Technically, My First Publication

My letter to the editor of The Daily Hampshire Gazette was published in today's issue, a week after I emailed it in. Better late than never I suppose. I'm not sure if the link will work because you have to be a subscriber to view the page, but I will provide it anyway. For those of you who aren't a subscriber I copied and pasted what I could below:

Former Toyota owner worried about firm's slip

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

To the editor:

If Toyota does not recall the production of their Priuses, the company better be able to deal with the consequences, as I feel it will see an immediate loss of trust from consumers. ("Report: Toyota to recall 300,000 Priuses," Gazette, Feb. 9).

I used to drive a Toyota, and I actually loved the car, but the various problems the company has been confronted with recently has got me thinking I will probably never again choose to drive a Toyota, but rather stick with a brand whose cars do not face recall every few months.

The last thing I want while driving is wondering whether or not the brakes on my new car are going to fail me. Driving is already a dangerous activity and owners of a new car should not have to worry about their brakes failing or about allowing extra room to stop.

If Toyota wants to save face, it has no choice but to issue yet another recall. However, if I were an owner of a Prius, I would get rid of that car like a bad habit, and lease a car from a company not riddled with production problems.

Stephen Canning

Amherst