Just found out today that Toyota whistle-blower Betsy Benjaminson died last week. She suffered an extended illness.
Those of us who fight for truth and justice are shocked and saddened beyond belief. Betsy kept up her efforts to expose Toyota until the very end.
To say this is a loss to those of us who worked with Betsy is an understatement. Words fail me - perhaps I'll add more to this post later.
Sincerest condolences to all of Betsy's family and friends.
Here's a link to an 8/18/2017 article about Betsy's efforts and her devotion.
Showing posts with label Betsy Benjaminson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Betsy Benjaminson. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 5, 2017
Monday, March 16, 2015
Toyota facing the music over B.B. King Camry ad
News broke toward the end of last year that admitted-crook Toyota and its ad agency Saatchi and Saatchi North America are accused of copyright infringement associated with a Camry ad. Never mind the ad neglecting to mention NASA physicist Henning Leidecker warning of increased risk of unintended acceleration in '02-'06 Camrys. The Toyota gang struck a sour note by deriving an ad campaign from someone's book about B.B. King without first getting the author's permission. And a federal judge has now ruled that the lawsuit can proceed, overruling a "challenge" blabbered out by the Coverup King. Always bear in mind that an Associated Press investigation found that Toyota indulges in some pretty sleazy legal tactics when sued.
This isn't the first time a Toyota ad campaign has made the wrong kinda headlines. Not too long ago, advertising the "Toyota Way" literally terrorized a consumer after Saatchi came up with what's gotta be the most ridiculous idea ever when it comes to spreadin' the word about a product.
What really shows Toyota's true colors when it comes to who owns written material is the Coverup King's harassment of whistleblower Betsy Benjaminson. The unemployed, single-mother-of-four continues to be subjected to pricey intimidation tactics by a gang of Toyota's big-shot lawyers because Benjaminson dared to divulge information she felt the public needed to know regarding Toyota's problems with unintended acceleration. Toyota seems to think it's okay to use privileged information from someone's book for an advertising campaign, but it's not okay for someone to divulge "privileged Toyota information" that electrical engineers such as the exceptionally well-credentialed Dr. Antony Anderson believe has safety implications for the public. In fact, Dr. Anderson's study on unintended acceleration has been published in the prestigious IEEE Access. Go figure.
Really, folks. Who trusts the advertising of an admitted crook in the first place?
Update 3/16/2015 - Repeated efforts have been unsuccessful in getting this post to appear in standard format on Facebook. My remarks and the link itself are all that shows. I'll monitor re potential censorship issues.
Update 4/23/2015 - The suit has now been settled. Confidentially, of course. Keeping things quiet is Toyota's trademark.
This isn't the first time a Toyota ad campaign has made the wrong kinda headlines. Not too long ago, advertising the "Toyota Way" literally terrorized a consumer after Saatchi came up with what's gotta be the most ridiculous idea ever when it comes to spreadin' the word about a product.
What really shows Toyota's true colors when it comes to who owns written material is the Coverup King's harassment of whistleblower Betsy Benjaminson. The unemployed, single-mother-of-four continues to be subjected to pricey intimidation tactics by a gang of Toyota's big-shot lawyers because Benjaminson dared to divulge information she felt the public needed to know regarding Toyota's problems with unintended acceleration. Toyota seems to think it's okay to use privileged information from someone's book for an advertising campaign, but it's not okay for someone to divulge "privileged Toyota information" that electrical engineers such as the exceptionally well-credentialed Dr. Antony Anderson believe has safety implications for the public. In fact, Dr. Anderson's study on unintended acceleration has been published in the prestigious IEEE Access. Go figure.
Really, folks. Who trusts the advertising of an admitted crook in the first place?
Update 3/16/2015 - Repeated efforts have been unsuccessful in getting this post to appear in standard format on Facebook. My remarks and the link itself are all that shows. I'll monitor re potential censorship issues.
Update 4/23/2015 - The suit has now been settled. Confidentially, of course. Keeping things quiet is Toyota's trademark.
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
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.
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.
