The Truth About Cars » Congress

Quote Of The Day: Live By The Politics, Die By The Politics Edition

Edward Niedermeyer — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:45:07 +0000

Chrysler Group understands that the practice at this time may be a cause of concern among policymakers and among arbitrating dealers. As a measure of good faith, Chrysler Group will not proceed with network actions that directly impact an arbitrating dealer until the arbitrator has had a chance to rule in that case. Chrysler promises to [...]

The UAW: As Green As We Need To Be

Edward Niedermeyer — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:29:05 +0000

The Detroit News reports that the United Auto Workers are gearing up for battle for a surprising new cause: greenhouse gas emissions standards. Alan Reuther, Legislative Director of the newly-green union, wrote congress recently to warn against a bill authored by Sen. Lisa Murkowski which would prevent the EPA from declaring C02 a danger to [...]

The Sikes Aftermath: Lead Balloon Boy Going Down

Bertel Schmitt — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 14:20:47 +0000

A few days ago, James Sikes and his runaway Prius was all over news. Until we mentioned that something is fishy. Sikes’ driving skills were put in question. Stories about a wife swapping website emerged. Stories about bankruptcy. Stories about an unpaid lease on the Prius. And sundry other stories. Quickly, Sikes turned into Balloon [...]

Congress: The GMAC Bailout Might Have Been A Bad Idea

Edward Niedermeyer — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:12:59 +0000

After three separate bailouts totaling over $17b, Congress is beginning to wonder if keeping auto-finance giant GMAC alive was worth it. Forbes reports that the Congressional Oversight Panel reckons at least $6.3b of that money could be gone forever, as GMAC flounders towards barely breaking even. And like the rest of the bailouts, the fundamental [...]

GM Dealer Reinstatement Puts Pressure On Chrysler

Edward Niedermeyer — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:44:40 +0000

GM’s recent reinstatement of 661 culled dealers has put pressure back on Chrysler to come to arrangement with the dealers it shed during last year’s bankruptcy and bailout. Rep. Chris VanHollen, the sixth ranking Democrat in the House or Representatives, tells Automotive News [sub] that with GM buckling to dealer pressure, the time has come [...]

Toyoda Reports Back To His Prime Minister

Bertel Schmitt — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:26:40 +0000

Back from his hibachi-tour to the hill, and a trip to China, Akio Toyoda this afternoon paid his respects to Japan’s Transport Minister Seiji Maehara, to Economy Minister Masayuki Naoshima, and to the man himself, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama. And what a difference it was compared to the enhanced interrogation in Washington. Toyoda “promised to improve [...]

Gilbert’s Toyota Shenanigans Explained

Bertel Schmitt — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 16:09:07 +0000

This is left brain – right brain weekend. While the more image driven can submerge themselves in pictures of old car ads, the other faction can unleash their inner nerd with abandon. Yesterday, we covered how ABC had entered the grail of automotive disaster-fakery, previously populated by NBC and CBS. ABC’s smoking gun video had [...]

Toyota Discredits Gilbert. Gawker Calls Brian Ross A Faker

Bertel Schmitt — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 14:38:15 +0000

Last week, Professor David W. Gilbert testified at a house hearing and said he had replicated the unintended sudden acceleration in Toyota’s vehicles. Toyota, and their testing lab Exponent tried Gilberts method and said he was right. “But Toyota said it also created the same response in vehicles made by competitors, which it said rendered [...]

Many NHTSA Complaints Unverifiable

Bertel Schmitt — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 12:36:12 +0000

Just as Paul Niedermeyer, Edmunds, Consumer Reports or anybody else who has the time to download and analyze 103.1 Mbytes worth of customer complaints to NHTSA, Toyota is pouring over the data. However, their attempts are being thoroughly frustrated. According to The Nikkei [sub], Toyota found out that oftentimes complaints submitted to the NHTSA “either are [...]

GM Reinstates 661 Culled Dealers

Paul Niedermeyer — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 21:17:15 +0000

Apparently eager to avoid uncertainties of the Congressional-mandated arbitration, GM announced that 661 of its 1,160 terminated dealers that sought arbitration would be back in business pronto. Automotive News quotes GM North America President Mark Reuss: We are eager to restore relationships with our dealers, and get back to doing what we do best — [...]

Biller Secret Toyota Documents “Published Material”; Pissing Match Breaks Out In Congress

Paul Niedermeyer — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:31:04 +0000

Instead of solving the truly pressing needs of the land, Republicans and Democrats are publicly squabbling over the relevance and veracity of the Biller “smoking gun” documents that claim to prove that Toyota hid safety problems. U.S. Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, sent a letter on Feb. [...]

Dealers, Lawmakers Bash Chrysler For Opening New Stores Near Culled Dealerships

Edward Niedermeyer — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:08:35 +0000

Chrysler’s troubled relations with its dealers took another turn for the nasty this week, as culled dealers teamed up with lawmakers to criticize Chrysler’s decision to open new dealerships near the sites of several culled dealers. As with GM’s dealer struggles, this latest controversy centers around Colorado, where culled dealers are protesting Chrysler’s behavior in [...]

