subject: Salt Lake City New Car Dealer Proud Of Toyota's Stance On Abc Reports [print this page] Toyota is asking for an apology from ABC News for a recent story on the Prius acceleration troubles and dealers and customers are cheering the car company on. Considering all the shady turns in this case, an apology should not even be in question. Avoiding a lawsuit should seem to be the biggest concern of ABC News. Dealers of Salt Lake City used cars are just happy that buyers are listening to their hearts and not ABC.
Buyers of Salt Lake City new cars will want to hear this. It all started back a couple months back when college professor David Gilbert was featured in an ABC News report by Brian Ross. Gilbert said he had found a way to get Toyotas to acceleration unintentionally without leaving an error code which would flag the problem for mechanics. His point was to prove that it was possible for this to happen, as some owners had claimed.
The problem was Gilbert actually had to rewire the car to get it to perform that way. Not a very realistic scenario unless Toyota owners here and there are performing surgery on their cars just for the heck of it and hoping they wont die as a result.
To add fuel to the fire, Ross edited his report with footage of a tachometer fluctuating wildly and later admitted it had been filmed when the car was sitting still. Why, you ask, would a supposedly reputable news outlet air such a hyped-up, non-story? Lets give ABC the benefit of the doubt and assume the network was not aware of the falsification. (Of course, my journalism professor coincidentally at the same college where Mr. Gilbert is employed, told me never to assume anything.)
So if ABC didnt know what was going on, and I would not be quick to jump on that bandwagon, why would they not just immediately apologize for their reporters incompetence and unprofessionalism and fire Ross? Instead, letters have passed back and forth. No real apology has been forthcoming and Ross is on an extended vacation, no doubt planned long before his story every aired. And Im going to win a Pulitzer for this piece on yellow journalism! Dealers of Salt Lake City used cars are known for their professionalism.
Buyers of Salt Lake City new cars will be glad to know that local Toyota dealers are continuing their tradition of excellence and refuse to be distracted by the mud-slinging media. This is not a new practice, by the way. Way back in 1992 NBC Dateline reporter Michelle Gillen committed a similar faux pas with a story on GM trucks. She was fired. I dont remember if GM got an apology.
So, as the words fly between Toyota and ABC, vehicles continue to fly off the lot at Toyota dealers due to the companys incentive offers and efforts to correct vehicles affected by the recalls. Customer loyalty appears intact, so maybe Toyota should just let this roll of its back like water. Nah, Toyota should get an apology and a retraction or else . . .
