2/3/10: Transportation Secretary Scares Toyota Owners, Apologizes

LaHood + Obama = Failure

Obama's Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has delivered a harsh blow to Toyota Motors:

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood Wednesday advised owners of recalled Toyotas to stop driving their vehicles until the company can fix them.

"We need to fix this problem so people don't have to worry about disengaging the engine or slamming the brakes or put it in neutral," LaHood said.

The apparently off-hand remark places greater pressure on Toyota Motor Co., which said Monday it had a fix for the 2.3 million U.S. cars affected by the recall. Toyota said a repair for a sticking accelerator problem would be available by the end of the week.

Source: UPI

And then, he apologized:

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood now says he misspoke when telling owners of recalled Toyotas to stop driving then.

Instead, LaHood says take them to dealerships to get them repaired.

LaHood told reporters it was "obviously a misstatement" when he told a House panel earlier Wednesday that he would advise owners not to drive recalled vehicles. The remark came during testimony to the Appropriations subcommittee on transportation.

Source: Boston Herald

Anyone else think its odd that Obama's Transportation Secretary would make such a damaging statement about a company that is a direct competitor to Obama's General Motors? Especially when Toyota was the most sought after new car in the failed Cash for Clunkers program? In fact, Toyota cars accounted for 19.4% of new car sales created by the progam. And now, Toyota drivers have been told not to drive their cars.

But of course LaHood apologized. So it's all good, right? Right?