know any one with a Toyota, they can do no wrong

but land rovers leak oil Baz, they still have that against us

I to will follow this with great interest, the only reason everyone reckons toyota is so bullet proof and reliable is because toyota is good at hiding situations where they arent. Its just like the front suspension on 100 series IFS cruiser, if you ask toyota it was because of aftermarket suspension parts, not their bits, even though it was their bits that broke.

At least land rover can recognise when they have stuffed up, recall their vehicles and rectify it.

**Redback** · 27th February 2010, 08:44 PM

Originally Posted by Ace

but land rovers leak oil Baz, they still have that against us

I to will follow this with great interest, the only reason everyone reckons toyota is so bullet proof and reliable is because toyota is good at hiding situations where they arent. Its just like the front suspension on 100 series IFS cruiser, if you ask toyota it was because of aftermarket suspension parts, not their bits, even though it was their bits that broke.

At least land rover can recognise when they have stuffed up, recall their vehicles and rectify it.

No oil on my driveway!!

**3toes** · 27th February 2010, 09:11 PM

Originally Posted by Pedro_The_Swift

It has also come out that Toyota keeps so-called "Books of Knowledge" containing information from Toyota engineers on internal design and testing data. So closely held was this information that the automaker supposedly agreed to multimillion-dollar civic settlements to safeguard the data. Serious charges indeed, and Towns has given Toyota until Friday, March 12th, to respond."

Would be more than a little surprised if all manufacturers (not just cars) did not have a similar set up. Any large organisation would need a way to hold information in a central knowledge bank so that everyone could contribute and the information put to best use for product development purposes. The information would have significant commercial sensitivity as you would not want to hand such information over to your competitiors. Or if you are a solicitor looking for some more fees or a politican looking for some headlines you may see something else that requires extensive legal investigation.

**Captain_Rightfoot** · 8th March 2010, 06:30 PM

Toyota should just man-up and admit they are putting profits before safety. How people buy Japanese cars is beyond me.

**Disco44** · 8th March 2010, 06:47 PM

by 2

John

**p38arover** · 8th March 2010, 06:51 PM

Originally Posted by Redback

No oil on my driveway!!

I don't park on my driveway, either!

Thread: Toyota in deep,,,,

Thread Tools

Toyota in deep,,,,

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions