UPDATE: I have the feeling that this story will be the first of many. Also, $700k in debt? Holy hell!

Being owners of a Prius, lots of folks ask us if we’re afraid that at any minute when we’re driving it, we could die. I’m not worried about it. Anna is starting to panic a little bit because every time the news comes on, some Toyota or other has been involved in some kind of incident that the perpetrators of those incidents claim is the infamous “glitch”. Nobody knows if it’s actually the glitch yet, but most folks just assume these days that once you drive a Toyota, you just may not stop!

Bullcrap. I don’t for a minute believe that many of these folks are actually experiencing the glitch – especially this one. It’s become a convenient excuse for driving asshattery that we don’t normally hear about because it happens so often. It’s news and a viable excuse now because – anytime a Toyota is involved – it somehow isn’t your fault anymore.

This post breaks down the math about how statistically likely it is that we will be affected by the Toyota glitch.

if you drive one of the Toyotas recalled for acceleration problems and don’t bother to comply with the recall, your chances of being involved in a fatal accident over the next two years because of the unfixed problem are a bit worse than one in a million—2.8 in a million, to be more exact. Meanwhile, your chances of being killed in a car accident during the next two years just by virtue of being an American are one in 5,244.

Basically, driving is just as dangerous as it’s always been.

It’s a bit ridiculous how Toyota is being dragged through the mud, Congressional hearing, etcetera. It’s a crappy problem to have, and they should feel some business pain about it, but it’s completely overblown by the media.

We’re confident enough that it’s not a problem that we’re actually considering the purchase of another Toyota, possibly soon. So take that!