A couple of weeks ago, I wrote an article on BestCashCow that Toyota is entering a death spiral. I continue to think that Toyota's problems are real and are just beginning. Their refusal to address the sudden acceleration issue as an electronics problem - instead opting to satiate customers by moving the pedals around - is doing dramatic damage to the brand from which the company will never recover. To boot, Toyota was, as I predicted, poorly prepared in front of Congress two weeks ago. I drive a Lexus. My next car will be an Infiniti.
Putting the marketing damage aside, I am amazed by the parallels between this case and the Ford Pinto cases in the 1970s which led to the development of product liability tort law in the US. We give large product liability awards in the US in order to stop manufucturers from putting low values on human lives and producing products that may kill people. That gets manufacturers to fix problems rather than than treat them as inconsequential. A couple of large awards will take down Toyota. I am short Toyota stock and long very long-dated Toyota puts.
But this situation two nights ago with James Sikes and his Prius is really bugging me. It seems like the guy is piling on to a news story. He was too prepared to go straight to the media. He called 911 before trying to pull the emergency brake. Sikes, according to published reports, is a 61-year old real estate executive and longtime lottery player who won $55,000 and was selected in 2006 to appear on a California Lottery TV game show. This smells to me like a washed up Californian angling to be a plaintiff in a lawsuit or to be on the Amazing Race 18.
If it happened in Iowa or Kansas maybe I'd believe it, but these days anything coming out of California just seems scripted for Hollywood.
Comments
Greg
March 13, 2010
Sikes is paid by Barack Obama! This guy is fake! If you take a good look he is al the time thinking about what he's going to say. His eyes are turning and turning en he didn't look in the carema. Great job but very FAKE!!! When does this STOP! Take a good look at your self Barack Obama and don't blame it on TOYOTA!
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JRodgers
March 13, 2010
I want to weigh in here and say that I am glad that I wrote this article on this website. The response from the people who know Sikes has confirmed my suspicions. The responses from people who are affiliated with Toyota have also affected me and led me to remove my short positions and puts. I don't want to profit at someone else's misfortune, especially when fraud may be a component of the misfortune. I am actually now inclined to go long the stock as I expect the stock to rally dramatically when, not if, the mainstream media reports that Sikes and many of the others are frauds.
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toyota guy
March 13, 2010
com'on people! you really think this guy is ligit? My wife drive herself and my kids around in a 2010 Avalon that hasnt had the pedal repair done.... She asked me what to do if the car accelerates, I said to put it in neutral adn press the brakes. I then proceeded to stomp the gas pedal of my 2010 4runner up to 60miles per hour and then began to depress the brakes while keeping the gas floored! what do you think happened next? The damn car came ot a complete stop in 5 seconds!!!!!! amazing isnt it.
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JA Aronson
March 13, 2010
I recently bought a new 2010 Prius and I was concerned for about two minutes when I heard the news on Tuesday morning. Then, I realized that the car doesn't go 94 mph and if it did it wouldn't take 24 minutes to figure out how to get it under control. By the way, I just saw the best customized license plate on a Prius. It said "Had a v8". The owner of that car may have been writing about the vegetable juice, but now there is a double entendre - my old Toyota Tercel was more powerful.
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PanzerTank
March 13, 2010
This guy gives pond scum a bad name!
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Henry Toobin
March 13, 2010
I used to be part of the broadcast journalism industry for many years and retired just after 9/11 and just before the major networks decided to dumb themselves down because they didn't think that Americans wanted to ask tough questions anymore. CNN brought the industry to a new low on Tuesday when it paid this SOB to sit in a car and give them an exclusive and then gave him only underhanded pitches.
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Out Foxed
March 13, 2010
Fox news online has an article questioning Mr Sikes story.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,589090,00.html
Your house of cards is collapsing in a very dramatic fashion James!
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Mike
March 13, 2010
Don't know if anyone else noticed, but the personalized licence plate on his Prius is "FRUGAL 08".
Haha......what a tool this joker is! He makes a fortune during the Real estate bubble, then manages to over-extend himself to the point of filing for bankruptcy and he has the AUDACITY to get a license plate that says FRUGAL!
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glad their gone
March 13, 2010
When I first saw the news article I was like, "Hey I know that guy.... He's the weird one that used to live here."
I have known of James and Patty for many years. Patty was a wonderful and talented woman and then she met Jim. I
Always felt he was a snake in the grass. From his massage therapy, real estate scams, paralegal dealings, to postings of adult preferences on line and parties, and get rich schemes. From the time they moved to Atwater, then heard of their move to southern Californina they have always been crooked in their dealings. Patty changed after she met him. But I guess the saying goes, "If you sleep with the dogs, your bound to get fleas." I hope that Toyota doesn't give him one dime and they catch him for the snake he is. Even I know to put the car in neutral, emergency break, etc.
He is a true scam artist.
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David Axlegrease
March 13, 2010
It's all George Bush's fault!!
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