The Carnival Cruise Failure - An Indictment of the Entire Cruise Ship Industry

Late last night, the Carnival Triumph finally came into port in Mobile Alabama and began disembarking passengers after being stranded at sea aboard due to an engine room fire.

Even the towing was not without its own problems. Just within view of shore, a tow line snapped and left the ship again stranded before it could be reattached.

There were 4,200 passengers and more than 1,000 workers on board the ship when the fire killed the power to the ship.

These are floating cities that rely on their power systems to operate pretty much every system, from propulsion to water and sanitary sewer systems (the toilets, wash rooms, refrigeration and freezer systems, etc.) You would think that backup systems would be able to kick in to handle the key power systems should the main systems go down, but you'd be wrong.

The backup systems can't - and it's not because those systems don't exist. It's because they'd cost money that the cruise lines and their engineers have deemed to be unnecessary and would otherwise cut into their profit margins.

Cruise ships have gotten progressively larger, which means that when the cruise ships lose power, ever larger numbers on board are affected. The Carnival Triumph is among the largest of the current fleet of cruise ships.

Larger ships are on the drawing board, but they too will have a similar problem.

Fire is an all too common event on board cruise ships, and that's one of the reasons that cruises always start with mandatory drills at the start of their cruises - to familiarize passengers with the location and how to deal with emergencies at sea. Engine room fires happen all the time, as do the loss of power.

The Triumph is just the highest profile of these fire events in recent years, but there's very little that the IMO (the international organization that oversees safety on board shipping) can do that would improve conditions on board ships should they lose power. Their recommendations don’t come with the kind of enforcement powers we associate with the US Coast Guard (which itself is woefully undermanned and can’t conduct much more than annual surveys on board the cruise ship plus their initial certification).

The problem isn't just confined to Triumph, or even the Triumph class of cruise ships. Backup systems apparently can’t handle the kind of load necessary to run vital public health systems (plumbing, ac, etc.) That has to change, and that’s going to cost a whole lot of money to a cruise industry that thrives due to sub-par compensation to its workers, working ships to within an inch of their existence, and doing everything possible to keep the boats in service even after public health incidents (norovirus outbreaks) that could continue into the next cruise because there’s really no way to properly clean the ships thoroughly if they’re already taking on passengers for the next cruise within hours of the end of the prior cruise.

I’m waiting for the National Parks Service (or an amusement park) to hit back at Carnival’s current ad campaign showing how smooth their park experiences can be compared to the Carnival Triumph one.

Thing to remember is that when a cruise goes okay, it’s one thing, but when a cruise ship has problems, things can go wrong in a real hurry and cause huge problems.

Carnival’s hoping people have real short term memories, and that it wont affect bookings. They’re already hurting because of the Costa Concordia. This wont help them and their bottom line. I fully expect the lawsuits to come rolling in - especially now that they’re talking about $500 cash to passengers, which barely covers salary losses and other losses incurred by the extended time on board, plus the decrepit conditions.

Meanwhile, the Triumph will be out of service for the better part of this year to deal with cleaning up the huge biohazard mess left behind in the wake of this week's cruise mess.

Mobile Phone Robo-Call Bill Killed After Outcry

Score one for consumers. The proposed legislation that would enable robo-callers to make unsolicited phone calls to cell phones was killed when its sponsors informed Congressional leaders not to advance the bill out of committee.

The bill sponsored by Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., (H.R. 3035) would have allowed “robo-calls” to your cell phone — even if you didn’t give a company permission to contact you at that number.

Consumer groups made a lot of noise in the hope that Congress would kill the bill. They call it a dangerous proposal that could lead to more nuisance calls.

Supporters of the “Mobile Informational Call Act of 2011” include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Air Transport Association, as well as groups that represent bankers, mortgage lenders, college loan programs and debt collectors.

On Wednesday, Terry and bill co-sponsor Rep. Ed Towns, D-N.Y., sent a letter to the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee asking that the legislation not be advanced.

Last week, attorneys general in 48 of the 50 states sent their own letter to Congress opposing the legislation.

This bill would have been costly to consumers as they would have incurred additional charges as a result of the unsolicited calls, and the proffered rationale for allowing such calls - to inform individuals of flight changes, drug and product recalls, etc., made little sense since consumers can already opt-in to allow the manufacturers or companies with whom they already do business to contact them via phone, email or text messages.

Good riddance to bad legislation.

Repercussions Persist From China's High Speed Rail Crash

Victims of the high speed rail crash that killed 40 people and injured over 190 people are caught up in the unending bureaucratic and governmental nightmare. The railway "company" is the worst of a for-profit entity and a state-run and operated entity, with no oversight and accountability. Moreover, the rail company is essentially investigating itself and isn't likely to find fault where fault truly lies precisely because the company knows that its long range plans call for the export of high speed rail technology.

Add to that the fact that railway personnel were more interested in restoring service as quickly as possible and sought to bury damaged equipment rather either search for victims and survivor or carry out a thorough investigation.

Mr. Chen said he lost roughly $6,000 in cash and other belongings in the accident. The railways ministry paid him a mere $35.

He asked to be transferred from a Wenzhou hospital to a better hospital in the city of Fuzhou, his hometown. Instead, the ministry moved him to an old-age home, where he receives no medical treatment, despite continuing lung trouble, back pain and other ailments due to his injuries.

“I want to cry, but I have no tears left,” he said. “Our family has already lost someone in this accident. How can they treat us like this? I am being tortured both physically and mentally.”

Almost two months after the high-speed rail crash killed 40 people and injured 191 others, a government investigative panel is readying a report on the disaster, expected to be released this month. But the injured and the survivors of the dead say they have already reached their own conclusions. They say the railways ministry, which has a long history of corruption, skimped on safety, bungled the rescue effort, tried to hide the extent of its failings and showed a callous disregard for victims.

“They are their own little nation,” said Pasquale Liguori, who lost his daughter, a foreign-language student from Naples, Italy, who was on her first visit to China with her boyfriend. “The China Railways Ministry killed my daughter, and they want to hide everything that happened. It is revolting.”

