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American Morning
Toyota Issues New Recall of Hybrids; Taliban Leader Reported Killed; Another Snowstorm to Hit Mid-Atlantic; Mid-Atlantic Braces for Another 20 Inches of Snow; Companies Welcome Back 401(k) Match; A Soldier's Story: Weapons Training and Getting Closer to Deployment
Aired February 09, 2010 - 7:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. Glad you're with us on this Tuesday, February 9th. I'm Kiran Chetry.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes sitting in for John Roberts this week.
Here are some of the big stories we're keeping an eye on this morning. The hits just keep on coming for Toyota, the world's largest automaker announcing a global recall of four hybrids, including the popular Prius because of problems with the brakes. This comes after more than 7 million other Toyotas were recalled for sticking gas pedals.
CHETRY: Taliban saying their leader in Pakistan is dead. Hakeemullah Mehsud was wounded in a drone attack last month and was being taken for medical treatment when he died. We're live in Pakistan with more details.
HOLMES: And you know all that snow you just shoveled off the driveway? There will be more in just a day or so headed your way in the mid-Atlantic states, D.C. as well, possibly another 20 inches. We're watching this new storm and also the board at Reagan National Airport where many fliers are wondering if they will ever get out of there.
CHETRY: We begin this morning though with Toyota's mounting mechanical problems. The company announcing overnight a global recall of four 2010 hybrid models, including the popular Prius, further denting its bad reputation with consumers.
This morning, the problem is with the software apparently that controls the antilock braking system. In the United States, that means more than 155,000 cars will need emergency service. Our Kyung Lah is tracking the developments this morning from Tokyo.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYUNG LAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This document made it official, the safety recall is on. Toyota filing papers notifying Japan's government of its recall. The affected models, the 2010 Prius and three other hybrids due to a braking glitch.
Take the right steps to maintain safety, warned Japan's government. Hours later, Toyota's top man announced the recall was global, affecting some 400,000 cars. Akio Toyoda, his grandfather founded the company, made this promise, speaking, in English to his customers around the world.
AKIO TOYODA, TOYOTA PRESIDENT: Together we will do everything in our power to regain the confidence of our customers.
LAH: The problem, says Toyoda, is with the antilock brakes. Hit ice or uneven surfaces, and the brakes seem to fail for a fraction of a second. Toyota says a software fix corrects the problem in 40 minutes hooked up to a dealership computer.
For about two weeks, amid Toyota's recall of more than 8 million cars for sticky accelerators and faulty floor mats, the company's president was out of the public eye. Now he's out in front, saying he's personally tested the Prius and felt the braking problem himself.
Toyoda says the company is not failure-proof, and he was making the Prius recall announcement to send a message to customers, in his own words. It is about time, says Japan expert Jeffrey Kingston.
JEFF KINGSTON, DIRECTOR OF ASIAN STUDIES AT TEMPLE UNIVERSITY: Up until now it's been a total disaster. One can only hope that he'll do better in crisis management from here on. I think that he has shown that he is shaken by events and hopefully he'll be learning from them.
LAH: While there is a fix for the Prius, there is no fix yet for the other recalled hybrids, the Prius plug-in, the Lexus HS-250, or the Sai, which all have similar breaking problems. Sales have been suspended until there is a remedy.
Kyung Lah, CNN, Tokyo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: As if Toyota doesn't have enough problems, Congress wants to chat about it, talk to the automaker and federal regulators about the massive recalls. A House panel planning a hearing tomorrow. Lawmakers say a growing body of evidence shows that neither Toyota nor the National Highway Traffic Administration really knows what's behind the safety crisis.
CHETRY: So what does it all mean? Will Toyota be able to survive this? Our Christine Romans joins us now with more on what's going on with Toyota. This is tough for a company. The brand is known for quality.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And safety. You're right. This is a brand and a company that's been behind the curve on the problems until now. It sounds as though the company is trying to get ahead and stop reacting to the news and getting in front of it.
But there are two important takeaways here. One, if you have one with of these cars, you're looking at time delays and going to your dealer to get it fixed. You're still asking questions in the morning, is the braking problem I'm having, is this part of the problem or something else?
The second question you have, the second takeaway you have, is if you're out looking for a car, if you're a potential Toyota customer, all you're hearing right now is "braking problems," two words you never want to hear together, and rapid acceleration problems, also something else.
It's very difficult if you're a customer out there trying to buy a car right now. The brand damage to Toyota is very, very severe.
HOLMES: Those are the last two issues, the gas pedal and the brakes. It' one thing if the radio is out or the window doesn't work, but this is safety.
ROMANS: And software glitch on brakes, people say, oh, wow, no matter how minor it is, it seriously concerns them.
HOLMES: Christine, thank you so much. We'll talk to you again shortly.
Also stay with us, because coming up in less than 30 minutes, we'll get some insight into how Toyota responds to safety problems. We'll talk to Jim Carter, an attorney, who took on Toyota and won in a case involving a woman killed in a collision unrelated to this current recall.
CHETRY: And now to Pakistan and reports that the country's Taliban leader is dead. The reports Hakeemullah Mehsud was wounded in a U.S. drone attack last month. Now Taliban sources say that he died on his way to a treatment center in Karachi, Pakistan.
Mehsud is believed to have ordered the bombing attack that killed seven CIA employees in Afghanistan in December. CNN's Reza Sayah is following developments for us live from Islamabad. Good morning, Reza.
REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran. A big development out of Pakistan this morning. Of course, it was last week when a U.S. intelligence official told CNN that Hakeemullah Mehsud was killed. But for more than three weeks, Taliban sources had denied the claims until this morning. Three sources telling CNN from the Taliban that their leader was indeed killed.
