In hindsight I suppose it seems a bit strange, but when I think back on television shows my family tended to watch all together, there really weren’t all that many. But there was one, which, I think by virtue of its Sunday late morning scheduling, we all tended to watch on the little portable TV in our screened-in porch: Fight Back! with David Horowitz. I’m not exactly sure what it was about this particular show, but my family all seemed to bond over this guy who looked and sounded a bit like a number of our relatives stick it to the man as he pointed out ways that big companies were screwing everybody.
I bring this up because the Fight Back Facebook page – I was sort of surprised to see that this was a thing, since the show ran from 1976 to 1992, long before the world was saddled with Facebook – posted an old clip from a 1983 episode of Fight Back that revealed how 1981 to 1983 Toyota pickup trucks had doors that could be opened with a pencil.
Yep. A pencil. It didn’t even have to be a sharpened pencil. Just a pencil, jammed up under the door handle could push the locking mechanism lever up, unlocking the door. And Toyota’s response to this wasn’t exactly great. But before we get to the specific episode, prepare yourself with the Fight Back! theme song:
Okay, now that you’re in the mood, here’s the segment. If you’re curious about it in context of the whole episode, who am I to deny you that joy? Feel free to watch the whole thing, but I have it cued up to the relevant part:
This episode also investigates Tova 9 cactus mask wrinkle cream and the dangers of discarded power line transformers, anti-shoplifting tech, and, as you probably hoped, exposes the rip-off of “his and hers” watches. So, you know, something for everyone.
Okay, but let’s focus on the Toyota truck part: the trucks in question are the deservedly beloved early ’80s Toyota pickup trucks, the American version of the legendary third-generation Hilux trucks. Fantastic little trucks by nearly any measure; they just happened to have a maybe not-insignificant security flaw.
Also, just noting, $5998 in 1982 dollars is about $20,000 today, so that’s a reasonably priced truck, especially by modern standards. The lock design, though, while pretty conventional in most respects and not necessarily a bad design, was compromised because of how easily the door locking button actuator rod could be accessed via the door skin cutout under and behind the exterior door handle:
The access to that locking button rod meant a pencil or even an unbent paper clip, as shown on the Fight Back! segment:
…could be used to get the door open quickly and easily, with tools that you very likely had in the junk drawer of your kitchen, surrounded by soy sauce packets. This is, of course, a pretty significant problem, and on the show Horowitz noted that he had, for months, since he had first been informed of the issue by a Toyota truck owner, done multiple news segments about the issue and reached out to Toyota, who didn’t bother doing anything about the problem. In fact, according to Horowitz, Toyota accused him of making the situation worse by publicizing the issue.
Toyota did develop a shield that could be placed between the door card and the outer skin of the door to prevent the easy lock-picking from happening, and it was available from dealers, but not publicized, nor were owners notified.
Eventually, in large part due to pressure from all the attention Horowitz and other journalists were applying by making the issue known, Toyota was forced to send a letter to over 400,000 truck owners about the problem and make the lock sheilds available to any owner who wanted one. The beginning of their letter, though, sounded a bit petulant about the whole thing:
The wording makes it sound like the reporting of the vulnerability is the issue, not the fact that the doors can be opened with a freaking pencil. I mean, look at that first sentence:
“In recent TV and other news media, an unlawful method of unlocking the doors on the 1981-1983 Toyota trucks has been publicly reported.”
It sounds like the media did something unlawful to Toyota! Like everything would be fine if they just kept their damn mouths shut. This is a service bulletin type of letter; there was no need to mention the media coverage at all, just that the lock mechanism needed an extra component for security. Toyota was just being a whiny brat.
There’s a good lesson here: it’s important to push back on big companies when they’re doing something wrong or lazy or just looking to save money at the expense of the consumer. Huge companies are not your friends; you can be a big fan of the products they make, but it’s worth remembering that for all their marketing and PR and other forms of outreach, the goal isn’t to make you happier or your life better, it’s to maximize shareholder returns.
So, you know, be ready to fight back.
Time to put on my PR hat and chime in, I suppose.
This one of the biggest nightmares for a PR person, and textbook failure of a company to understand and value public relations.
In other words, someone – likely an executive, a CEO or a chief legal officer, made the following two mistakes (among many, many others): 1. Treated the reporter as an adversary or an annoyance and 2. Clearly did NOT have PR counsel in a position of power.
In this industry, in order to be effective at PR, we always demand “a seat at the table.” If no PR person gets to have direct access to the executive team, there’s a good chance no one will be a voice of reason and say something like “Do you have any idea how many people you’re harming with ____ policy?”
Of course, legal will snap back with something like “If we admit responsibility there will be a billion lawsuits” and corporate will say something like “It’s going to cost too much to fix and the news will just disappear”. That’s where it’s my responsibility to remind everyone to do the right thing.
Toyota should have known they’d be on the hook for a recall. Even if it was too late, they should had jumped on the problem properly. Acknowledge that they were late to the game, accept responsibility and get the fix out there. All of this can be done while still being legal-compliant (believe me, I have spent my career making sure I understand the ins and outs of communicating while keeping lawyers happy).
To be fair, it was the 1980’s and I feel like PR has grown up a lot since then. We still hold the response to the Tylenol crisis of 1982 the a textbook example of how to jump on top of a problem and communicate clearly. Since then, things have gotten better but not universally.
It’s telling that the letter that went to Toyota owners was signed from “Toyota Motor Sales” and not from some more over-arching corporate source/named exec.
I’ve found in my position I spend a lot of time helping others understand reporters from programs like “Fight Back” and how much you can engage without being the villain. And I always remind people that the best way to not look like the villain is to NOT ACT LIKE ONE. Any company that acts like the bad guy isn’t gonna get me for an employee.
I read that as less pissy and more as “this letter is regarding our fix for what you saw on TV”.
Remember consumer advocacy? And customer service? Those were the days…
I want that topshot Toyota so much! What a beauty. Now I just need to find it…and a pencil!
I loved Fight Back as a kid and the theme song is still an earworm that pops in my brain from time to time. Facebook has been feeding me videos from that group too and it’s triggering lots of memories.
I used to love watching Fight Back! With David Horowitz in my youth. It always came on right after The Great Space Coaster.
OH THE DOOR LOCK, when I saw “opened with a pencil” I thought it meant carving open the side of the bed by sticking the pencil in that continuous rust line that ran the whole length of the side of the boxes just above the wheel arch and slicing it open.
The 80s version of Kia Boyz
+1 came here for this
And here we see John Wick’s early days as a young hoodlum, learning the Art of the Pencil.
I don’t think I knew anyone who bothered to lock theirs, so it never really came up, but this is good to know. I think I still have one friend whose pickup might be from these years. I’ll have to see if she has the plate on hers.
I had an 84 RX7 for 2 years before I realized that the key to unlock the doors is not the same key used to start the car, and that I never got the door key from the previous owner. Only reason I locked it was the fuel pump went out on me on Sunday after the auto-parts stores were closed so I had to leave it overnight in a sketchy parking lot.
Here we go again. You are watching my life, as weirdly usual. My driver side door lock on my Toyota pickup has somehow failed (my guess is due to someone trying to break in because it gets driven less than 500 miles a year). I now have to unlock and enter via the passenger door, and it’s on my radar to get a full set of lock cylinders for it. I somehow doubt it to be possible, though. #shrug