Opinion: Five Questions For Ray LaHood

It took ten months. It was about the best minds in the nation. They performed extensive tests. And God knows what it all cost. But when it was over, the results were entirely predictable. could not find the U.S. Department of Transportation's nothing wrong with Toyota vehicles, they leave suddenly would accelerate out of control.
The results were predictable, because the country went through the same old, almost a quarter century. Only then we went to Audi. And in both cases, each car company has to have some kind of mysterious gremlin cause to accelerate his car would suddenly charged out of control.
But there is a significant difference between the two studies. At that time, Department of Transportation pushed it to driving errors. Officially, they called it "pedal misapplication." But this time, the Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood would not do that. He said it was caused by mechanical problems, ie, sticky pedals and floor mats piled up.
Too bad that the secretary does not have the courage to call it what it is. By identifying the cause of the problem, more people are going to lose their lives.

Opinion: Turning the tide at Toyota?

What price a good reputation? That's what Toyota will be in the coming months and years to learn how it wrapped up by the security scandal, the company since it announced the first recall of unintended acceleration in October 2009.Going into recession, certainly no company better suited appeared again fighting for the perfect storm as the Japanese giant, which has positioned itself as a market leader in quality, reliability and dependability, or talk in the industry, QRD, and the benchmark for green mobility had weather. Once displaced General Motors as the world's king-of-the-Hill, seemed to Asian automakers unstoppable.

But nearly seven years ago I wrote a column suggesting Toyota may be the next GM if they are not careful, and even as the company's sales growth continues, there were subtle signs of trouble in sight - especially in his slipping on the quality charts .

But few of the sudden acceleration of crisis, or the number of additional would be recalled that, months have followed expected for months. In 2010, it was not a single Toyota model that is not on the recall list, landed at least once - some several times.

Toyota launches Collaborative Safety Research Center in Michigan

Toyota constantly preaches that safety is a top priority. To further back up those claims, the automaker has announced a new research program: The Collaborative Safety Research Center. Located at the Toyota Technical Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the CSRC examines the science of safety with the goal of reducing the number of traffic fatalities and injuries on American roads. The best part about the program is related to the first word in its name – collaboration. Toyota isn't keeping this data in-house, instead sharing it with top universities, hospitals, research institutions, federal agencies and other projects or groups whose goal is to make driving a safer experience.

Researchers from North America and Japan will work together at the Michigan location testing everything from driver-distraction to vehicle, passenger and pedestrian safety. Toyota estimates that it will spend $50 million on the CSRC over the course of the next five years. A full press release is posted after the jump.