If you’ve been able to pull your eyes away from the latest sensational coverage of Jim Sikes’ runaway Toyota Prius in San Diego, you may have come across another story from the Detroit Free Press in which Toyota is taking heat from Detroit’s Big Three.

It seems that in the frenzy of the congressional hearings, Toyota submitted a chart showing the number of recalls from itself and other manufacturers over the past decade.  The chart was titled, “Automotive Recalls in Perspective” and revealed that all three of the Detroit firms had roughly triple the number of recalls that Toyota did over the same time period.

Detroit is upset by the chart but can’t risk challenging Toyota in public because an attack will only draw attention to their own bad data.  Big Three insiders are said to be skulking behind the scenes, throwing around phrases like, “It’s tearing the whole industry apart.”

The Freep also points out that this may be yet another PR misstep by Toyota because the charts were somewhat irrelevant to the congressional hearings.  The investigation is for Toyota’s poor management of the recalls today – not yesterday.

Where I take offense is in Detroit’s whining and grousing behind the scenes.  Yes, the chart was intended to make them look bad and Toyota look good.  But isn’t that exactly what the Big Three and their dealers did last month when they resorted to cheap shot incentives and advertisements to lure customers away from Toyota?

If you can’t take the heat then stay out of the kitchen.