Monday, August 11, 2014
Epidemic of vehicles crashing into buildings makes headlines
The auto industry and its crooked friends in government must be gettin' nervous as word spreads, not only about evidence of defects in electronic throttle controls, but also about the outrageous number of vehicles crashing into buildings. I quickly found that there are way too many to keep up with, and the auto industry's mainstream media stooges usually keep things quiet about vehicle makes, models, and driver accounts of what happened.
Enter the "storefront barrier" scam, which I addressed in a previous blog post. Depend on this conniving government and the auto industry - epitomized by the likes of GM and Toyota - to exploit safety precautions in the name of greed. To pull out all the stops in a last-ditch effort to dupe a gullible public into focusing on anything except sloppily designed electronic throttle controls.
So many vehicles are crashing into building from parking lots that people are startin' to talk.
The government's mainstream media stooges were already lookin' sillier by the day for refusing to discuss compelling evidence of electronic defects. Then word started spreading about the high number of vehicles crashing into buildings, especially from parking lots, carwashes, etc. Something had to be done to save face - or at least attempt to - so the Miami Herald (lest we forget, Florida is home to the headquarters of Southeast Toyota) runs a piece of sheer garbage, focusing on storefront barriers, and pretending to have never heard of the overwhelming evidence of electronic defects in throttle controls. 'Cept for all those pesky injuries and deaths, the article would be a thigh-slapper. Storefront barriers are simply no substitute for properly designed electronic throttle controls.
Are Americans really so gullible? So manipulated by propaganda that they can't discern the truth? One has to be either ignorant of the facts or stupid beyond belief not to notice the Herald's glaring ommision of even the slightest mention of electronic throttle controls, much less the mountain of evidence pointing to lousy, save-a-buck designs devoid of adequate failsafes such as those mandated for years in the airline industry.
Take, for example, the blabber from Mark Wright and Rob Reiter, ballyhooed as "experts" in storefront safety, yet apparently unaware of Michael Barr finding a slew of defects in Toyota's electronic throttle control or Honda's recent admission of an electronic defect causing unintended acceleration in their vehicles. They also musta not heard that unintended acceleration has gotten so bad at carwashes that at least one business is documenting which vehicles are prone to suddenly speed out of control (Jeeps are notorious), and is furnishing carwash employees - no, they don't tend to be elderly - with a list. It's downright disgraceful when carwashes are better than NHTSA is at discerning mechanical defects in motor vehicles.
Seriously, folks. Does anyone believe that "experts" such as Wright, Reiter, and others - cops, mechanics, journalists, etc. - are unaware of electronic issues associated with the epidemic of vehicles crashing into buildings? Wright and Reiter's enthusiasm for blaming drivers is almost as ridiculous as the Miami Herald's choice of people to interview for their "story." Wonder how many auto-related advertising dollars the Herald would lose if the sorry little rag dared to publish an interview with Michael Barr.
As admitted-crook Toyota bullies whistleblower Betsy Benjaminson - using the single mother of four as a battering ram against free speech - nobody should be fooled by the well-orchestrated antics of the auto industry, its crooked friends in government and elsewhere, and presstitute media stooges like the Miami Herald. Only a slob court allows a creep like Toyota to use subpoena power as a tool of harassment against people - in Benjaminson's case, there are 21 named targets - who have dared to speak out against Toyota's inane efforts to blame its unintended acceleration scandal on floor mats, sticky gas pedals, and driver confusion.
Amidst deaths, injuries, and government-promoted lies galore, there's a word for what's going on. It's called tyranny.
Update 8/23/2014 - Speaking of tyranny, former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Dr. Paul Craig Roberts - one of the few voices of sanity left on the planet - published a great article yesterday, "How Tyranny Arises."
Enter the "storefront barrier" scam, which I addressed in a previous blog post. Depend on this conniving government and the auto industry - epitomized by the likes of GM and Toyota - to exploit safety precautions in the name of greed. To pull out all the stops in a last-ditch effort to dupe a gullible public into focusing on anything except sloppily designed electronic throttle controls.
So many vehicles are crashing into building from parking lots that people are startin' to talk.
