Why Toyota got so much flak? Why else, Toyota probably failed to keep up their protection money payments. Or failed to endorse someone enough or so on. I mean what was it even about? Incorrect speedometer readings? Fuel injector increasing rate without pedals going down? That's what lots of media FUD was saying but then it's about price fixing. Anything that sticks, truly bizarre.

I read that GM is majority-owned by US Treasuring department, US government invested a total of US$57.6 BILLION, a smear campaign on the national media, so I am calling it the Government-Media-Industrial-Complex. There was probably too much competition lately for Obama Motors Detroit HQ, and so they employed "synergy". I wonder if this will set a new pattern? And so I'm going to keep a look out for it because I call it first.

You implied a great point.

I do not support the defamation of free market companies by ones run by the government.

Should they? The way I see it, the problem is that people just can't afford American made manufacturing anymore (not with the lifestyles most choose to lead, anyway). Foreign companies can make better quality products cheaper and they do. Their citizens can't expect the same wages. About 4 of the major car dealerships in town (out of maybe 8 or 10) have been shut down now for months because the employees are locked out, refusing to work at the wages offered.

And [North] American consumers flock to those foreign products, leaving the American companies to cut corners to make cars "affordable". You get what you pay for. I bet close to 50% of the cars I see around this region are Kia or Hyundai now. I hate those PoS cars.

I suppose we're just going to have to surrender to the Koreans because American companies can't compete and [North] American consumers don't much care about them...

If you charge more than $10,000 for something, solely of my opinion, it better be damn well safe. To say you need to pay more than that just to have a safe car is silly. Moreover, if it is not stated in the brochure that you are buying a car that is misleadingly unsafe, it is grounds for litigation.

Toyota manufacturing jobs pay wages in America similar to the Big Three.

A Fight Club reference to the Ford Pinto fiasco. Yet, I still feel safer with modern Ford than GM. Ford has new management and a dedication to improvement now--to contrast 30-40 years ago. They're products are getting much better--though, I still don't prefer to buy them. Chrysler makes safe cars (minus the Caravan...) but their product durability is nil. GM is still run by scum, as evidenced by this recent outburst. That statement is not becoming of a professional environment.

What world do you live in? The median income in America is $32,000 before medical care, housing, and living expenses. So by that logic the average American can't afford safety.

5 stars, all under $20,000.

The GM version of "under $20,000."

The Hyundai version of "under $20,000."

Would you'd pay $365 to not die? Except, the 2005 Cavalier, adjusted for inflation, is $11,630. So would you be willing to save $940 to not die?

Moreover, on the "American" car makers not being able to afford it. Over 70% of the Ford Mustang comes from overseas. So they're cheating just as much as any other company. There's more American parts in a Toyota Camry than a Mustang. And Volkswagens are made in Germany and America, both of which are hardly 3rd-world countries. Yet Volkswagens still out perform GM vehicles.

The point still stands that American manufacturers have willingly put themselves into a place of non-competition, opting to pay off legislators instead of building the best products. They deserve everything they get, and no bailout. Did you know that an American is responsible for Japan's success in business? American businesses didn't want to listen to him, so he went overseas and taught the Japanese.

He lives in the Canadian/USA border world

I don't think very many people go out and plunk down $20-30k cash for a new vehicle. Everyone I know gets financing when they buy new vehicles and it usually takes them a few years to pay it off. So if that means that it may take a typical American family a few or so years to pay off a brand new $20k or more vehicle.

Both my parents' '89 Ford Crown Victoria (which we got rid of years ago) and '95 Ford Crown Victoria had that same acceleration problem. You would be driving along happy and suddenly you'd realize that the car was accelerating all by itself and you'd have to ride the brakes to hold it back (even on the highway!). There was nothing you could do. Finally, presumably after Ford finally admitted it (years after we got rid of the '89 and years after we got the '95) my dad took the '95 into the shop (read: a couple of years ago) to have the cruise control (and related systems) removed. So it doesn't do that anymore, but now you have no cruise control...

I remember one time (I don't recall which car it was) I was pulling into a rural Home Depot parking lot (dirt) and was pulling up behind a parked car to park behind it. I had let off the accelerator to coast in, but I suddenly realized that I wasn't coasting at all, but rather ACCELERATING. I locked up all four tires, aggressively sliding through the dirt, and stopped just short of the car in front of me while the owner was walking to his car... I got out and he said "I saw that" in a sort of old man complaining about kids today way, thinking I had done it on purpose... I just smiled, still slightly in shock, and went on with my business, swearing to never drive that car again.

I had a T-Bird back in the '80's and one time I'm on cruise, come up to a red light, and the harder I push on the brake, the harder the engine's trying to make it go. I had the presence of mind to shut off the cruise, then didn't use it anymore. But then I noticed people coming up behind me and locking up their brakes when we were all slowing down for a red light, so I checked that the brake lights worked. They didn't, it was a bad brake light switch on the pedal, and fixing that made the cruise control work properly again.

Some Volvos had a vacuum line running to the brake pedal, stepping on the pedal opened a little valve that opened the line to air, killing the vacuum. Any failure in this setup would result in no vacuum, so the cruise control could only fail at the brake pedal signal by not working at all, rather than trying to maintain speed.

I've lived through 42 side impact crashes on my 2000 Cavalier, so I won't be giving it up any time soon.

I'm talking about my car...

It scares me that we got more and more drivers who

• can't use a manual gear box

• can't drive without cruising control

• can't use brakes without ABS

• can't park a car without radars or this VW's new self parking system

• ...

Feel free to add to the list. What comes next? Pedestrian recognizing system?