"Oh man, homie, Toyota's tryin' to kill me..."

Fans of the movie Fight Club will tell you that it contains an excellent explanation of the unwritten agreement you make with an automobile manufacturer when you buy their product. Flat out, they will not issue a recall until their legal and settlement expenditures in settling their accident cases from a defect are projected to be higher than the monetary and reputation costs of issuing a recall.

We are going to find over the coming months and years, as we are already starting to find out, that the first death that was caused by two major problems that Toyota is working to correct now occurred quite some time ago.

We will also hear that while Toyota was "investigating", more people were losing their lives. We will hear from accident victims (the ones that survived) that they knew something was wrong with the car and that they approached Toyota, but Toyota insisted, even after examining their car, that there was nothing wrong.

We will find that the accident victims that filed suits were offered, and usually accepted, an out of court settlement in exchange for keeping quiet and no longer holding Toyota accountable.

We will learn that, of course, as soon as Toyota came to the realization that there was a problem, they worked at lightning speed to correct it. We're already seeing the apology commercials telling us that of course Toyota loves its customers and are concerned about their safety.

America will be mad at Toyota for a little while, but soon, we will forget, stop questioning why it took years to get from the first death to a mass recall, and sales of Camries and Priuses will resume.

Toyota is the focus of my comments today because they just happen to be the manufacturer who is under the spotlight right now. Remember when Ford found out that the tires it was putting on its Explorers were falling apart while people were driving? Same thing. They did not come out and offer to fix it until legal and settlement costs were going to exceed the cost of replacing the bad tires.

While Firestone was the culprit in that recall, and some nameless part manufacturers are the culprits this time, it is the auto manufacturer who bears the brunt of the costs and losses. They all keep quiet until the recall becomes a cheaper alternative to the bad press and drop in sales. While it was Ford during that time, today, it is Toyota, and tomorrow, it will be another one of them. It is just a matter of time.

What Americans need to do, however, is to stop living in the delusional world where we think these huge auto conglomerates are going to come out and issue a mass recall as the result of one death. That is just not going to happen.

We need to be more aware as consumers of this unwritten agreement we are making with the auto manufacturers when we buy their cars. If their product kills you early on in the discovery of the problem, the best your loved ones can do is seek a cash settlement, sign the non-disclosure agreement, and accept the apology commercials. We all just have to hope that our car's problem doesn't materialize until further down the line, after mounting legal and settlement costs have led to a recall.

The $10 Bill....

In 1861, the first $10 bill was issued near the outset of the Civil War.

It featured a portrait of Lincoln and is the only time a sitting president appeared on U.S. currency.

In 1861, a $10 bill could have bought you an entire barrel of flour, a month’s stay in a New York City tenement, or a ride on the Great Eastern steamship from Manhattan to Cape May, New Jersey.

In 1901, the $10 bill depicted explorers Lewis & Clark on the edges with a large American bison in the middle, and bought you ten private ballroom-dancing classes, a housepainter’s labor for eight days or a full eye exam and 10 pairs of glasses.

In 1929, all U.S. currency was changed to its standard size of today. Despite the popular belief, the car on your 1929 standardized $10 bill is not a Model T Ford, but a composite of cars from the day. In 1929, your $10 bill got you a year’s worth of accident and sickness insurance, a waffle iron, or a one-minute phone call from New York City to London.

In 1942, just after the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, special $10 bills were printed for Hawaii with the state’s name printed on the front and back and the serial numbers printed in brown ink instead of red. This was done so that if the Japanese invaded Hawaii, the U.S. Treasury would declare these $10 bills worthless.

Keep an eye out for the new $10 bill coming early in 2006. Its design is still mostly green, but now features shades of orange, yellow and red and has renderings of the Statue of Liberty torch and the words, "We The People..."