The ministry has said it upholds high safety standards, did not prematurely end the rescue and is participating in a transparent investigation.

The ministry is indeed a fief, a holdover from the era when the state controlled all. With two million workers, it is perhaps the world’s fourth-largest employer, behind Wal-Mart. Its work force matches that of the entire United States federal government, excluding military and postal workers.

It owns the railways it regulates, a built-in conflict that critics say encourages corruption, endangers safety in the name of profit and hinders accountability. Its safety data are not publicly released. It runs its own court system and, until recently, its own police force.

The government has for over a decade discussed dividing the ministry’s business and regulatory functions, as it did years ago with the civil aviation industry. But using its clout as the nation’s mover of coal — and now, as the developer of high-speed rail into one of China’s technological and industrial crown jewels — the rail ministry has adroitly fended off reform.

“The ministry is a monster, half government agency, half for-profit company,” said Zhang Kai, a Beijing lawyer who has faced off against the ministry. “It can choose to behave like either one.”

It is not unusual for victims of government mishaps in China to find themselves isolated and helpless. Chinese authorities typically minimize events that suggest government incompetence lest they encourage social unrest.

But as crash victims and others tell it, the bureaucracy’s handling of the crash is a case in itself. Chinese officials have already declared that the disaster was preventable, caused by human error and poorly designed signal equipment. Now the ministry faces a dilemma: if the government’s investigation does not appear credible, it could hurt the ministry’s chances to export high-speed rail equipment and technology. But any admission of systemic flaws might also scare away customers.

Foreign entities looking for high speed rail want to see a detailed investigation, but they don't want to purchase from an entity that is rife with all kinds of technological shortfalls; it's a conundrum for the company and it seems that rather than come clean with its faults, it's going to shift blame where possible.

A Real Beef With Taco Bell

Taco Bell is being sued for false advertising on any of its menu items that it claims are using beef.

A law firm is claiming that the fast food chain is using false advertising when it says its Mexican delicacies are filled with "ground beef" or "seasoned ground beef."

In fact, the lawsuit claims, the "taco meat filling" used by Taco Bell contains is only about 35% beef, with binders, extenders, preservatives, additives and other agents making up the other 65%.

The class-action lawsuit was filed Friday in federal court in California by the Montgomery, Ala., law firm Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles on behalf of a California woman, Amanda Obney.

Obney isn't looking for money, though.

She wants the court to order Taco Bell to be honest with customers about what is in its tacos, chalupas and other dishes.

"We are asking that they stop saying that they are selling beef," the law firm said.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture's website, "ground beef" or "chopped beef" consists of chopped fresh or frozen beef with or without seasoning, should not contain more than 30% fat and should not contain water, phosphates, binders or extenders.

The lawsuit's claim that Taco Bell's "seasoned beef" contains the forbidden additives is backed up by the restaurant's ingredients list on its website, which says the "seasoned beef" in a Beefy Crunch Burrito contains water, sodium phosphates, soy lecithin, modified corn starch, and anti-caking and anti-dusting agents, among others ingredients.

Taco Bell denies any wrongdoing and that they comply with the federal law.

New Jersey Pedestrian Safety Law Needs Greater Enforcement

The Record notes that the state has proffered $12,000 each to seven Northern New Jersey towns to carry out undercover operations to crack down on drivers who ignore the state's recently strengthened laws requiring all vehicles to come to a complete stop when a pedestrian is in a cross walk.

Officer No walked into the street three times in the first 45 minutes of the day's operation. Cars and trucks, some honking, sped around him. As No tried to cross the street in one 15-second event, officers pulled over a dozen vehicles into the Fort Lee Historic Park. The officers walked down the line and wrote the tickets — $200, plus court costs, and two points against their driver's licenses.

"A lot [of drivers] are finding out the hard way, but they are learning," traffic Capt. Timothy Ford said. "It's going to take awhile to educate them — but it's going to happen."

Pedestrian safety events, such as this one in Fort Lee, are going to become more common because the state Division of Highway Traffic Safety has awarded grants to seven Bergen County and Passaic County communities to use decoy programs to educate drivers about the new state law.

This is one particular law that drivers routinely ignore. Indeed, around Radburn New Jersey drivers flout the law with seeming impudence. They actually try to outrace pedestrians to the crosswalk so that they aren't inconvenienced by waiting 30 seconds for someone to cross the street. It becomes a game of chicken, and pedestrians are the big losers.

The thing of this is that the Fair Lawn police could make a killing if they posted cops to ticket drivers who break the law. As the article points out, one undercover cop was able to lead to a dozen tickets issued in all of 15 seconds. Each of those tickets carried $200 fines plus administrative costs and points on licenses.

Decoy programs aren't needed. Stationing a patrol car at the intersection of Plaza Road and High Street would be a good start, followed by Fair Lawn Avenue at Plaza Road. The drivers on Plaza Road and Fair Lawn Avenue routinely ignore the state law and race through intersections even as pedestrians are crossing. Drivers then think that they can proceed if the pedestrian has crossed out of their path, but state law requires that they completely exit the crosswalk.

More Consumer Products Test Positive For Heavy Metals

The AP has been carrying out tests on various consumer products to see if they contain heavy metals that can cause illness if present in sufficient amounts. Glasses made in China that are sold by Disney and Coca Cola in support of various advertising campaigns have tested positive for cadmium.

The decorative enamel on the superhero and Oz sets — made in China and purchased at a Warner Brothers Studios store in Burbank — contained between 16 percent and 30.2 percent lead. The federal limit on children's products is 0.03 percent.

The same glasses also contained relatively high levels of the even-more-dangerous cadmium, though there are no federal limits on that toxic metal in design surfaces.

In separate testing to recreate regular handling, other glasses shed small but notable amounts of lead or cadmium from their decorations. Federal regulators have worried that toxic metals rubbing onto children's hands can get into their mouths. Among the brands on those glasses: Coca-Cola, Walt Disney, Burger King and McDonald's.

