Toyota’s powerful friends in Washington

Source: MSNBC

WASHINGTON - The lawmakers now investigating Toyota's recall include a senator who was so eager to lure the Japanese automaker to his state that he tramped along through fields as its executives scouted plant sites, and a congresswoman who owes much of her wealth to a Toyota supplier.

They and others on the congressional committees investigating Toyota's massive recall represent states where Toyota has factories and the coveted well-paying manufacturing jobs they bring.

Some members of Congress have been such cheerleaders for Toyota that the public may wonder how they can act objectively as government watchdogs for auto safety and oversight. The company's executives include a former employee of the federal agency that is supposed to oversee the automaker.

Toyota has sought to sow good will and win allies with lobbying, charitable giving, racing in the American-as-apple pie NASCAR series and, perhaps most important, creating jobs. Will those connections pay off as it tries to minimize fallout from its problems?

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35293626/ns/business-autos/

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Gee, surprise, surprise.

toyota has had some bad defects in their product. they were able to build their myth because the ford,gm.and chrysler cars were even worse. gm and ford are now making a better auto than toyota.

has been the use of high-quality materials in their engines, and keeping the bean-counters away from the powertrain engineers. Traditionally, in the salt/rust belt, Toyotas disintegrate around the engine.

Problems with crankcase ventilation and oil drainback cause sludge, especially in conjunction with occasional high oil temperatures.
I was talking about the iron in the blocks, the piston ring materials, valves, valve seats, bearings....
American cars - especially pre-emission ones - would make horrendous amounts of sludge without regular oil changes, especially if used for short-distance driving. I've had to muck 'em out with a putty knife befora a rebuild, so as not to mess up the hot tank.

a 2005 Consumer Reports article discovered that some engines from Audi, Chrysler, Saab, Toyota, and Volkswagen appear prone to sludge almost no matter how often the oil is changed.

Where I mention issues with crankcase ventilation and oil drainback. Sludge is generated from the interaction of combustion by-products (of which water is a normal part)and Petroleum-based oils - particularly when the engine oil is not regularly heated above 160F, so that water is not driven off - and when the detergents in the oil break down from heat and mechanical stress, there is nothing to carry the sludge away. I speak from four decades of hands-on experience with all sorts of engines - lawnmowers, garbage trucks,imports, and championship racing engines.

Now, American manufacturers just need to make sure everyone knows that their products are now superior.

Lotsa those folks in DC.

I dreamed that I was driving a Ford Pinto on a very narrow one way road and looked up and saw in my rearview mirror a Toyota coming at a high rate of speed!

:rofl:

:spray:

absent from this discussion. It seems they cannot admit that there are problems with their favorite brand.

Like the presidential election fund - to which you can contribute one dollar when you mark the box on your tax return - another one similar for congressional candidates is appropriate. Just think: Congressional reps would be able to make public policy decisions based on constituent input rather than monetary input.