I don't want to imply a lot but it's important to note that  Toyota's bad press is coming overwhelmingly form the US. Of course this is not 100% relevant since the US is a bad market but Toyota in particular and Japan in general have quite a history of taking safety serious. It's unlikely for them to ignore a matter of safety over economic concerns.<p>In case we are dealing with a cover up we would at least see some resignations at a top level. Japanese take their job very serious and probably some would commit suicide if it would be proven that they didn't do their job properly and people got injured because of this.<p>Could it be that we are dealing with economic protectionism though propaganda?