The Coca-Cola Co., which had been given AP's test results last week, announced Sunday evening that after retesting it was voluntarily recalling 88,000 glasses over concerns regarding the mainly red glass in a four-glass set.

The AP testing was part of the news organization's ongoing investigation into dangerous metals in children's products and was conducted in response to a recall by McDonald's of 12 million glasses this summer because cadmium escaped from designs depicting four characters in the latest "Shrek" movie.

The New Jersey manufacturer of those glasses said in June that the products were made according to standard industry practices, which includes the routine use of cadmium to create red and similar colors. That same company, French-owned Arc International, made the glasses that Coca-Cola said it was pulling.

To assess potential problems with glass collectibles beyond the "Shrek" set, AP bought and analyzed new glasses off the shelf, and old ones from online auctions, thrift shops and a flea market. The buys were random.

The fact it was so easy to find glasses that appeal to kids and appear to violate the federal lead law suggests that contamination in glassware is wider than one McDonald's promotion.

The irony of the latest findings is that AP's original investigation in January revealed that some Chinese manufacturers were substituting cadmium for banned lead in children's jewelry; that finding eventually led to the McDonald's-Shrek recall; now, because of the new testing primarily for cadmium in other glassware, lead is back in the spotlight as well.

Chinese manufacturers have switched from one heavy metal to another, and both have dangerous repercussions for users. Lead poisoning can affect mental and intellectual development, and cadmium poisoning can cause a whole host of ailments and could lead to death in sufficient doses.

The Law of Unintended Consquences Strikes Again: Reusable Bags Test Positive for Lead

Investigations have found that the now ubiquitous reusable bags aren't nearly as good for the public as their champions had envisioned. Bags proffered by Publix and Winn-Dixie have tested positive for lead.

The Tampa Tribune tested more than a dozen bags from major grocers and found that certain bags sold in Winn-Dixie and Publix stores had lead levels that concerned health officials.

In a preview of a Sunday article, the newspaper's website reported some bags had enough lead that they could be considered hazardous waste if residents disposed of them in household trash.

The lead appears to be in a form that's not easily extracted or "leached" out, so there is less concern the lead would easily rub off on food when the bags are new, the paper found. But over time, lab experts note, the bags wear down and paint can flake off, and eventually reusable bags could accumulate in landfills, presenting another ecological issue.

Publix officials stress their bags comply with current federal laws regarding lead content. The newspaper reported Thursday that Publix is asking suppliers to find ways to make bags with less lead.

In an e-mail to The Associated Press on Thursday, Winn-Dixie said it is confident the reusable bags are safe to use and reuse as intended.

"Recent information suggests there is an opportunity to improve this solution as it pertains to the disposal of these bags," wrote Winn-Dixie spokeswoman Robin Miller. "We will continue to work closely with our suppliers to make certain that we are in compliance with industry standards."

Miller added that any Winn-Dixie customer who has a concern about a bag is welcome to bring it back to the store for a full refund.

Bags tested by independent firms found levels ranging from 87 parts per million to nearly 200 parts per million depending on the bag tested.

Both companies will be coming out with new bags.

Wegmans bags had a similar concern. Wegmans offered up trade-ins on hundreds of thousands of reusable bags because of lead concerns.

The bag at issue is decorated with an image of green peas. Wegmans pulled that bag, as well as a "2009 Holiday" bag, from shelves Sept. 3 after internal tests confirmed high lead levels. Both bags are green and were made in China. Signs went up in stores Friday to alert customers to the replacement policy.

"We decided to discontinue these two designs out of an abundance of caution and because of our commitment to sustainability and the environment," said Jo Natale, Wegmans spokeswoman.

RAMP applauded Wegmans taking voluntary action and acting quickly on the issue.

"We are not saying that Wegmans is selling a product that is going to poison anyone, but we don't need additional lead coming into our country from China," said Judy Braiman, president of RAMP.

The group urges all retailers to demand a certificate of compliance from their suppliers and to do their own testing for harmful chemicals before putting products out for sale.

"Our position on lead, or for that matter on other [toxins], is it could be a health issue if it gets into the waste stream," said Braiman. "If any of these reusable bags with lead or other toxic chemicals becomes abraded it could pose a risk of exposure."

Wegmans disagreed. Consumer lead concerns are usually associated with toys young children might put in their mouths.

"Since this is not a product for children, and in fact, the tag on our bag warns that it should not be given to children or babies, we do not see this as a risk," said Ann McCarthy, a Wegmans spokeswoman.

Meanwhile, those reusable bags turn out to be quite filthy once you think about it because most people don't think to wash them out.

UPDATE:
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) wants a probe into the lead content of these reusable bags.

BP's Other Toxic Spill

While most folks should be more than familiar with the massive oil spill caused by the fire and collapse of an oil rig in the Gulf Coast that was being operated on behalf of BP, few folks realize that the company had a major spill at a Texas City refinery that sickened many nearby residents.

For 40 days after a piece of equipment critical to the refinery’s operation broke down, a total of 538,000 pounds of toxic chemicals, including the carcinogen benzene, poured out of the refinery.

Rather than taking the costly step of shutting down the refinery to make repairs, the engineers at the plant diverted gases to a smokestack and tried to burn them off, but hundreds of thousands of pounds still escaped into the air, according to state environmental officials.

Neither the state nor the oil company informed neighbors or local officials about the pollutants until two weeks after the release ended, and angry residents of Texas City have signed up in droves to join a $10 billion class-action lawsuit against BP. The state attorney general, Greg Abbott, has also sued the company, seeking fines of about $600,000.

BP maintains three air monitors along the fence around the plant and two in the surrounding community, and they did not show a rise in pollution during April and May, the company said. “BP does not believe there is any basis to pay claims in connection with this event,” said Michael Marr, a spokesman for the company.

But scores of Texas City residents said they experienced respiratory problems this spring, and environmentalists said the release of toxic gases ranked as one of the largest in the state’s history.

