There are as many theories about the mysterious Toyota malfunction as there are Toyotas waiting for their reprieve and new owners. But this is not news to the American people. A few decades ago a journalist recounted her experience with her Audi, and what was then coined “sudden acceleration” or the “inability to stop.” Almost as suddenly as her car went out of control, she officially recounted on air, saying it was “human error.” Perhaps it was human error in her case. Perhaps we’ll never know. A few decades ago though, another car company also had “sudden acceleration” problems and miraculously blamed it also on “human error.” Human error was no consolation for the Florida man who’s car killed his wife, while he had his foot on the brake; the church picnic attender who gunned down innocent people, including a toddler while her foot also was on the brake waiting for them to pass in front of her. Or the man who sat at a light, foot on the brake waiting for it to change and then found himself suddenly out of control of his car as it plowed through a store front’s plate glass window. Or the man who was slowly turning the corner in a parking deck and suddenly found himself air born, over the deck's walls onto the pavement below, crippling him. Or the teenager on her way home from school, coasting to a stop sign and then remembering only the gas pedal flew to the floor and that the breaks would not work. She was on her way home to write her essays, the last requirement for her college admission application. Instead her life would never be the same. Her only recourse was to put her hands in front of her terrorized face to brace herself for the trees she would plow down at over 70 mph, according to the accident investigator’s calculations. Or the couple cruising along the interstate – much like the recent family who called 911 to report that they were careening out of control, they were braking, and the accelerator positively was not stuck on the car mat, as previously blamed. And the list goes on and one. Americans lobbied the US Government to recall the cars. It listened, then diligently asked the car maker to “look into it” and report back later with their findings. In the interim, others were killed. And guess what the committee finally divulged. “Human error.” When victims and family members argued, saying it positively was not human error from reliable eye witness accounts, they then blamed the “mysterious” malady on deterioration due to salt on the roads. But people who lived neither near an ocean, nor had problems with snow so there was no salt on their roads, complained. The Canadian government didn’t buy the car manufacturer’s first response of human error; nor the second that it was from corrosion due to salt. They simply gave the car company an ultimatum. Recall them, fix them, or we don’t import anymore of your cars. In America, medical personnel came to know the car as the “Deathstar,” due to the many patients they had seen with injuries in this same car with this same description of “human error.”

Why is Toyota recalling the cars? Is it because they don’t subsribe to the same bottom line theory as these American car manufacturers? That it’s best to pay off a few people; to try to dissuade others from speaking out; or to pay off engineers who can testify; to steal school records; to try to bankrupt victims’ families and avoid lawsuits; but to go on manufacturing the cars because the lawsuits are a much lower price to pay than the profit to be made from the cars that miraculously don’t fall prey to “human error.” Perhaps it was the NTSB’s reported trip to Japan to encourage them to fix the problem. Perhaps it’s the information age and the recent victims’ replay of the 911 call they made seconds before their deaths, recording the real truth about no human error in this case. They were tragically and senselessly propelled into an intersection and killed by the unavoidable oncoming cars. Perhaps it’s competent and caring journalists. Perhaps it’s Toyota and their respect for human life above the bottom line; wishing to preserve the history they have for reliability and safety. Perhaps the American people are tired of mushroom farming. Again, we may never know. Whatever it is, or whatever compilation of entities or events, God bless them and let’s move forward. Subpoena the engineers on the payrolls and memo hiding employees. Come clean. Do the right thing, not what’s best for the bottom line. Divulge the mysterious secret behind the car’s gas pedal suddenly slamming to the floor; the braking system basically canceling out, and the sheer terror of the victims’ last few moments of life as they knew it before this so called human error, even if they survive. Life is rarely the same for one slammed through a window, flown off a parking deck, or running down another innocent human being. For those who survive, at the very least they suffer Traumatic Brain Injuries. TBI is a mystifying injury that engulfs the bodies and psyches of it’s victims and seeps it’s corrosion into the lives and relationships of the families’ near it’s victims.  Punish Toyota? At least they are recalling their cars and promising to fix them, unlike their predecessors – no matter their motive. This time around though, be diligent. Ask the right questions, make the right adjustments, and tenaciously and diligently follow up. End this now. For future cars manufactured in the US or elsewhere, and for the victims and their families.