[amorak]

Here's my rant from the Bauer thread - Probably duplicates some items discussed, but it's good to get it off my chest

Originally Posted by CSharp

Heh, everyone's blaming the Chinese for their lead-based paints on imported goods, but no one blames the companies that are actually cheaping out, putting these products in the North American shelves, and then selling them at a marked up price 1000 times what they're produced at. Since Nike is the producer of these sticks, they should be questioned heavily on why these sticks aren't tested before they reach the markets.

I really don't get the redneck stance anywhere. For example, Toyota is a manufacturer of the cars that they have recalled because of brake failures. These brakes where actually manufactured by a Canadian company and yet Toyota gets blamed for all the quality of their cars. Even when the facts stated that the brakes that came from Japan actually had no problem, people in North America are still blaming the Japanese automakers for all their problems. So, let's turn this argument around and say that Nike-Bauer recalls their junior hockey sticks due to lead contaminants. Why the heck is everyone up in arms and blaming the Chinese? Shouldn't we blame this on Nike-Bauer?

Holy misinformation Batman!

1) Toyota's recall has nothing to do with 'bad brakes' - It's several different recalls, some involving the accelerator pedal (made by a Canadian company), one involving the floor mats falling forward and bunching up under the pedal, and then several of them are to install a brake-override module, so that when you hit the brakes, it kills the gas.

If you look around the net, you'll see that the claims of unintended acceleration (U.A.) are bogus. The NHTSA and Toyota have reviewed the cars and they can see the data from the Toyota black box in these accidents, and in all cases the driver was hammering the gas and didn't touch the brakes, or in the case of the swingers-website-owning 70 year old in California, he was gradually tapping the brakes, while flooring the car.

These are people who want, for one reason or another, to get out of their lease, sue Toyota, get 15 minutes of fame, whatever. It's exactly the same as in the 1980's, when Audi was accused of the same thing and it turned out to be Bogus - it nearly bankrupt Audi in the USA, and their sales took 15 years to get back to their pre-U.A. sales figures


Here are some supporting links for the Toyota recall being A) Bogus and B) Nothing to do with the brakes (other than people claiming they 'cant stop') - They are old people who think they are hitting the brake, but are hitting the gas, as is proven with every car the NHTSA and Toyota have reviewed:

Here is a particularly good article on how stupid American drivers brought this on themselves by completely forgetting how to drive: http://jalopnik.com/5493693/america-...ax-on-yourself

According to recent studies, only 2% of Americans know how to drive manual - 2%! They view their cars as status icons and transport pods, they don't take any responsibility for knowing how to drive their cars. Hell, go ask your under-30 daughter/GF/mistress/many dudes as well - I bet if you ask them what the different slots on their automatic mean, they'll tell you "D means drive, P means Park, and R means backwards" They have no idea what N is for, nor what any other markings are - god forbid it have OD lockout or 1/2/3 low gear selections - They just don't know what their doing in their own car.:



http://www.autoblog.com/2010/03/19/f...y-prius-in-ny/

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/03/18/t...an-ross-repor/

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/03/15/o...nswer-questio/

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/03/15/t...prius-but-not/

http://jalopnik.com/5496864/new-york...ybrid-hoax-too

http://jalopnik.com/5493549/anyone-e...a-pattern-here

http://jalopnik.com/5493829/toyota-p...ius-was-a-hoax

http://jalopnik.com/5493011/this-mem...ius-was-a-hoax

http://jalopnik.com/5492199/exclusiv...iver-a-scammer



Note: I don't own a Toyota and don't own their shares - I am just a car enthusiast and weekend racer who is sick and tired of the road to utter stupidity North American drivers (in particular) have taken... Incidents like this Toyota-gate just prove to me, by and large, how dumb the general populace is behind the wheel


and for s and giggles, here's a hilarious youtube video (NSFW) of a guy in his Prius: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ4PtafRB9c