Letters: March 11

Toyota Recall/Automobile driver Qualifications, Francis MacDonald

Toyota Recall/Automobile driver Qualifications

It was with great amusement that I watched the U.S. congressional hearings regarding the well publicized Toyota “sudden, uncontrollable acceleration recall”. With all due respect and sympathy to the victims and their families it was hard to not find the entire process absurd to the point of comedy.

When the U.S. Government “bailed out” 2 of 3 (GM & Chrysler) domestic auto makers they should have immediately recused themselves from any such investigations due to the obvious and obscene conflict of interest, but they instead chose to take turns demonizing Toyota in an effort to score political points and pad their own pocketbooks. I am not suggesting that we should forego any hearings into Toyota’s culpability on this issue. Rather, the legislative branch of the majority share-holder in 2 of Toyota’s biggest national competitors should have delegated this responsibility to a more independent panel such as the NHTSA.

In watching the testimony of a “victim” of “sudden, uncontrollable acceleration” I was intrigued by her recollection of the event. She explained how when she experienced this phenomenon, she placed the gear selector in Neutral, then to Reverse to no avail, the vehicle continued to “speed up”, she then recounted how she made a call on her “Bluetooth” to her husband knowing there was nothing he could do to help but wanting to “hear his voice just one more time”. Her testimony was revolting in its transparency, from the reference to her bluetooth phone call (hands-free) to her frantic gear selection attempts, it had all of the ear marks of a plaintiff’s affidavit in a civil court lawsuit but did not pass the smell test. Firstly, the reference to the phone call home shows some level of culpability on her part as any conversation (hands-free or otherwise) would impair one’s ability to manage a “runaway vehicle”. Secondly her testimony surrounding gear selector position shows a better understanding of civil litigation than automotive systems, as it is absolutely impossible for a vehicle to “speed up” with the gear selector in Neutral or Reverse.

In discussing this recall along with emergency procedures with friends, family and neighbors, I was amazed at the number of people who did not know how to handle such an emergency but hold valid drivers’ licences in this country. That’s when it dawned on me that emergencies are not included in our written or road tests! Your road test pass (and licence) simply means that you managed to navigate a particular stretch of road on a particular day, but if conditions change you may be unable and unqualified to drive.

As a commercial helicopter pilot I am required to land a helicopter without engine power, without hydraulic assist, without tail rotor control etc. and this testing is repeated annually. I am not suggesting that auto drivers be tested annually and emergency procedure testing for safety or logistical reasons may be implausible but could we not include “emergency procedures” in our written testing and possibly verbal emergency response to prompts during driver testing? In emergencies where a Toyota vehicle is not involved, whom do we blame then??

Francis MacDonald