The Clarion
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Volume 75, Issue 15 SERVING BREVARD COLLEGE SINCE 1935 Jan. 29, 2010
Troubling times ahead for Toyota
Major car manufacturer Toyota forced to recall defective
automobiles
by John Climer
Managing Editor
Earlier this week, Toyota, an automotive
icon of reliability, suffered a significant
blow to its reputation and credibility,
further compounding the already fragile
state of the automotive manufacturing
industry.
The seemingly invincible Japanese
based company was forced to place
recalls on nearly 2.3 million vehicles.
In this issue...
NEWS:
Afghanistan continued 2
Coltrane reopens for luncli 2
Student Q’N’A 3
Boolstore Survey 4
OPINION:
Illegal Immigration 4
Bookstore Survey 4
Internet Problems? 5
Comic 5
ARTS & LIFE/MISC.:
IVILK Challenge 6
Avatar review 7
SPORTS:
Women's Basketball 6
ODDS AND ENDS:
American Hero 8
Your Horoscope 8
Additionally, the company halted the sale of
eight of its different vehicle models. These
models include: the Camry, Corolla, RAV4,
Highlander and Tundra pickup.
The reason for the recalls and the
sales halt is because of a manufacturing
defect that causes vehicles to accelerate
unexpectedly.
Initially, the company believed that
the unintentional acceleration was being
caused by unsecured floor-mats that would
“pin” the accelerator down, causing the
vehicle to speed up uncontrollably.
Now, however, the company has begun
to assert that the undesired acceleration
may actually be caused by a defect in
the vehicle’s accelerator electronics
assembly.
Safety Research and Strategies, a safety
firm based in Massachusetts, has found over
2000 incidents of sudden unintentional
acceleration in the companies vehicles,
which may have caused up to 275 crashes,
resulting in at least 18 fatalities over the
past decade.
The recall and sales halt puts the
company, at least temporarily, in a financial
pinch; the eight vehicles currently being
halted from sale comprised 57% of the
company’s total U.S. sales last year.
Toyota is scrambling to overcome
this set-back. Although its reputation
may have been damaged somewhat,
history has proven that car companies
are able to overcome such incidents, as
was demonstrated by Ford when they ran
into similar difficulties with the Explorer
SUV.
However bleak the situation may appear.
Bob Carter, vice-president of Toyota USA
stated that, “Helping ensure the safety of
our customers and restoring confidence
in Toyota are very important.” Although
speculation about the company’s future
financial stability is rampant, only time
will tell how this incident will affect
the company’s status as an automotive
powerhouse.
The Tundras were one of themodels being recalled
Below: /\ Toyota Tundra on the assembly line,
by Toyota due to a manufacturing defect