Neil Carman of the Lone Star Sierra Club said the release was probably even larger than BP had acknowledged, because the company estimated that more than 98 percent of the pollution was burned off by a flare, an overly optimistic figure in the eyes of many environmental scientists.

He also said there were too few air monitors to accurately assess what had happened. “There are huge gaps in the monitoring network,” Mr. Carman said.

Dionne Ramirez, 29, who lives about a mile from the refinery, said she had little doubt that elevated pollution harmed her family. Not only have both she and her husband had coughs, but all three of their young sons have suffered from severe chest congestion, sore throats and endless coughing since April. Her 4-year-old had to be hospitalized for two nights because he could not stop coughing, she said.

When the news of the pollution was made public on June 4, Ms. Ramirez was irate. “I didn’t know why they were getting sick or what was going on,” she said. “They are healthy little kids.”

Texas City officials weren't notified of the problems until after the spill was over. Hundreds of thousands of pounds of toxic materials were emitted without the local community aware of the problem or scope of the problem.

BP's actions in Texas City are similar to its actions in the oil spill disaster, where the company took shortcuts and safety protocols and procedures were not followed.

The company put profit ahead of safety to its own workers and those of the citizens around the refinery. A new report came out claiming that BP workers failed to spot warning signs at the well.

Earlier this month, BP was fined for a major fire and explosion at the facility in 2005 that killed 15 workers and injured 170 others.

OSHA issued several fines totaling $87.4 million against BP, formerly known as British Petroleum, last September over its failure to upgrade the plant. OSHA accused the company of 439 safety violations at the refinery. BP is contesting about $30 million of the OSHA fines.

The latest fine, the largest in OSHA’s history, tops the previous record of $21 million, which was also issued against BP over safety conditions at the plant. In addition to the fines, BP also faces wrongful death and personal injury lawsuits stemming from the deadly accident.

The Texas City refinery has a long history of slow response to problems at the facility and for cleaning up its act.

Vaccinations Could Prevent Salmonella Outbreaks

Vaccination of chickens in the United Kingdom is required, and the result has been the near elimination of salmonella from egg and chicken production.

So why isn't it being done in the US and elsewhere? Cost seems to be the one stumbling block, but with massive recalls underway, I suspect that the mindset will change.

Low-cost vaccines that may have helped prevent the kind of salmonella outbreak that has led to the recall of more than a half-billion eggs haven't been given to half of the nation's egg-laying hens.

The vaccines aren't required in the U.S., although in Great Britain, officials say vaccinations have given them the safest egg supply in Europe. A survey conducted by the European food safety agency in 2009 found that about 1 percent of British flocks had salmonella compared to about 60 to 70 percent of flocks elsewhere in Europe, said Amanda Cryer, spokeswoman for the British Egg Information Service.

There's been no push to require vaccination in the U.S., in part because it would cost farmers and in part because advocates have been more focused on more comprehensive food safety reforms, those watching the poultry industry said.

But Darrell Trampel, a poultry veterinarian at Iowa State University, predicted vaccination will become more common after the recent outbreak.

"I think (vaccination) will move from hit and miss to being a standard," Trampel said.

The salmonella vaccine prevents chickens from becoming infected and then passing the bacteria on to their eggs. It has been available in the U.S. since 1992.

I also think that people would be willing to pay a few cents more per package of eggs or chicken pieces if they knew that the items were vaccinated against salmonella.

The potential cost savings to the nation could be considerable given that salmonella costs $2.6 billion annually in lost productivity, hospitalization costs, and fatalities. The vaccinations would be substantially less than that, giving a net benefit to the nation's health system.

So why is the FDA still holding to the belief that vaccinations should not be mandatory - they have no problem with voluntary vaccination?

Well, critics are also attempting to focus on improving food handling and comprehensive food safety reform and avoid the issue of vaccination. That's nonsense given that this is a workable solution that can reduce the potential for outbreaks especially in conjunction with improved sanitary conditions at facilities.

Statistical Evidence Suggests Driver Error To Blame In Toyota Acceleration Mishaps

While experts and auto pundits are busy trying to find fault with Toyota and its response to claims of sudden accelerations and accidents purported caused by defective accelerators in a slew of Toyota models that have forced recalls of millions of Toyotas, some statistical evidence suggests driver error may be more at fault.

The Los Angeles Times recently did a story detailing all of the NHTSA reports of Toyota “sudden acceleration” fatalities, and, though the Times did not mention it, the ages of the drivers involved were striking.

In the 24 cases where driver age was reported or readily inferred, the drivers included those of the ages 60, 61, 63, 66, 68, 71, 72, 72, 77, 79, 83, 85, 89—and I’m leaving out the son whose age wasn’t identified, but whose 94-year-old father died as a passenger.

These “electronic defects” apparently discriminate against the elderly, just as the sudden acceleration of Audis and GM autos did before them. (If computers are going to discriminate against anyone, they should be picking on the young, who are more likely to take up arms against the rise of the machines and future Terminators).

But Toyota is being mau-maued by Democratic regulators and legislators in the pockets of trial lawyers—who, according to the Associated Press, stand to make a billion dollars from blaming Toyota for driver error.

And that is before hundreds of past run-of-the-mill Toyota accidents that killed or injured people are re-classified in future lawsuits as an electronics failure in an attempt to win settlements against the company.

The age of the drivers is a striking feature and may suggest a correlation between the inability to discern whether the driver is pressing down on the accelerator or the brake and in the confusion believing that the vehicle is accelerating out of control on its own, rather than because the driver erred in his or her foot placement.

NHSTA has run studies in the past and found that the elderly are more likely to engage in pedal misapplication - and that electronic interference or other mechanical factors aren't likely to be confined to one particular age group or segment of drivers. In other words, operator error may explain the ongoing issue with unwanted accelerations.

