Remember the "Cash For Clunkers" program last year where people were encouraged to trade in their cars for a $4.500 credit against a qualifying new car? Many late model cars, trucks, and vans that were in perfectly good condition and operating order were simply used in the program to upgrade to a new vehicle.
Well, the Toyota Corolla was the second most popular car purchased in the program, the Prius was the 4th, and the Camry was 5th.
In the events publicized in the past two days, it appears that the Prius wasn't such a good buy. It has some serious safety issues and a recall notice is being issued - along with those for other models.
Here's another take on the "Cash For Clunkers" program. Perhaps it was misdirected, and many people actually paid - rather than received - cash for clunkers.
Regardless of how this story ends, the Toyota brand is suffering heavy damage. A class action law suit was filed this afternoon, and Toyota says that it needs to do more tests to determine what the safety issues are before it can recommend a solution.
Maybe these are just a few isolated cases, but with the news coverage and now pending legal action how can they expect to keep selling cars? Time to learn a lesson from the Tylenol scare and take bold assertive action. Damage control time.
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