The responsible thing to do

When was the last time you heard the head of an American corporation take responsibility for a major screw up? Not any time recently. Tylenol maybe. Yet there was the head of Toyota in Japan, apologizing to Toyota owners worldwide for mistakes that led to the recall of almost one million vehicles. Can you imagine Wall Street apologizing? Or the big banks? And politicians? Please. I currently own two Toyotas, a politically incorrect Land Cruiser that I love tailgating Smart Cars in, and a Lexus (which as we all know is just a Camry dressed up for a night on the town). In the past I've also owned a Celica and a Supra. They've always been relentlessly reliable cars. They've driven great. They've never caught fire (like my Audi), and they never made me feel like I needed a co-signer when I took them for service (like my Mercedes - you're welcome Fletcher Jones). 


I can't really get too upset they've made a mistake, apologized for it, and are taking action to correct it. Wouldn't it be great if everyone in our lives did that when they made mistakes? In fact my Lexus - which is part of the recall - has already had the new accelerator assembly installed. It feels exactly like the old one. The car performs exactly as it did before. And I don't worry about it taking off uncontrollably by itself anymore than I did before the recall (although truthfully, on the 405, how far would it get?). I'm not one for conspiracy theories, but it does seem to me the people who have the most to gain from fanning the flames for government investigations are Chrysler, GM and Ford. They have plenty of politicians in their pockets. They can get a favor when they need one. And of course, they are the American car companies.  


So I'm going to try to not care about all the nasty things the news and the competition are saying about Toyota. And if you know anything about me, you know not caring is something I do extremely well. Instead, I'll just go on driving my cars, the ones that have never given me any reason to question their quality. 


Apology accepted.