The word shim is driving me crazy.  I know what shims are, and I know who uses them.  They're for propping up or wedging something that doesn't fit properly or work as it should.  At least that's what the people I know use shims for.  Wobbly tables.  Things that aren't level.  A rudimentary solution to something that wasn't built right.

So of course I looked online and there are some other more sophisticated definitions of the word shim, but you would have to be an engineer to know those.  Which is at the root of Toyota's fiasco.  A product recall for an engineering company is an engineering problem.  Using a word like shim is probably no big deal for them...but of course it's a big deal for Toyota owners.

I don't want a new shim, I want a new car.  Or at least a new accelerator.  This may be an expedient solution, but I don't want any part of it, and now - worst of all - I don't want any part of Toyota.  They are no longer the company they were.  Dare we say it?  Did they outpace GM's sales to become like GM???

I read their news release and the official word is that they are fixing the accelerator with a "precision-cut steel reinforcement bar".  I like that better.  Sounds stronger...sounds permanent.

But unfortunately I heard the word shim first.  No going back now, is there?