Korea: Washington Is Picking On Toyota

Bertel Schmitt — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 10:41:20 +0000

According to popular wisdom, the Koreans have no love lost for the Japanese. And likewise. What’s more, Koreans and Japanese car makers are bitter competitors for foreign market share. So wouldn’t it stand to reason that Korea would jump on the “down with Toyota” bandwagon with their 96 million feet? Just the opposite is true. The [...]

Congress Backs Away From Biller

Edward Niedermeyer — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:03:42 +0000

Yesterday I asked our Best and Brightest if congress should hear testimony from former Toyota lawyer Dimitrios Biller. The lack of unqualified endorsements mirrored my own skepticism about the testimony of a guy who has sued Toyota several times, and today it seems that congress may just agree. When the House Oversight Committee wrote Toyota’s [...]

The Eternal Quest To Explain The Unknown

Bertel Schmitt — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 13:26:26 +0000

A quiet Sunday. Time to fire up Google and put in “Toyota AND [cause OR reason].” We come up with ample explanations why Toyota is not called Toyoda. Or why Peiping turned into Peking, and then into Beijing. What about the causes of sudden acceleration? Let’s see what we find. (If you have other things [...]

NHTSA: Congressional Blocking Of EPA GH Gas Rules May Backfire

Paul Niedermeyer — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 18:33:11 +0000

The Obama Administration warns that automakers could be hit with unintended acceleration of their costs if Congress succeeds in blocking EPA greenhouse gas emissions. The Detroit News reports: In a letter to congressional leaders, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s chief counsel, O. Kevin Vincent, said Congress would jeopardize a deal reached by automakers, California and [...]

Barney Frank: Ed Whitacre Is Overpaid, But What Are You Gonna Do?

Edward Niedermeyer — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:23:03 +0000

It’s been over ten days since GM’s Bob Lutz took to the local papers to complain that GM’s executives are “way, way, way underpaid,” and its still been less than a week since Ed Whitacre’s $9m compensation package was announced but politicians are only now starting to sit up and take notice. Barney Frank (D-MA) [...]

An Interrogation – Tales Of Terror From Toyota City Volume 3

Bertel Schmitt — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 11:57:53 +0000

No politician worthy of your vote will pass up on the chance of publicly bashing the heads of foreign corporate types with deep pockets. And so, the Senate will convene its Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation next Tuesday. They will repeat this week’s grilling until perfectly good Kobe steak is well done and reduced [...]

War Against Toyota Is Devouring Its Own Children

Bertel Schmitt — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 05:31:02 +0000

The Toyota witch hunt inquiry is beginning to show its surely unintended effects – on American jobs, businesses, and lest we forget, tax revenue. Toyota has notified its major parts suppliers that its North American production for the February-April period is expected to reach roughly 350,000 units, around 20 percent lower than the number originally planned [...]

Rep. Souder And The Denso Distraction

Edward Niedermeyer — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:30:26 +0000

News that the FBI had raided three Japanese supplier companies in the Detroit area came in the middle of yesterday’s epic Toyota hearings, adding to the day’s chaos and misinformation. The FBI said clearly at the time that Denso, Tokai Riko and Yazaki were raided as part of an antitrust investigation, which we now know [...]

Japanese Reaction To The DC Kabuki: “Eeeh…”

Bertel Schmitt — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 09:54:07 +0000

Japanese reaction to the kabuki dance is muted. From the Asahi Shimbun to the Mainichi Shimbun, all papers refrain from any criticism of either side. Except for the occasional “Japan-bashing” comments by readers, officially everybody is carefully sidestepping that trap. Just as Toyoda did during yesterday’s grilling on the hill, when he said that Toyota [...]

Quote(s) Of The Day: Bookends Edition

Edward Niedermeyer — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 05:06:18 +0000

QOTD is a fairly irregular exercise for us, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t dust it off for today’s marathon hearings before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Needless to say, the ten-ish hour affair offered too rich a bounty of choice quotes to properly choose just one. And so we have two: [...]

The Toyota Testimony, Day One: A Comedy In Three Parts: Part Three: The Inevitable Punchline

Edward Niedermeyer — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:28:55 +0000

After a big buildup by expert witnesses, and Toyota’s Jim Lentz’s evasion of any evidence that his firm’s cars are afflicted with an untraceable electronic gremlin, the House Energy Committe turned its attention to Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood. Because LaHood’s department falls under the congress’s oversight (and carries the government’s ultimate responsibility for the [...]

Toyota Testimony, Day One: A Comedy In Three Parts: Act Two: The White Whale

Edward Niedermeyer — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:20:16 +0000

Toyota’s Jim Lentz (who, I’m obligated to share, bears a striking resemblance to the dad from “Teen Wolf”) spent nearly two and a half hours before a committee that by then was investigating what expert witnesses described as an unknown, untraceable electronics error of nearly limitless reach. With this white whale taking the foreground of [...]

The Toyota Testimony, Day One: A Comedy In Three Parts: Act One: The Expert Evidence

Edward Niedermeyer — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:26:35 +0000

It’s been nearly a year since the automotive industry has been treated to a must-watch DC hearing. The last time around, when the executives of America’s automakers went begging to congress for multi-billion dollar bailouts, hearings were heated and combative. Though liberally sprinkled with irony and comedic ignorance, those hearings were, at their heart, a [...]