Toyota recalls - overblown

In recent days whenever you turn on the TV or the radio, you'll find the huge Toyota recall story floating everywhere. The problem was due to mixture of stuck carpet and braking system and Toyota had been recalling cars to workaround these problems. So this sounds like a responsible brand eh? I would think so - afterall, Toyota cars are known for their reliability and lack of maintenance involved. However, much of the public doesn't seem to think so; and most think that they should blow up the incident to make the foreign car company look bad, and hopefully claim benefits since they overtook the top car sales spot the year before. And so they brought in the media, the congress, and whatever scheme to make the Japanese maker look bad. What next? Apparently this James Sikes dude thought that be can get away with settlements by creating a "braking failure" on his Prius, and failed miserably (Forbes Link). The outcome? Aside from his original 700k debt, he's going to be facing a lawsuit from Toyota soon. Bummer. He should've thought before he acted.