Michael Hiltzik: Me and my Toyota

As my column for Thursday points out, Toyota's lackluster response to its current engineering problem might have been predicted by examining the historical record -- notably its handling of complaints that certain Toyota and Lexus engines were predisposed to becoming fouled by oil sludge.

But the real issue for American taxpayers is a regulatory agency that was asleep at the switch, or in bed with the company -- you choose the metaphor you prefer. The whole sorry saga will have been judged worthwhile for all of us (perhaps not the Toyota owners directly affected) if it serves notice on federal regulatory agencies that their purpose is not to make things easy for the regulated, but protect the public.

The column starts below.

Here's my Toyota sob story.

Back in 2002, a number of Toyota and Lexus models developed a condition in which their oil congealed into sludge and ruined the engine. My Sienna minivan seemed to be one of them.
Toyota was, shall we say, less than proactive. The company at first denied there was any sludge problem. Then it blamed the problem on the owners' failure to get the oil changed on schedule, as though owners of $30,000 Toyotas and Lexuses, among all U.S. motorists, were uniquely slipshod about their regular engine maintenance.

My case wasn't resolved until it went up to a regional service manager. He insisted at first that I prove all the required oil changes had been approved. Eventually they backed off demanding paperwork, since they'd all been done at the dealership. The fix was approved and, if memory serves, I was given the opportunity to put in a claim for a few bucks for the necessary loaner.

Suffice to say that Toyota did not evince a desire on that occasion to be "No. 1 in the hearts and minds of our customers," which is what Jim Lentz, the president of Toyota USA, assured Matt Lauer on Monday?s ?Today? show is always the company?s goal. Toyota did, however, evince an approach to customer service that might explain how it managed to turn a new engineering problem -- episodes of unintended acceleration by its vehicles, many blamed for causing injuries or fatalities -- into a complete reputational train wreck.

Read the whole column.

-- Michael Hiltzik