Media Comes Around To Question Runaway Prius Story

After breathlessly hyping the story of an out of control Toyota Prius that was claimed unresponsive to braking that finally stopped after a police cruiser became involved, it now appears that the facts don't quite match the claims. In fact, tests by Toyota and the NHTSA suggest that the driver, James Sikes, could not have done what he claims to have done with his Toyota Prius:

A federal probe into a Toyota Prius that took a wild ride on a San Diego County freeway last week is casting doubt on the driver's account of uncontrollable acceleration, a spokesman for a Southern California congressman said Sunday.

James Sikes called 911 during the incident and said the gas pedal in his blue 2008 Prius was stuck, causing the car to speed along Interstate 8 at more than 90 mph. Sikes, 61, brought the car to a stop about 20 minutes later with the coaching of a California Highway Patrol officer who pulled alongside him.

Sikes later said the car kept speeding while he was "laying on the brakes" during the March 8 ride.

But when investigators from the federal government and Toyota Motor Corp. who tested Sikes' car late last week pressed hard on the brake pedal and the accelerator at the same time, the Prius' gasoline engine shut down, according to a draft of a congressional memo obtained by The Times.

The draft memo was prepared by a staff member for Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista) who accompanied the investigators last week.

The tests of Sikes' Prius create concerns about "the veracity of the sequence of events that has been reported by Mr. Sikes," said Kurt Bardella, a spokesman for Issa.

Mike Michels, a Toyota spokesman, declined to comment on any findings from the examination of Sikes' vehicle. But he said the complex design of the hybrid Prius would cause a shutdown of the engine in the scenario Sikes described.

That response, similar to a feature known as brake override, was included in the design "to protect the hybrid system from overload and damage," Michels said.

"In essence, if the accelerator pedal was depressed for any reason, whether it was stuck or your foot was on it, and you apply the brakes with moderate to heavy force, it would shut down the engine," Michels said. "Knowing what we know about how the vehicle is designed and reading the accounts in the media of the incident in San Diego, we're puzzled."

Some Prius models are among millions of Toyota vehicles recalled since late last year because of reported acceleration problems. Sikes has said he received a recall notice but his car hadn't yet been repaired.

Meanwhile, media outlets including Fox have started peering into the driver's background, and it turns out that he had a checkered history. Perhaps he thought this might be a payday? He's gone on the record claiming otherwise, but who knows what he was really thinking.

What it also means is that Toyota might start reclaiming some goodwill with the public - seeing that there was a veritable feeding frenzy of bad news about Toyota and the recall over claims of sudden acceleration and that the company didn't go about handling the matter properly and promptly.

Mind you that the media originally reported the story without fail repeating the statements made by Sikes unquestioningly.

Epic Fail: NYC Taxi and Limo Commission Fails To Catch Multimillion Dollar Ripoff

How did the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission manage to miss a massive and pervasive problem such as cabbies routinely overcharging customers to the tune of millions of dollars in total? Well, they didn't have any means to figure out durations of trips until GPS units came along and were installed in yellow cabs.

It was a check of the GPS data against cab receipts when the scope and scale of the overcharges came to light - and even then the problem is probably even worse because the problems go back years to when the GPS units were not installed.

In a mind-boggling ripoff that went undetected for years, thousands of city cabbies overcharged nearly 2 million passengers by at least $8.3 million, according to a shocking disclosure yesterday by the Taxi & Limousine Commission.

Officials said 35,558 of the city's 48,300 taxi drivers -- or three-quarters of all the licensees -- were caught overcharging at least once by secretly changing the meter's rate setting.

A staggering 3,000 drivers swindled passengers more than 100 times each. A total of 1.9 million trips were overpriced.

The scale of the thievery over the last 26 months was flabbergasting even to hardened veterans of what is supposed to be a tightly regulated industry.

"Oh, my God!" exclaimed one taxi official.

"When I first heard one guy was doing this, I said there has to be more. But I really didn't expect this."

He was referring to Wasim Khalid Cheema, who lost his hack license earlier this month after authorities found he had cheated 574 passengers in just one month -- this past July -- by setting his meter to Rate Code 4, covering Westchester and Nassau counties, instead of Rate Code 1, the default setting for trips inside the five boroughs.

The suburban rate is double the in-city rate.

The remarkably simple scam netted Cheema an extra $40,000 over six months.

It came to light last year only after a suspicious passenger complained that a 12-minute trip from Manhattan to Queens cost $20.20, about double what she expected.

TLC officials then began comparing data from GPS devices in each cab with meter receipts and made the shocking discovery that the ripoffs were more rampant than anyone could have imagined.

It's little wonder that so many people have disdain for cabbies and fight the rate hikes.

The average overcharge per trip amounts to $4.45.

While cabbies are getting squeezed on fees and taxes plus fuel prices that hurt their bottom line, they cannot break the law to surreptitiously gain a few bucks per ride so that they can have more money at the end of the day.

Unintended Consequences of Tarmac Wait Legislation

The US government enacted legislation that would penalize airlines for letting planes sit on the tarmac for more than three hours. That was in response to a spate of problems with several airlines and exceedingly long waits to take off from airports without proper facilities for such delays.

Well, the airlines are turning around and saying that instead of waiting out delays, they'll simply cancel the flights and cause the passengers to rebook.

Under new federal guidelines that take effect next month, airlines can be fined up to $27,500 per passenger if a plane is stuck on the tarmac for longer than three hours.

“How can they say there is nothing wrong with having someone sit on a seat and run out of water and everything and sit on there for three, four, five hours? That's ridiculous,” Kelly said.

With the new fines, a delayed MD-80 could cost American Airlines close to $4 million, and a fine for a full 757 could cost more than $5 million.

“It's unavoidable that more flights will be canceled to avoid fines,” said American Airlines spokesman Steve Schlachter. “It's one of the unintended consequences of a bill that has no flexibility.”

A spokesman for the U.S. Transportation Department said airlines can avoid fines by doing a better job of scheduling flights and crews.

"Carriers have it within their power to schedule their flights more realistically, to have spare aircraft and crews available to avoid cancellations" and to rebook passengers when there are cancellations, said Bill Mosley, a department spokesman.

