Did Toyota's $1.2B criminal deal involve a coverup of electronic defects?

A few days ago, I got an interesting reply from a troll. Not just any troll. This one has been really persistent in posting obnoxious, name-calling replies - which I generally ignore - to comments critical of Recall King Toyota. Not that an avowed crook like Toyota would feel the need to hire reputation management firms, but it's a thigh-slappin' hoot the way such trollish, anonymous "replies" pop up, unfazed if the people who are targeted have given real names. I always give mine. Lately, the troll usernames are often prefaced with "disqus," and "disqus_oJp8Vkk4DJ" is the current subject's choice.

Lately, I've been commenting about two attorneys and a TV station saying Toyota's $1.2 billion payola - er I mean settlement - to end the federal criminal investigation involved an admission of electronic defects in the Recall King's throttle control:

3/20/2014 Podcast, Bob Hilliard (segment 20:00-20:53)
4/24/2014 article, Eric Snyder, Bailey and Glasser Law Firm
4/25/2014 article, WESH.com

These statements are quite at odds with Attorney General Eric Holder saying Toyota's plea deal was about floor mats and sticky gas pedals. The electronics issue raised eyebrows when the Justice Department mouthpieced a curt, corporate-kissin' "No comment" after David Benjamin, a freelance writer for the trade journal EE Times dared to confront the DOJ with the evidence embedded systems expert Michael Barr presented to an Oklahoma jury last October resulting in a landmark guilty verdict in an unintended acceleration case. The specifics of Toyota's $1.2 billion settlement has now become the source of speculation, and I've mentioned the issue in recent blog posts. By what rhyme or reason would the Justice Department refuse to comment when asked if it was aware of evidence of electronic defects in Toyota's throttle control? It looks like the U.S. Department of Justice lied to the public in an effort to keep things quiet about electronic defects associated with Toyota's unintended acceleration scandal. If so, the public needs to know, especially now that NHTSA has been exposed as a liar and a cheat for its complicity in GM's deadly ignition switch scandal. Good ol' corporate-controlled NHTSA. Same gang that broadcasted the big lie claiming NASA had ruled out electronics as a cause of Toyota's unintended acceleration. NHTSA's big lie is now laid bare by NASA physicist Henning Leidecker warning of increased unintended acceleration risk in '02-'06 Camrys, comparing it to a game of Russian roulette.

Cuttin' back to the chase, I had just finished posting comments questioning the Justice Department's credibility, and here came the troll:

disqus_oJp8Vkk4DJ As your baseless, ignorant comment makes clear, only a complete idiot would believe the attorneys over the engineers. And yes, the DOJ basically lied when they pulled off this $1.2 billion extortion attempt.

Granted, this is an anonymous comment. Nonetheless, given the context of disqus_oJp8Vkk4DJ's activities, the remarks tend to underscore discrepancies in the DOJ's public statements versus the public statements of two attorneys and a TV station. Not to mention the "hints" dropped by mainstream media that electronic defects were involved in the criminal settlement.

As crashes bearing the earmarks of electronically-induced unintended acceleration continue, somebody needs to file a freedom of information request with the curt, no-commentin' "Just Us" Department, find out what's goin' on, and let the public know. Legitimate questions have been raised. The time has come to investigate the investigators.