The government's mainstream media stooges were already lookin' sillier by the day for refusing to discuss compelling evidence of electronic defects. Then word started spreading about the high number of vehicles crashing into buildings, especially from parking lots, carwashes, etc. Something had to be done to save face - or at least attempt to - so the Miami Herald (lest we forget, Florida is home to the headquarters of Southeast Toyota) runs a piece of sheer garbage, focusing on storefront barriers, and pretending to have never heard of the overwhelming evidence of electronic defects in throttle controls. 'Cept for all those pesky injuries and deaths, the article would be a thigh-slapper. Storefront barriers are simply no substitute for properly designed electronic throttle controls.
Are Americans really so gullible? So manipulated by propaganda that they can't discern the truth? One has to be either ignorant of the facts or stupid beyond belief not to notice the Herald's glaring ommision of even the slightest mention of electronic throttle controls, much less the mountain of evidence pointing to lousy, save-a-buck designs devoid of adequate failsafes such as those mandated for years in the airline industry.
Take, for example, the blabber from Mark Wright and Rob Reiter, ballyhooed as "experts" in storefront safety, yet apparently unaware of Michael Barr finding a slew of defects in Toyota's electronic throttle control or Honda's recent admission of an electronic defect causing unintended acceleration in their vehicles. They also musta not heard that unintended acceleration has gotten so bad at carwashes that at least one business is documenting which vehicles are prone to suddenly speed out of control (Jeeps are notorious), and is furnishing carwash employees - no, they don't tend to be elderly - with a list. It's downright disgraceful when carwashes are better than NHTSA is at discerning mechanical defects in motor vehicles.
Seriously, folks. Does anyone believe that "experts" such as Wright, Reiter, and others - cops, mechanics, journalists, etc. - are unaware of electronic issues associated with the epidemic of vehicles crashing into buildings? Wright and Reiter's enthusiasm for blaming drivers is almost as ridiculous as the Miami Herald's choice of people to interview for their "story." Wonder how many auto-related advertising dollars the Herald would lose if the sorry little rag dared to publish an interview with Michael Barr.
As admitted-crook Toyota bullies whistleblower Betsy Benjaminson - using the single mother of four as a battering ram against free speech - nobody should be fooled by the well-orchestrated antics of the auto industry, its crooked friends in government and elsewhere, and presstitute media stooges like the Miami Herald. Only a slob court allows a creep like Toyota to use subpoena power as a tool of harassment against people - in Benjaminson's case, there are 21 named targets - who have dared to speak out against Toyota's inane efforts to blame its unintended acceleration scandal on floor mats, sticky gas pedals, and driver confusion.
Amidst deaths, injuries, and government-promoted lies galore, there's a word for what's going on. It's called tyranny.
Update 8/23/2014 - Speaking of tyranny, former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Dr. Paul Craig Roberts - one of the few voices of sanity left on the planet - published a great article yesterday, "How Tyranny Arises."
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Another runaway RAV4 - my comments blocked
My 6/3/2014 post addressed the spectacular crash - caught on video - of a runaway RAV4 plowing into New York's Finkelstein Memorial Library from the parking lot.
Few days ago, there was another runaway RAV4 speeding out of control from a parking lot, this time crashing into a public building in Towson, Maryland. Mainstream media has been very careful not to discuss what the driver said happened, and Baltimore's WBAL-TV repeatedly blocked by comments exposing electronics issues associated with unintended acceleration.
In a situation raising concerns of electronic defects, cops have charged the 48-year-old RAV4 driver with "failure to control speed to avoid a collision," which, as cops know or certainly should know, is a tough rap to beat since black box (EDR) data has been shown to be unreliable when it comes to detecting instances of electronic malfunctions in throttle controls. As electrical engineer Dr. Antony Anderson says, "Absence of proof is not proof of absence," and it's worth noting that neither of these RAV4 crashes involved elderly drivers. My (blocked) remarks went something like this:
Maybe the cops should check with a few carwashes, since at least one has been keeping a list of vehicles subject to unintended acceleration. And I wish WBAL would tell us what the driver of the RAV4 said happened. Read "Toyota's killer firmware: Bad design and its consequences." Embedded systems expert Michael Barr found electronic defects galore, resulting in a guilty verdict in the landmark unintended acceleration case last October in Oklahoma:
* Toyota's electronic throttle control system (ETCS) source code is of unreasonable quality.
