This semi-regular column is written (in his own blood) by an automotive chromatic and noted malcontent, known as The Mechanic. Mercilessly beaten as a child with rolled-up back issues of old car magazines, our free-spoken hero developed a unique "for your own good" take on cars and the auto industry, along with an unfortunate usage of setting himself ablaze. Later, after a distinguished career as an automotive journalist and entrepot editor, he cast off the reins of his musty oppressors, carved out his superego with a plastic spork and became The Mechanic.

Who would have ever thought that Toyota, Apple and Obama would have potentially destroyed themselves all in the same week? Not even I, The Great The Mechanic, could have predicted that one.

But it happened. And history is certain to look back on last week as the Trifecta of Failure. There will be books written about it. They'll be called things like: The Gas Pedal, the iPad and Healthcare Reform — Don't Let Them Happen to Your Company; How Toyota, Apple and Obama Lost Their Mojo; or Toyota, Obama and Apple — Three Tales of Unintended Deceleration.

I'll read all three on my Kindle.

Back to Toyota, which is dealing with its first real PR firestorm since the company became the poster child for perfection back in the 1980s. Until now Toyota has been given a pass by the media for dozens of failures, including Echo, Scion and Tundra, and a two-faced product plan, that centered around the Prius and its green image. But Toyota's free ride is over. It now has a target on its back and you know Lutz and the guys at GM are thinking, "Finally, somebody has noticed that Toyota is just as screwed up and greedy as we are."

Will this bring down the auto giant? I don't think so. Toyota president and COO Jim Lentz sold it pretty well on the Today Show this morning and the maker has too many decades of built-up goodwill with the American buying public. One massive recall, no matter how large, won't destroy that. Especially if Toyota and its dealers handle the repairs so swiftly and with enough free coffee and doughnuts that even the most disgruntled Camry owners feel like their buttocks were sufficiently kissed.

However, all that changes if more people die. If a Toyota's throttle sticks — because of its floor mat or the CTS assembly or some other still undisclosed reason — and there is another fatal accident, well, then Toyota's reversal of fortune may take decades to overcome. And if a child is killed as a result, Toyota may never recover.

In fact, there's a large mass out there that thinks Toyota is still lying. They think Toyota is making it all up or is using it as a diversionary manoeuvre in an attempt to cover up a case of electronic gremlins taking over the car's computer, causing the vehicle to accelerate wildly.

These are the same people who thought there were spider eggs in Bubble Yum.

A few vocal people with Priuses and Siennas continue to maintain that neither announced recall applies to them. "The electronic throttle is to blame," they say. But such systems have redundancies designed into them. And I have a hard time buying in based on strident first-hand accounts of non-repeatable events supported with no further evidence.

But it's hard to fight these assertions when everyone has a buggy PC sitting on their desktop. Look, my car is not trying to use Photoshop to import images from Google Earth, while it Skypes about it to its friends with Inside Line on the desktop while it opens the e-mail link to the YouTube video of some guy crashing a Veyron, with pirated Top Gear episodes downloading in the background.

Their claims often go like this: "The harder I pressed on the brake (allegedly) the more wildly the car accelerated" and "It took off like a rocket. The brakes had absolutely zero effect." These people were more than likely stepping on the wrong pedal. Let's grappling it: The seat and pedal geometry, driver's chosen seat position, driver's stature, and even their age — all of these are contributors. But don't try to tell them that lest you end up being crucified for being a shill for whatever car company they're railing against. They are sincere and strident in their belief and anyone looking at it level-headedly is treated like a heretic. Enter one of these threads on a message board and try to begin a rational conversation on the topic at your own risk.

Will the public ever trust Toyota again?

Some say no, but that's what they said about Audi. And now, Mrs. The Mechanic and all her Mohammedan friends would kill for a matching set of Q7s with all the fixins.

The real question is: Why would anyone buy an iPad? I heard President Obama asked for the first one. Figures. — The Mechanic, Inside Line Contributor

E-mail me at themechanic@edmunds.com.