Steve Wozniak says Prius Issue a hoax

Re: Looks like another hoax

I'm not a lawyer, but isn't this libel or something?

 

Re: Looks like another hoax

This is huge! Can you edit the title so this does not get buried under other threads?

 

I think Steve may get a couple more media opportunities before this is over. I hope he likes the spotlight he created. What a selfish SOB. On the other hand, maybe I should have said what a rotten apple.

 

He might be intelligent, but that was a stupid thing for him to do

 

Here's a link to the CNN interview transcript:

CNN.com - Transcripts

 

This is like yelling fire in a crowded theatre.

 

Huh? Is it because I'm not American that I don't get this?

Is Wazniak all there?

 

Huh? Since I am an American what am I missing? This transcript is dated February 2nd. How is it that his mea culpa is only being brought to the attention of the public more than a month after it was made; and then only after a dealer in New Jersey publishes that Blitzer transcript on its website? Was the show aired? Did they delete Wozniak's comments?

This whole situation is getting weirder and weirder. Down the rabbit hole we go.

 

After listening to the interview I think Wozniak was just communicating poorly in the beginning. He was trying to say the media twisting his cruise control issue to make it appear as unintended acceleration was a hoax.

He also complained getting access to people who can actually help with a problem in large corporations, including Toyota, is a problem. His references to using his problem to get on Wolf Blitzer's show seemed to be a tongue in cheek jab at having to go to the media to get attention because Toyota would not help directly.

He jumbled those two thoughts together in a few sentences that make it sound like he made everything up, but the rest of the interview makes it clears what he meant:

1. he stands by his cruise control claim
2. this claim is different than the UA claims
3. the media are in a UA feeding frenzy
4. Toyota was not as responsive as he would like

He is such an inarticulate blowhard that he botched the start of the interview.

 

...or as Steve Martin would say, "Yelling theatre in a crowded firehouse."

 

The title of this thread is completely misleading. Woz did not say the sudden acceleration issue was a hoax, he was making a joke about how the media had latched on to his complaint about a different issue as evidence of the sudden acceleration problem. So he was just criticizing the phenomenon of "media frenzy" -- not saying the sudden acceleration issue is a hoax.

 

wow, what a tool.

 

For the sarcasm impaired, Wozniak's 'Hoax' interview has been discussed several times here in PC over the past month.

The OP dealer could have easily picked it up here, then misread it.

 

I agree that he didn't say that that UI is a hoax - but his claim of it happening to his car was a hoax. It was one of the first things he said to Wolf Blitzer in the interview.

I wanted to thank you guys for picking up my blog post. I was searching for news information about the latest Prius hoax in California when I came across the Wozniak story and I couldn't believe it. Working at a Toyota store it is good to have all the information we can when speaking with customers.

Great site too!

 

He says the car accelerates under cruise control. That's what it does when you are setting the speed you want to cruise at. I haven't used cruise for years, but I can recall doing that.

None of this makes any sense to me. A PR nightmare, since many people don't know what to believe.

I think a major part of the problem was that premature Toyota "apology." A clear case of Japanese executives being out of their PR league.

 

He said he had a cruise control acceleration problem, that's what he has always said, the media picked up on it and threw it in with the other problems. His acceleration problem is that if he uses cruise control, and hits the add a mile function too many times, it goes into acceleration mode and doesn't stop until you put the brake on. Seems like something he understands, said its a software glitch and should be looked into, and that was his story from the very beginning that I heard of it.