Frequent flier Dave Wooldridge said he plans to punish airlines that cancel flights by taking his business elsewhere.

The airlines are making mistake to cancel the flights to punish passengers who have no control over flight schedules, weather, or other delays that can lead to planes sitting on tarmacs waiting to take off, but yet it might be a financially prudent one where flights are chronically delayed. It apparently would be cheaper to cancel the flight than to incur the penalties.

The government enacted an unworkable solution to a problem of its own creation; the reason that planes will move back from their gates and then sit are to preserve on-time departure rankings and to preserve takeoff and landing slots at the airports.

It would take a comprehensive look at how those metrics are used and calculated to see that it would be better to measure on-time departure from the gate, but from when the plane takes off. Show the spread of time between the gate departure and the takeoff to see just how much time is built in to schedules by the airlines due to congestion and too many planes trying to get through inadequate infrastructure.

The Fix Is In On Toyota?

Some drivers who thought that their recalled Toyotas were fixed after servicing at their dealers are now saying that the problems with unwanted accelerations continues.

The complaints raise new questions about whether Toyota's remedy will solve the problem. David Strickland, the administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said in a statement that the agency is reaching out to consumers about the complaints "to get to the bottom of the problem and to make sure Toyota is doing everything possible to make its vehicles safe."

"If Toyota owners are still experiencing sudden acceleration incidents after taking their cars to the dealership, we want to know about it," Strickland said.

The government has received a limited number of acceleration reports from the Toyota owners whose floor mats or gas pedals have been fixed. Toyota and the government are investigating potential electrical problems as part of the Japanese automaker's recall of more than 8 million vehicles worldwide.

The NHTSA has linked 52 deaths to crashes allegedly caused by Toyota's acceleration problems. The company has blamed mechanical causes or drivers pressing the wrong pedal and repaired about 1 million vehicles, but has said it is looking into electronics as a potential cause.

Toyota has insisted that the problem was related to mechanical problems and that the floor mats interfered with the accelerator but now says that they'll look into electronic causes (whether due to outside interference or internal software issues).

Toyota fixes to date include recalls relating to adjusting the floor mats, shaving down the profile of the accelerator and inserting a metal shim into the accelerator.

The problem is that these don't take into account a potential flaw in the electronics that control the accelerator and braking systems.

What is most likely needed is a fix that allows any driver that taps on the brake to immediately send a signal to disengage the accelerator. That's a proposal that the Obama Administration is suggesting for the entire industry, and it would be worth considering given that all the major carmakers have seen issues with accelerators. Congress ignored this issue when grilling Toyota, rather than tackling the fact that other models. Many times, the sudden acceleration issue is due to driver error in hitting the gas instead of the brake, but that only makes tracking down the cause in individual cases all the more difficult. It also explains why it was difficult for companies and organizations that rate the vehicles like Consumers Reports were unable to find such problems in their reviews of the cars and repair data.

Also, the NHTSA review that initiates investigations varies widely; in some instances it will take 5 complaints to initiate an investigation, but in other cases, 1,500.

"Edmunds.com's analysis of NHTSA data shows no clear pattern in terms of the number of consumer complaints that trigger an agency investigation. As few as five complaints have triggered an investigation; other investigations haven't started until 1,500 complaints had accumulated," noted Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Michelle Krebs in her report NHTSA on the Hot Seat: What is Standard Operating Procedure? on AutoObserver.com.

The report points out that between 2005 and 2010, steering problems on Chevrolet Cobalt were the subject of 1,157 complaints while Toyota Corolla steering problems were the subject of 84 complaints. According to Edmunds.com's reading of the steering complaints on both vehicles, the complaints about the Cobalt's steering are far more serious and more dangerous than are the complaints about the Corolla's steering. NHTSA recently opened official investigations of both vehicles.

Edmunds.com's analysis of NHTSA defects investigation data — from 1990 to the present — shows that once an investigation is launched, it takes an average of 262 days to conclude and result in a recall. However, the range has varied from an investigation that lasted a mere 10 days to another that languished for six years.

"Many of the complaints are actively discussed on Edmunds' CarSpace.com, the auto industry's most established online community, so neither the automaker nor NHTSA can claim ignorance of the issues that potentially make our roads less safe," commented Sylvia Marino, Executive Director of Community for Edmunds.com.

NHTSA needs to be evaluated for how well it oversees car safety in the country, and whether it gave some carmakers a break and whether it is now overly grilling Toyota compared to other carmakers with similar problems.

Doubting the Ratings

It's suddenly become quite fashionable to go after various companies and rating services, particularly Consumer Reports (CR), for auto ratings that have long declared Toyotas to be reliable and recommended.

The consistently strong ratings Toyota vehicles have received over the years from Consumer Reports, Edmunds.com and other consumer auto sites have fueled sales and helped the Japanese company surpass General Motors last year as the world's largest automaker. However, for many consumers, those ratings now appear to fly in the face of serious safety issues spotlighted by the sticky-pedal recall and a separate recall Toyota expanded last fall, aimed at stopping gas pedals from getting caught in floor mats. Both recalls stem from hundreds of complaints of sudden unintended accelerations in Toyotas that have allegedly been linked to more than a dozen fatalities since 1999.

Auto safety experts say consumers might need to adjust their expectations about ratings from private groups because of the limited nature of their testing and the degree to which they rely on government and industry testing that itself is in large part based on trust. And their recommendations are no substitute for proper surveillance by regulators and manufacturers.

Some of the most strident criticism has been reserved for Consumer Reports, which accepts no advertising and is among the most respected reviewers. On Jan. 29, three days after Toyota announced the latest recall, the magazine suspended its recommendations for eight models, citing concerns raised by the recall. Jim Guest, president of Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports, said in a statement it was doing so because "the vehicles have been identified as potentially unsafe" and "without a fix yet being available to consumers . . . our position is that you shouldn't compromise on safety."

