Sometimes it's no fun being right. Last February I wrote that the concern about uncontrollable acceleration in Toyota (TM) cars was just so much humbug. As the findings on the government investigation into these allegations proved, I was proven correct. What I would prefer, however, is that the media would take the time to report a story accurately rather than just stir up a public frenzy in pursuit of ratings.
It was 11 months ago when CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric opened her broadcast with the story of Jim Sikes. Just that afternoon the California real estate agent claimed to have lost control of his Toyota Prius, shooting up to 94 miles an hour during a harrowing ride while telling the 911 operator he was standing on the brake pedal.
Over all the more important things in the world available to cover that night, an alleged runaway Prius made the top of Couric's list. One would assume she and her producers chose that story because they saw it as only the latest example of what seemed to be a growing threat to millions of American drivers. (Toyota, then as now, is the world's No. 1 automaker.)
In reality, thanks to Katie Couric, it was proof positive that the whole Toyota unintended acceleration story had become a media farce. Within days Mr. Sike's contentions were discovered to be fraudulent. In fact, Jalopnik later reported that Sikes was facing serious financial difficulties and speculation was that he had told his story in order to obtain a large settlement.
CBS News would take almost another year to do the next major story about Toyota's problems. Even then, the network that was once home to Edward R. Murrow still didn't have his grasp of getting it told accurately. On Feb. 8, CBS correspondent Sandra Hughes reported that the 11-month investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration—working with NASA—ruled out electronic defects as a cause of "Toyota Deaths."
Yes, Toyota's electronic systems were proven not to be the cause of any problem or fatality. The culprit was floor mats incorrectly installed, either by the dealership or by the Toyota and Lexus models' owners, that were catching and holding the gas pedal in place. Also, some vehicles had sticky accelerators. And as Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood suggested, the majority of cases were those of "pedal misapplication."
LaHood refused to call it driver error, but in fact it was. After all, brakes always override the throttle, with or without the new nonsense of "brake override systems coded into the system software."
Hughes still wasn't willing to let the Toyota story go totally. She played part of Mark Saylor's frantic 911 call, just before the California Highway patrolman and three members of his family were killed in a loaner Lexus ES 350 going 100 mph. Hughes withheld from the audience the fact that that case was now closed. The loaner was found to have had floor mats for a Lexus RX SUV installed instead.
Moreover, Hughes then suggested that the unintended acceleration story was not over just yet: The National Academy of Sciences, she promised, was doing a far more comprehensive study of unintended acceleration that could "shed more light on potential electronics problems."
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