Tyler H wrote:Basically, if you were disgusted with how Ford handled the Firestone debacle, you should be the same, or more horrified (since the problem has been going on longer, on more models) with this situation and Toyota.I'm not so sure that's the case. Ford knew they had a problem with Explorer tire failure / rollovers and analyzed the data until they had enough to irrefutably pin it on Firestone.
By the time Ford went public, 115 people were dead.
I wonder what the death count is for the Toyota recall? I heard of four in a single accident. I also wonder why CTS has been silent on this?
To set the record a little more straight- you may want to check http://money.cnn.com/2000/08/30/news/firestone_chronology/
First of all, it was 21 fatlities and 193 complaints. Not 115 fatalities. Other sources do increase that after the reaction by Bridgestone/Firestone and Ford.
Second, if you read the timeline, according to CNN, what was know in '98- Firestone wasn't making the part to even their own specification. Also, the recall was mainly done by Bridgestone/Firestone, since it was their part. Ford did pay for a lot of it, as they replaced the questionable tires with something else.
Not to say that any of the parties were perfect, but lets not blow it out of porportion.
While other articles point out increased claims later, it's pretty clear that once the reaction started, it was quick. The overall timeline was shorter, the number of vehicles affected was far, far smaller (by about an order of magnitude- 400,000 to +4M). Toyota has been dragging this one out since it's first complaint in a Lexus in 1999.