* Toyota's source code is defective and contains bugs, including bugs that can cause unintended acceleration (UA).
* Code-quality metrics predict presence of additional bugs.
* Toyota's fail-safes are defective and inadequate (referring to them as a 'house of cards' safety architecture).
* Misbehaviours of Toyota's ETCS are a cause of UA.
While runaway vehicles most often involve Toyotas, Mr. Barr's findings raise questions about the reliability of electronic throttle controls in all brands. Drivers attempting to park or exit parking spaces is the most frequent setting for events that suggest electronic defects. While such events can happen at any time, the usual scenario is characterized by very low speed, driver's foot likely on the brake, when the vehicle suddenly takes off like a rocket. As the auto industry - supported by its friends at NHTSA - tries to delay being required to implement failsafes mandated for years in the airline industry, vehicles crashing into buildings from parking lots has reached epidemic proportions. I've been blogging about the electronics issue - search "Beware of Toyota. Their next victim may be YOU..."
When I tried to post the comment, a message advised me to "hold on" while my comment awaited approval. Next day, the comment hadn't appeared so I submitted a followup, which, of course, was not published nor did I expect it to be:
C'mon, WBAL. Quit censoring my comments exposing electronics issues associated with unintended acceleration, especially in Toyotas. And tell us what the DRIVER of the RAV4 said happened. This corporate-controlled government and its mainstream media stooges sure get nervous when the truth comes out. Visit my blog, "Beware of Toyota. Their next victim may be YOU..."
WBAL - as is usually the case in news coverage of these types of accidents - seems afraid to mention the likelihood of electronic defects causing vehicles to speed out of control, especially in parking lots. And I'd be willing to bet that's the reason driver accounts of what happened are usually missing from these "stories." Driver statements might alert the public to a pattern and focus attention on defective electronic throttle controls instead of "driver error." Folks might start to suspect that the government is just a front for crooked corporate interests...
Meanwhile, admitted-crook Toyota has gone into tantrum mode over folks spreading the word about evidence pointing to electronic defects causing unintended acceleration. A court is allowing a gang of Toyota's pricey, big shot attorneys to harass Toyota whistleblower Betsy Benjaminson by issuing a subpoena requiring the single mother of four to travel over 7,000 miles for a deposition on 8/20/2014. She's been ordered to produce a number of documents and reveal all communications she had with 20 people, many of whom have taken high profile positions claiming Toyota's unintended acceleration problems are associated with electronic defects. Toyota's targets include folks who helped thwart the government's efforts at a news blackout regarding Michael Barr's findings, such as EE Times journalist Junko Yoshida and outspoken electrical engineer Dr. Antony Anderson. Also named is NASA physicist Dr. Henning Leidecker. He embarassed not only Toyota but also NHTSA by daring to warn the public of increased risk of unintended acceleration in '02-'06 Camrys due to "tin whiskers" growing in the pedal sensors.
Nuthin' like freedom of speech.
Update 8/4/2014 - Attorneys who won the landmark unintended acceleration case against Toyota last October in Oklahoma have been nominated for the 2014 Public Justice Trial Lawyer of the Year award. MUST SEE video: Their law firm's founder, Jere Beasley, says "We had internal e-mails from Toyota where they were admitting that they had problems with the computer system."
Update 8/6/2014 - Yesterday's article, "Evidence Toyota Knew of Defective Break Override System Allowed in Florida Man’s Catastrophic Vehicular Injury Trial"
Few days ago, there was another runaway RAV4 speeding out of control from a parking lot, this time crashing into a public building in Towson, Maryland. Mainstream media has been very careful not to discuss what the driver said happened, and Baltimore's WBAL-TV repeatedly blocked by comments exposing electronics issues associated with unintended acceleration.
