A vested interest
Now there are those of you, mainly lawyers I imagine, who might venture to guess that I commissioned an inaccurate translation of Toyota's over-the-top response to Channel 2, posted yesterday. So I will include the Hebrew original here for the record. (See below.) Translate it yourself if you doubt my translation.
I'd like to continue my light-hearted analysis of this response text by making two more comments. These are probably old hat to anyone who has read Toyota's public statements for the last several years, but anyway, maybe blog readers from Moldova, Madagascar, Nigeria, Argentina, China, Germany, or any one of dozens of other countries might find them fresh.
First we have the materially inaccurate statement "Toyota has won all lawsuits submitted to it in the US in this matter." Now where did you get that? If you were being truthful, you could have said "won or settled." "Settled in perfect secrecy" is really more accurate. But fidelity to the facts seems really too hard for you. Dear Toyota, I am so sorry you find it so tough.
Next, Toyota just loves to slap its critics with the "vested interests" smearing slap. Now why would Toyota do this? Frankly, I think it is to distract readers from the indisputable fact that Toyota itself has a vested interest in shutting up its critics. I would also like to point out that if Toyota meant moi, I could laugh in your face. The whole news story was about how I independently saw and understood documents, and the result of my actions in the public interest has been nothing but grinding poverty. What vested interests could you possibly be implying are behind this news story? GM? Duh, no. Plaintiffs? Duh, no. Government? Duh, no. Oh, maybe that I am about to sign a lucrative book deal? Duh, no. Those are facts. I dare you to try to uncover any facts to the contrary. No, Toyota, you are imagining things, and surely it is in your own vested interest to have a vivid imagination.
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This response statement begs the question of how much accurate information about SUA is flowing from Toyota to government regulators and consumers in other countries outside the US. AFAIK, most countries outside of Europe and China lack their own auto safety regulations, and they rely on US standards or European standards. Many countries do not track consumer complaints either. So consumers have a much tougher job protecting themselves than they do in the US, and it isn't so easy there either. <Sigh>
A little more truth from Toyota would certainly help, anywhere in the world.
Toyota's response to Channel 2 - Hebrew original
