SECRECY: the hallmark of crooks like Toyota

Update 11/1/2014 - A few hours ago: Takata says a new flaw was discovered for airbags it made from 2008-20014.

I just love it when the public is suckered by "proposed legislation" that stands no chance whatsoever of passing after elected officials (don't blame me - I quit voting years ago) are bribed - er I mean educated - by lobbyists. Buys time until well-entrenched business interests can do their thing with America's two-headed, one party sham of an electoral system.

Admitted-crook Toyota is perhaps the most notorious of all when it comes to those "confidentiality agreements" Senator Blumenthal says he wants to outlaw. The Coverup King has been rushing into such agreements like crazy ever since embedded systems expert Michael Barr spilled the beans on the auto industry's unintended acceleration scam about a year ago in that landmark case in Oklahoma. Electronic defects galore were exposed in Toyota's throttle control, ushering in a barrage of settlements structured to keep things quiet the "Toyota Way."

Really, folks. By what convoluted reasoning are crooked corporations like Toyota allowed to purchase the public's right to free speech as part of "settlements" involving deadly defects? It's a bullying tactic that's been going on for many years, Mr. Blumenthal, and never should have been allowed in the first place.

Toyota is still in tantrum mode because word of defects in their throttle control is spreading, thanks to that landmark lawsuit the Coverup King lost in Oklahoma last October. Lately, the admitted crook and first-class bully has been targeting whistleblower Betsy Benjaminson - a single, unemployed mother of four - with a slew of pricey, court-sanctioned actions aimed at intimidating Benjaminson - and anyone else - from daring to exercise free speech. Crooks like Toyota are outraged that in this age of the Internet, bloggers, trade journals, and shrewd use of social media can play havoc with the efforts of bigshot "news" organizations and auto-industry stooges like NHTSA to keep safety issues quiet. Note the graphic - a blood-spattered Toyota emblem - featured in today's update about Benjaminson.

Meanwhile, the latest scandal - exploding, shrapnel-laced airbags that injure and kill - leaves consumers at the mercy of auto-industry thugs, propped up by a corrupt, corporate-controlled government that has "no comment" when truth is exposed.

Update 10/31/2014 - Amidst scandals and recalls galore, the airbag fiasco may be the straw that broke the camel's back. Marketing research shows that consumers are finally getting wary of Toyota's never-ending safety problems now that fundamentals such as airbags and seatbelts are making headlines.