In a situation raising concerns of electronic defects, cops have charged the 48-year-old RAV4 driver with "failure to control speed to avoid a collision," which, as cops know or certainly should know, is a tough rap to beat since black box (EDR) data has been shown to be unreliable when it comes to detecting instances of electronic malfunctions in throttle controls. As electrical engineer Dr. Antony Anderson says, "Absence of proof is not proof of absence," and it's worth noting that neither of these RAV4 crashes involved elderly drivers. My (blocked) remarks went something like this:
Maybe the cops should check with a few carwashes, since at least one has been keeping a list of vehicles subject to unintended acceleration. And I wish WBAL would tell us what the driver of the RAV4 said happened. Read "Toyota's killer firmware: Bad design and its consequences." Embedded systems expert Michael Barr found electronic defects galore, resulting in a guilty verdict in the landmark unintended acceleration case last October in Oklahoma:
* Toyota's electronic throttle control system (ETCS) source code is of unreasonable quality.
* Toyota's source code is defective and contains bugs, including bugs that can cause unintended acceleration (UA).
* Code-quality metrics predict presence of additional bugs.
* Toyota's fail-safes are defective and inadequate (referring to them as a 'house of cards' safety architecture).
* Misbehaviours of Toyota's ETCS are a cause of UA.
While runaway vehicles most often involve Toyotas, Mr. Barr's findings raise questions about the reliability of electronic throttle controls in all brands. Drivers attempting to park or exit parking spaces is the most frequent setting for events that suggest electronic defects. While such events can happen at any time, the usual scenario is characterized by very low speed, driver's foot likely on the brake, when the vehicle suddenly takes off like a rocket. As the auto industry - supported by its friends at NHTSA - tries to delay being required to implement failsafes mandated for years in the airline industry, vehicles crashing into buildings from parking lots has reached epidemic proportions. I've been blogging about the electronics issue - search "Beware of Toyota. Their next victim may be YOU..."
When I tried to post the comment, a message advised me to "hold on" while my comment awaited approval. Next day, the comment hadn't appeared so I submitted a followup, which, of course, was not published nor did I expect it to be:
C'mon, WBAL. Quit censoring my comments exposing electronics issues associated with unintended acceleration, especially in Toyotas. And tell us what the DRIVER of the RAV4 said happened. This corporate-controlled government and its mainstream media stooges sure get nervous when the truth comes out. Visit my blog, "Beware of Toyota. Their next victim may be YOU..."
WBAL - as is usually the case in news coverage of these types of accidents - seems afraid to mention the likelihood of electronic defects causing vehicles to speed out of control, especially in parking lots. And I'd be willing to bet that's the reason driver accounts of what happened are usually missing from these "stories." Driver statements might alert the public to a pattern and focus attention on defective electronic throttle controls instead of "driver error." Folks might start to suspect that the government is just a front for crooked corporate interests...
Meanwhile, admitted-crook Toyota has gone into tantrum mode over folks spreading the word about evidence pointing to electronic defects causing unintended acceleration. A court is allowing a gang of Toyota's pricey, big shot attorneys to harass Toyota whistleblower Betsy Benjaminson by issuing a subpoena requiring the single mother of four to travel over 7,000 miles for a deposition on 8/20/2014. She's been ordered to produce a number of documents and reveal all communications she had with 20 people, many of whom have taken high profile positions claiming Toyota's unintended acceleration problems are associated with electronic defects. Toyota's targets include folks who helped thwart the government's efforts at a news blackout regarding Michael Barr's findings, such as EE Times journalist Junko Yoshida and outspoken electrical engineer Dr. Antony Anderson. Also named is NASA physicist Dr. Henning Leidecker. He embarassed not only Toyota but also NHTSA by daring to warn the public of increased risk of unintended acceleration in '02-'06 Camrys due to "tin whiskers" growing in the pedal sensors.
Nuthin' like freedom of speech.
Update 8/4/2014 - Attorneys who won the landmark unintended acceleration case against Toyota last October in Oklahoma have been nominated for the 2014 Public Justice Trial Lawyer of the Year award. MUST SEE video: Their law firm's founder, Jere Beasley, says "We had internal e-mails from Toyota where they were admitting that they had problems with the computer system."
Update 8/6/2014 - Yesterday's article, "Evidence Toyota Knew of Defective Break Override System Allowed in Florida Man’s Catastrophic Vehicular Injury Trial"
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