Badly done, Toyota

I have always been a big fan of my Corolla and of the Toyota brand in general, but I am starting to question my fangirl status.

If you've been following the news, you can't have missed the news about the Toyota recalls due to a tendency to accelerate suddenly.

Moving forward, indeed.

As investigations mount, the news that's coming out is damaging. Scores of people have died--and the numbers keep growing as cases are reinvestigated. Others are sitting in prison because their out-of-control vehicles killed someone.

The news and the breadth of this recall makes you wonder how long Toyota knew about these problems before deciding to do something about them. Which ruined life was the tipping point for them?

My car is not included in the recall, but I've come across reports of people who experienced the sudden-acceleration problem in other vehicles that are not included in the recall. If a company put finances before ethics and was willing to ignore a fatal problem like this one, isn't it conceivable that they would try to limit the financial fall-out by not recalling all of the vehicles that are actually affected?

I'd say it's possible.

As I drove home this evening, I wracked my brain trying to think of a time when my car accelerated suddenly and uncontrollably. My car has over 113,000 miles on her, and I've been in the car for most of them. I can't remember a time when she accelerated suddenly without my touching the gas.

But Toyota's reluctance to address this issue in a timely manner leaves me wondering about both the safety of my car and my loyalty toward the company. I used to trust that the company would do the right thing, but now I actively distrust them and assume that they are doing the wrong thing.

Toyota, you have a long way to go before you can count on me to buy another of your vehicles.