Toyota - now the passengers AND the car are screaming

Okay, so, the Toyota corporation this week announced that it is working on a way to make the Prius noisier, as a safety feature. This is announced at the same time as a sweeping Corolla and Matrix recall because of spontaneous engine stalling.

Wow, Toyota, I just want to congratulate you for having your priorities straight. I mean, if I run a multi-billion dollar corporation, I'm going to want to spend equal if not MORE time fixing an aesthetic issue as I have spent fixing actual problems with the cars.

Seriously?? You have cars which REFUSE to stop, and cars which stop spontaneously. And you actually spent time arguing with your loyal customers as to the validity of their claims! Yes, because it was a logical assumption on your part that drivers made a coordinated effort during the month of May to drive their vehicles VOLUNTARILY into the sides of donut shops and hair salons. Only reluctantly did you issue the recall, but finally did.

Now, you've really taken the hint on this Corolla/Matrix recall, because there was little hesitation in issuing the recall almost immediately after the problem was reported. I just hope you come up with a better "fix" than you did the first time through on the acceleration problem - although I'm sure if there's a way to fix it by "wedging a tiny thing between two larger things" you'll jump at the chance.

But it seems like this "car noise" thing is something that really could have waited. You've got cars driving into buildings, and other cars that just die on the road. But what's this? Our hybrids are quiet? Whoa, let's not waste any time here! Frankly, I can't imagine any drivers actually wanting their cars to sound like a cross between Fran Drescher, an air raid siren, and a ghost, but that's what you've delivered, by God!

I mean, fixing that in the midst of all the other problems facing Toyotas right now? It would've been like Lincoln signing an anti-green leafy vegetable law while that whole slavery thing was still needing to be fixed. Better yet, it would be like a Silverware company trying to make their butter knives shinier, while ignoring the fact that they have a pesky "exploding fork" problem.

Now, I get that the reason for doing this is to make pedestrians feel safer. People were apparently getting run over by silent hybrid cars that sneaked up behind them at 5 MPH or less. Now, first of all, to the pedestrians, I'd have to say, "Suck it up, people!" I mean, it's 5 miles per hour! If I swing a fly swatter at a fly at less than 5 MPH, it doesn't kill the fly! It thinks it's been hit by a tiny trampoline and calls its friends over for a birthday party.

But better yet, I mean, let's say that 5 MPH is deadly fast. Sure, someone could fall if they're startled, break something, hit their head, I get that. So, should we really be putting the responsibility on the pedestrians for being hit? Do we really hear this problem and say, "Well, if the car had just been noisier, they could have gotten out of the way!" I hear it and think, "Why the hell did the driver just keep going and hit the person??" Is this engine noise designed so people can just pay no attention whatsoever to the road and blame the pedestrians for not getting out of the way faster? If you were actually looking at the road, you would have seen the walker... so did you run over them on purpose?

Here's my final thought - if my engine is so quiet that the person in front of me can't hear me behind them, I can think of something that DOES make noise on the car - it's the horn. Honk that. Don't run over the person. And for the love of God don't make the car sound like an electronic Bjork, especially when you already have trouble making the cars stop, and also making them go. People have been trying to make Bjork just stop and go away for years, and we see how well that's worked....