The move sparked a backlash on the magazine's Cars Blog. One reader who identified himself only as Kevin wrote, "instead of giving an automatic 'recommend' rating to Toyotas, don't your think your readership (much of whom looks to you -- and only you) deserves thorough retesting of all Toyotas and revised ratings based on said testing?"

Considering that the reliability rating comes from Consumer Reports' members satisfaction surveys, blaming CR for recommending the cars for years is misplaced.

Toyota rightfully got those ratings for all those years precisely because the cars were deemed reliable by the very drivers who were reporting. The acceleration issues aren't something that would necessarily come up during testing - unlike the rollover hazards uncovered in CR tests with the Suzuki Samurai years ago that pretty much ended that brand's efforts in the US. It was a problem that would develop over years of time and might not be readily apparent from people who had few problems with their cars.

CR has taken the step of eliminating the recommended ratings from Toyota - and that will have a lasting effect with the company since many people look to CR for its auto ratings when buying cars - both new and used.

A major reason that Toyota overtook GM in car sales was that it began targeting car rentals - fleet sales - which was a bastion long held by GM, Ford and Chrysler, and while they don't provide the profits of sales directly to consumers, they are an area in automakers look for bulk sales. Moreover, the fleet sales took a hit as the recession hit and the fleet purchases declined. With Toyota having a smaller exposure to the fleet sales, it didn't take as strong a hit. Moreover, the GM cars did have reliability issues according to CR consumers who reported their findings to CR - and which made up the long term ratings for the cars. That's why they didn't get recommended ratings.

That isn't to say that you can always trust CR with its ratings. I recently purchased a LED television and CR tested flat panel televisions and gave my particular model a middling rating - not checking it off as a best buy or a recommended. I'm not quite sure how they arrived at that conclusion, even though the tv used significantly less power than any other model and would be cheaper to run over the life of the unit. I find that the picture quality is pretty good and the sound isn't nearly as bad as they claim (and many people use their home theater setups to boost the sound anyways).

Then, there's the issue of retailers. Last year, CR rated electronics retailers, and they notably left B&H Photo off their recommended list, even though the company is widely considered the best place in the US to get camera gear. They know more about cameras than most people have forgotten and their New York store is a mecca for camera enthusiasts (and they now have all kinds of electronics gear for sale there as well - computers, televisions, video, etc.). People come from all over the country (and around the world by the sound of those who walk through the store) to buy their gear and the prices are quite competitive with the other stores (both bricks and mortar and online only).

They rated B&H at the top of the list, but downgraded because of the return policy. J&R got a recommended rating, even though it falls short of B&H in every category except the return policy, which isn't to say that J&R isn't a great place to buy stuff - I get gear from there all the time. It makes little sense, when CR gives Apple a recommended rating, even though it gets worse than average ratings for price, selection, and the same return policy as B&H. What gives there?

So, the real issue is not CR and its ratings, but how Toyota is dealing with this mess - the brake issue on its Prius models and the acceleration issue on nearly every other car it's made for the past couple of years. The company is falling short on its ability to fix the problem, and that the problem may not be in the mechanical systems but the electronics is a serious concern given that it's an electronic problem that is behind the braking issue with the Prius (and certain Ford hybrids).

Ford; Toyota Investigating Brake Issues With Hybrids

Ford is investigating a software issue with two of its hybrid vehicles, the Mercury Milan and Ford Fusions while Toyota is looking at similar problems with its popular Toyota Prius.

The automaker says the problem occurs in transition between two braking systems and at no time are drivers without brakes.

The decision to fix the 2010 model cars came after a test driver for Consumer Reports magazine experienced the problem as he was driving a Fusion Hybrid.
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Ford spokesman Said Deep says braking power seems to drop away as the car makes a transition from regenerative brakes to the conventional system. The Ford hybrids have regenerative brakes, which capture energy from braking to help recharge the battery, in addition to a conventional system that stops the car using hydraulic pressure.

Deep says Ford will notify the car owners to bring their cars in for a software fix. He said there is no safety problem with the cars. The automaker called the repairs a "customer satisfaction program" and said it was not a full-fledged recall. Deep said Ford reported the problems to a U.S. safety agency, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The move comes on the same day that NHTSA began an evaluation of braking problems on the 2010 Toyota Prius hybrid. With the Prius, antilock brakes can fail momentarily while the car transitions between its gasoline and electric motors.

Ford told dealers about a fix on Thursday. They already had the software to repair it in case it came up, Deep said.

Toyota's woes keep getting worse, even with the head of the company finally offering a mea culpa and steps to prevent future problems.

Ford Posts Profit; Toyota Torpedoes Sales/Production In More Countries

Ford posted a $2.7 billion profit for last year, as moves to streamline production, reduce costs, and building cars that people want to buy - all without government intervention. That's tremendously good news for the car maker.

Ford, the only U.S. automaker to avoid bankruptcy court, clawed its way to a $2.7 billion profit in 2009 and expects to stay in the black in 2010. It was the automaker's first annual profit in four years.

Ford's full-year revenue of $118.3 billion fell nearly 20 percent from 2008, but the Dearborn-based automaker benefited from cost-cutting, a $696 million profit in its credit arm and popular cars and trucks like the Ford Fusion midsize sedan and Ford Escape small SUV. It gained market share in North and South America and Europe, despite the worst U.S. sales climate in 30 years.

"While we still face significant business environment challenges ahead, 2009 was a pivotal year for Ford," Ford CEO Alan Mulally said in a statement.

Ford shares rose 32 cents, or nearly 3 percent, to $11.87 in premarket trading.

If the company can make a profit in the worst car market in decades, the company seems to be in a position to capitalize on a more sound fiscal footing and tremendous missteps by international rival Toyota.

Toyota is reeling from having to stop production and sales on its biggest selling vehicles and those problems are leading to recalls and cessation of sales/production in more countries. The recall on its cars now extends to China and Europe. The accelerator issue is due to some kind of a defect in the accelerators that are produced by CTS Industries of Elkhart, Indiana.

