Toyota has launched a public relation counter attack against ABC news and the network’s coverage of the auto maker's recall issues.
Specifically, Toyota is demanding a “public retraction and formal apology” for a February ABC news segment on unintended acceleration involving a Toyota Avalon.
Toyota’s chief lawyer, general counsel Christopher Reynolds, sent ABC News boss David Westin a letter claiming ABC and chief investigative reporter Brian Ross engaged in “fear mongering over public service” in a story that aired February 22. In that report, Ross claimed a defect in the vehicle’s electronic throttle control system was responsible for reports of runaway acceleration in Lexus and Toyota vehicles.
The letter went on to attack what they claim was a fabricated shot of a tachometer and the experiments conducted by a professor at Southern Illinois University that was the basis of the Ross report.
ABC responded by claiming both the original report and their coverage of Toyota’s subsequent complains had been fair. They conceded an “editorial error” in the use of the tachometer shot but said it was not misleading, just more readable by viewers than the tachometer video shot during the experiment.
ABC ended its reponse by reiterating an invitation to Toyota to sit down for an interview and discuss the sudden acceleration issue.
Critics of ABC's Toyota coverage have been quick to point out Brian Ross fronted Datline NBC'S controversial coverage of gas tank problems in General Motors vehicles back in the 90's. GM sued and NBC settled the lawsuit.
Read the entire exchange between Toyota and ABC by clicking the attached link for gawker.com
