• Detroit Free Press, Thursday, February 4, 2010 10:45 AM

Earlier this week, columnist Tom Walsh was warning Detroit automakers that it would be a bad idea to "gloat" over Toyota's difficulties. Today he reports that they are, in fact, "quietly worrying that dangerous fallout from the Toyota crisis could be heading their way."

The oncoming train is Congress, which Walsh writes often takes action "with the precision of a sledgehammer, rather than a scalpel." The automakers fear that lawmakers will enact burdensome regulations and reporting requirements as it did in 2000 when there was well-publicized concern over tire failure in Ford Explorers equipped with Firestone tires.

Walsh also says that Toyota's spinmeisters needs to be careful about who it sends to testify in Congressional hearings. Rumors are that its top executive in the U.S., Yoshimi Inaba, will face the querying squad. Good idea -- but don't forget the nasty xenophobia stirred up when Ford's then-CEO Jacques Nasser, a Lebanese with an Australian accent, appeared during the Firestone crisis.

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