Apparently the problems develop over time as moisture somehow gets into the parts and prevents the accelerator returning to idle after pressure is taken off the pedal. This means that cars are more likely to run into the problem as they get older or if they're located in areas with higher humidity.

It's going to take time to identify the specific problem, produce a solution and get it implemented across the millions of affected vehicle and that's going to hit Toyota's bottom line hard. In fact, it's probably going to exceed the hit that Ford took over the Explorer mess by a significant margin because so many cars in the Toyota line are affected.

Still, it is interesting that Lexus vehicles are not affected by the recalls as yet. That's curious given that some of those vehicles are suffering from the same kinds of problems and the solution to date has been to call on owners to remove the car mats from the driver's side to prevent it from interfering with the pedal operation.

UPDATE:
GM is hoping to benefit from Toyota's woes as well. They're starting a new incentive by paying $1,000 or free financing to Toyota owners to switch to a GM product. Funny, but it's not like GM has the funds to make that work. Yet, the gimmick might be enough to get some worried Toyota owners into GM showrooms.

Toyota Crashes and Burns As It Suspends Production; Sales of Eight Top Models

Toyota was already reeling from the recall of more than 2 million cars for problems with a stuck accelerator. The company then announced yesterday that it would suspend sales and production of eight affected models because of ongoing problems with the accelerators.

Toyota is also halting production at six North American car-assembly plants, beginning the week of Feb. 1, and gave no date on when production could restart.

The problem could spread to Europe, where a similar accelerator part is being used, said Toyota spokeswoman Ririko Takeuchi, while declining to give the number of vehicles affected. The company was studying possible responses, including a recall, she said.

The problem part comes from one U.S. supplier and does not affect models that use parts from different suppliers, Takeuchi said. Toyota's Japan plants are not affected.

"For Europe, the number and models potentially concerned are under evaluation,'' said Philippe Boursereau, spokesman for Toyota France.

The automaker said the U.S. sales suspension includes the following models: the 2009-2010 RAV4, the 2009-2010 Corolla, the 2007-2010 Camry, the 2009-2010 Matrix, the 2005-2010 Avalon, the 2010 Highlander, the 2007-2010 Tundra and the 2008-2010 Sequoia.

Toyota has said it was unaware of any accidents or injuries due to the pedal problems associated with the recall, but could not rule them out for sure.

"This action is necessary until a remedy is finalized,'' said Bob Carter, Toyota's group vice president and general manager.

The automaker's shares fell 4.3 percent in Tokyo trading Wednesday.

This is an opportunity for other automakers to step into the breach and poach sales that would have otherwise gone to Toyota. Toyota had long cultivated an image of high quality, but it has been taking a significant beating because of the sudden acceleration issues.

It's going to significantly hit the dealers who now are without most of the product lines that they depend on. 

Companies in a position to benefit include Honda, Ford, and GM. GM has been trying to burnish its own image as producing high quality cars, and this may help in that respect. Honda and Ford would also benefit since they produce high quality cars and Ford has already shown that it can weather the economic downturn without resorting to government ownership as was the case with GM.

IRS Declares Faulty Chinese Drywall May Qualify For Casualty Loss Deduction

In the aftermath of the devastating 2005 hurricane season that saw hundreds of thousands of homes damaged or destroyed by a succession of hurricanes and severe storms, the need to rebuilt was all too apparent and the demand for construction materials soared.

Among the products needed was drywall, and when US suppliers couldn't meet the demand, Chinese producers picked up the slack. Well, it turns out that was a bad idea for many homeowners and contractors who used the Chinese drywall. Problems, including outgassing, mold, and other assorted problems made the drywall useless and require replacement.

There are lawsuits pending against those manufacturers, but that's little comfort to those affected. The IRS has annoucned that damage caused by defective Chinese drywall will be deductible as a casualty loss if the EPA and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) determine that the drywall is the source of unusual damage.

The CPSC has confirmed that at least 5,503,694 sheets of Chinese-manufactured wallboard were imported into the country, and expects that number to increase as investigations continue.

A recent status report by the CPSC on July 7 noted that the commission has received at least 608 incident reports from homeowners with Chinese drywall; the majority coming from Florida, Louisiana and Virginia. CPSC investigators are also concerned that the corrosion and damage to electrical wiring and appliances may constitute a fire hazard in some cases.

Many insurance companies have denied coverage for the Chinese drywall damages through homeowners’ policies, leaving homeowners in a difficult position as they are forced to pursue lengthy litigation against the foreign companies responsible for manufacturing the defective drywall, as well as suppliers, distributors, retailers and builders.

Last month, all federal Chinese drywall lawsuits were consolidated and centralized in an MDL, or Multidistrict Litigation, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

If the EPA and CPSC do find the problem, the amount of the casualty loss will be the difference between the fair market value of the home immediately before and immediately after the casualty, limited to the adjusted basis of the home. Costs incident to the casualty, such as having to find temporary shelter, are not deductible.

NYC Consumer Affairs Hits on Tips

The New York City Department of Consumer Affairs is cracking down on restaurants that are violating the city's consumer protection laws by imposing mandatory tipping on groups less than eight, demanding higher tipping percentages or other unsavory practices.

I think the City should be protecting consumers from unethical and illegal practices, but the law should be rewritten to allow restaurants the ability to institute fixed prices for gratuities at their discretion so long as they explicitly state as much on their menus and billing.

I sympathize with those waiters and waitresses who rely on tipping to make a living only to find that folks aren't tipping, but I am reminded also of the scene from Reservoir Dogs (language warning) where no one is forcing these folks to work in restaurants in the first place. That's why I think it should be left up to the restaurants to decide for themselves how to deal with their customers, but that the policy must be clearly stated. Some restaurants that cater to foreign crowds might benefit from the fixed gratuity pricing, while others might find that business drops as customers go elsewhere. They might also find that the waitstaff becomes more professionalized as in Europe since the tipping is more regularlized. That benefits everyone as well.