Jalopnik has been asserting that the rampant runaway Toyota crisis – which they tag as ‘Beige Bites Back’ – is due to the dull, isolating, appliance-like experience that the manufacturer’s products deliver. Theodore Frank in the Washington Examiner points out something else from a quick non-scientific inquiry into the demography of the drivers:
The Los Angeles Times recently did a story detailing all of the NHTSA reports of Toyota “sudden acceleration†fatalities, and, though the Times did not mention it, the ages of the drivers involved were striking.
In the 24 cases where driver age was reported or readily inferred, the drivers included those of the ages 60, 61, 63, 66, 68, 71, 72, 72, 77, 79, 83, 85, 89—and I’m leaving out the son whose age wasn’t identified, but whose 94-year-old father died as a passenger.
These “electronic defects†apparently discriminate against the elderly, just as the sudden acceleration of Audis and GM autos did before them.  (If computers are going to discriminate against anyone, they should be picking on the young, who are more likely to take up arms against the rise of the machines and future Terminators).
As a marketing metric, average buyer age is critically important. Positive owner experiences translate into buyer loyalty. The younger the buyer, the more likely they are to make subsequent purchases. The older they are, the greater the likelihood that there current vehicle might be the last car they ever own. Toyota’s average age of buyer has been steadily rising. Older drivers are far more likely to experience “peddle misapplication”, resulting in the periodic report of senior’s cars going “out of control at the farmers market”.
