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The Dark Side of the Toyota Prius.
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3796/the_dark_side_of_the_toyota_prius ^ | July 16, 2008 | Paul Abowd

Posted on 10/19/2009 8:10:28 PM PDT by GSP.FAN

The report alleges that Toyota exploits guest workers, mostly shipped in from China and Vietnam. According to the NLC, these workers are “stripped of their passports and often forced to work — including at subcontract plants supplying Toyota — 16 hours a day, seven days a week, while being paid less than half the legal minimum wage.” Workers are forced to live in company dormitories and deported for complaining about poor treatment, the report finds.

(Excerpt) Read more at inthesetimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Chit/Chat; Outdoors; Society
KEYWORDS: greenies; humour; prius; sourcetitlenoturl; toyota
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I hope the "i want to save the world by buying a piece of shit car are happy now?
1 posted on 10/19/2009 8:10:28 PM PDT by GSP.FAN
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To: GSP.FAN

lol


2 posted on 10/19/2009 8:13:27 PM PDT by US_MilitaryRules (Become a monthly donor or FR won't be here for you!)
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To: GSP.FAN

I have a family member that is certified to work on these things. He says they are death traps. He told me that one of the hazards of these hybrid vehicles is that people are getting electricuted in them, in both car accidents and also home mechanics, that don’t realize they carry as much current as a house.

He is very against them. He says once they start to get older, he is concerned that they may become even more unsafe. Needless to say, we aren’t buying any.


3 posted on 10/19/2009 8:15:31 PM PDT by I still care (A Republic - if you can keep it. - Ben Franklin)
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To: GSP.FAN

That’s gonna knock it down a 1/2 a smug per gallon or so.


4 posted on 10/19/2009 8:17:01 PM PDT by freedumb2003 (Communism comes to America: 1/20/2009. Keep your powder dry, folks. Sic semper tyrannis)
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To: I still care

Any word on the Ford Fusion hybrid?

I have a Mercury Milan. I took it in for service and it needed a cable fixed under warranty. They gave me a rental because I brought it in on Sat and they did not have the part.

I got a Toyota Corolla S. It is smaller than the Milan and gets far worse mileage. The Milan and Fusion are about the same price, bigger, safer and get better gas mileage. The Ford vehicles are also probably just as reliable if not more reliable. The Milan/Fusion on the highway can get 35 mpg even pushing it with the 4 cylinder which puts out over 180 bhp.

Ford/Mercury/Lincolns are not perfect but they are very good. I have owned Hondas, BMWs, Toyos (yuck), Audis, VWs. I would buy a BMW or Honda and again, Hondas are better than Toyo but they are not perfect and way overpriced for what you get.


5 posted on 10/19/2009 8:24:39 PM PDT by Frantzie (Do we want ACORN running America's health care?)
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To: GSP.FAN
Article source doesn't have an agenda. Neither do the rest of the Chicago liberals.

In These Times is published in Chicago. We’ve been around since 1976, fighting for workers’ rights, corporate accountability
and progressive government. In other words, a better world.

In 1976, author and historian James Weinstein founded In
These Times
with the mission to “identify and clarify the
struggles against corporate power now multiplying in
American society.”

Mission Statement

In These Times is a newsmagazine committed to political and
economic democracy and opposed to the dominance of
transnational corporations and the tyranny of marketplace
values over human values.


6 posted on 10/19/2009 8:25:58 PM PDT by NautiNurse (Obama: A day without TOTUS is like a day without sunshine)
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To: GSP.FAN

And this is from a “progressive” news source.


7 posted on 10/19/2009 8:26:02 PM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four fried chickens and a coke)
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To: NautiNurse

Think of it, though; libbies attacking one of their own icons.


8 posted on 10/19/2009 8:29:59 PM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four fried chickens and a coke)
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To: Army Air Corps
libbies attacking one of their own icons.

Not one of their own icons. They detest Toyota because it isn't a union lackey corporation.

9 posted on 10/19/2009 8:32:43 PM PDT by NautiNurse (Obama: A day without TOTUS is like a day without sunshine)
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To: NautiNurse

I am speaking of the product itself (i.e. the Prius).


10 posted on 10/19/2009 8:34:35 PM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four fried chickens and a coke)
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To: Army Air Corps

Thank you.


11 posted on 10/19/2009 8:34:42 PM PDT by GSP.FAN (These are the times that try men's souls.)
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To: GSP.FAN

How I Learned To Love The Prius.

12 posted on 10/19/2009 8:34:58 PM PDT by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: GSP.FAN

The left will say it’s China’s penance. Penance for all the coal plants they’re putting online.


13 posted on 10/19/2009 8:37:47 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (I'd like to tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.)
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To: I still care

You can’t just cut through them with the ‘jaws of life’ like you can with normal cars. And if the batteries themselves start on fire and releasing fumes....


14 posted on 10/19/2009 8:38:59 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (I'd like to tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.)
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To: GSP.FAN
OK. More fodder for the lunatic fringe.
Let me make sure I understand this.
Chinese workers are being imported into Japan and being forced to work on just Priuses in slave labor conditions?
Is that the summary of the charges?

The first question that occurs to any rational person is, why would China allow that?

The second question would be why don't they work on Lexuses or Honda Pilots, where the markups are greater?

For the record, many people buy a Prius with no intention of saving anything, or to insult the redneck contingent. Live and let live.

15 posted on 10/19/2009 8:49:26 PM PDT by Publius6961 (Â…he's not America, he's an employee who hasn't risen to minimal expectations.)
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To: I still care
Your family member sounds like a high school dropout without a clue.

He didn't manage to cite any stats (real or made up) to support that asinine assertion, did he?

I bet you more people are killed or maimed annually by simply having "normal" cars fall on them.

16 posted on 10/19/2009 8:55:21 PM PDT by Publius6961 (Â…he's not America, he's an employee who hasn't risen to minimal expectations.)
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To: Secret Agent Man
And if the batteries themselves start on fire and releasing fumes....

Which batteries exactly are you talking about? I need educating real bad, and you seem to be a tech whiz...

Please be as complete as possible.

17 posted on 10/19/2009 9:13:10 PM PDT by Publius6961 (Â…he's not America, he's an employee who hasn't risen to minimal expectations.)
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To: Secret Agent Man

Disposal of the batteries at the end of the car’s life is one of the big eco problems that is not discussed. Shhhh.


18 posted on 10/19/2009 9:19:03 PM PDT by khnyny (We did it for the show!!)
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To: khnyny

I thought little fairies took them away and sprinkled glitter dust on them and they were made as good as new.


19 posted on 10/19/2009 9:28:54 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (I'd like to tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.)
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To: Publius6961

The hybrids have very large battery packs in them (rechargeables) and if the car starts on fire from an accident and those batteries start being cooked, they will release toxic fumes due to the metals in the batteries heating up and burning. NiCad or NiMH, are not stuff you want to be breathing in if you want to live.


20 posted on 10/19/2009 9:31:42 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (I'd like to tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.)
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