Toyota Black Box Conspiracy?
Toyota has never faced as much criticism as they do now. Under the proverbial microscope for months, the Japanese giant has faced condemnation from all angles, including some of the highest courts in North America. But, while the courts have launched their inquiries into very specific aspects of Toyota’s day-to-day operations, the media has taken a broader approach to Toyota’s crucifixion, and it would appear that the Associated Press may have hit upon something interesting.
As with most modern cars, the Toyotas afflicted with the woeful gas pedal problems all have “black boxes” which record important data prior to any crash. The intention is, as with aviation black boxes, to provide investigators with further insight into a particular incident; better equipping them to address any legal or mechanical concerns a crash may bring up. However, as it turns out, Toyota has kept their black box data quite secretive. Using a Toyota-specific software system, the boxes can only be read by Toyota equipment; of which there is just one computer in the United States with the necessary software to read Toyota’s black box data. Furthermore, whenever queried for its black box data, Toyota has made a habit of deleting some of the recorded data.
As yet, there has been no explanation for Toyota’s particularly secretive treatment of their black boxes, but one can expect Toyota to issue a statement sometime before the conclusion of the U.S. government’s investigation.