And here's the version of how he was killed. Sources telling CNN that Mehsud was injured in a U.S. drone strike in mid-January and he was in bad shape, so much so he was on his way to a treatment center in Karachi, but he did not make it according to these Taliban sources, dying about 400 miles north of Karachi.
Now, the Pakistani military has yet to confirm Mehsud's death, a spokesperson for the military saying, look, these are Taliban sources, and we have to verify this information with our sources.
The top spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban has yet to verify this information as well. This is a spokesman who just three weeks ago went to a lot of trouble to prove to everybody that Hakeemullah Mehsud was alive by producing three audiotapes reportedly with his voice on it, Kiran.
But the big headline today out of Pakistan, Hakeemullah Mehsud confirmed dead by Taliban sources themselves.
CHETRY: And just paint a bigger picture for us about what kind of blow this is to the Taliban losing Mehsud.
SAYAH: This is a big setback for the Pakistani Taliban. Make no mistake, in Pakistan, he was public enemy number one. It was under him when Pakistan saw a wave of deadly suicide attacks over the past few months.
And he got Washington's attention when he surfaced in a videotape last month sitting next to Humam al Balawi, he of course, the Jordanian doctor turned suicide bomber who killed seven CIA agents in Afghanistan.
The Pakistani Taliban have remarkably shown an ability to regroup when they've lost a leader and to continue fighting. Whether they can do it again is an open question, but certainly a big setback for them this morning. Kiran?
CHETRY: Reza Sayah live for us in Islamabad this morning, thank you.
HOLMES: Also new this morning, Iran says it started producing a high-grade nuclear fuel, manufacturing uranium enriched to a 20 percent level. What does that mean? They need 80 percent to make a nuclear bomb. So the U.S. is now calling on U.N. to impose sanctions against Iran sometime in the next few weeks.
CHETRY: Also, federal agents are trying to track down an arsonist who has been torching churches in east Texas. There have been eight suspicious church fires now in the area since New Year's Day. No one has been hurt, but property damage is estimated in the millions.
HOLMES: An outbreak of mumps in New Jersey and New Jersey. More than 1,000 people have been sickened since August. The outbreak has been traced to a summer camp for Orthodox Jewish boys in Sullivan County, New York. This is the highest number of mumps cases in this country since '06, when 6,500 people contracted the virus in the Midwest.
CHETRY: How about this one? Beginning in May, American airlines is planning on stopping giving you blankets and pillows if you're a coach passenger, can't get those for free. You have to buy them for $8.
American says that you do get the blue fleece blanket and an inflatable neck pillow to keep. And this is the best part, so don't be sad. You get a $10 coupon to spend at Bed, Bath & Beyond.
HOLMES: Is that for real? Can you get a blanket there for 10 bucks?
CHETRY: I highly doubt it.
HOLMES: My goodness. I'll stick with the Atlanta-based companies. I probably shouldn't be promoting them right now, but still.
We'll turn to New Orleans now, which is essentially going to be closed for the most part today because the champs back in town. The picture there you're seeing -- you can't see who's driving, but you can see the Lombardi trophy.
And that is Coach Payton holding up the trophy. The team got back yesterday. A big parade expected today, schools closing early to give everybody a chance to get there and be part of the celebration. The parade is going to start in front of, the Louisiana Superdome. We'll have live coverage all afternoon.
CHETRY: Sounds good. Meanwhile, this doesn't sound so good. This is yet another blizzard hitting an area that's already gotten a big walloping, blizzard 2.0 they're saying, headed for the mid- Atlantic, also heading a little bit more north than the last one did.
Our Reynolds Wolf is out in the middle of it still this morning. Are they ready for more, Reynolds?
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I think they are doing the best they can trying to cope with what they already have on the ground here in Georgetown. In Georgetown, the sun is coming up, but, as you mentioned, more snow is going to be coming down. You're watching "AMERICAN MORNING."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Those scenes of winter not going anywhere. In fact, we'll be adding to it for people in the mid-Atlantic. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
If you just finished shoveling, unfortunately we have some bad news for you. You're probably going to have bring out that shovel again. Look what's on the way, another major snowstorm roaring through the Midwest, Chicago, Indianapolis, Louisville. Making its way east. This time further north, we may get some as well as Boston.
HOLMES: Places around the capital, they were buried under more than two feet of snow over the weekend, again another 20 inches possibly on the way.
Reynolds Wolf live in D.C. where he's been for the past several days. Reynolds, are you there? Because you can't get out of there yet and now you've got more snow coming. Are you ever going to get back home?
WOLF: You know, I think it is going to improve, but not before the second batch of snowfall you guys were talking about. Some things are beginning to get back to normal, like, for example, here on M Street in Georgetown, you see a lot of traffic coming through. It's moving at a pretty decent clip considering they had so much snowfall in this area, some places well in excess of several feet.
What's interesting, though, is we haven't had a single flake here in roughly, say, three days. But still there's plenty of it all over the ground, and, again, as we've been talking about, there's more on the way.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF: Around the nation's capital, a symphony of snow. But after a brief intermission, few are excited about the second act.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, no. No more.
WOLF: The coming storm could add a foot or more to the mounds of snow that brought life to a standstill here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Insult to injury I think is the term that comes to mind.
WOLF: So for those who could get rubber to the road, it was time to hit the store and stock up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm going to go and buy some more food.
WOLF: Others weren't nearly as lucky. In this neighborhood, no plows, which meant no way out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's very frustrating, you know. If we run out of baby food, you know, we can't do anything.
WOLF: He's worried about his seven-month-old baby. His neighbors have a full house and their own concerns about the coming storm.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It will be a problem. It will be a problem.
WOLF: They've been trapped since Friday, struggling to entertain their four kids.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is nothing more we can do but just sit and look.
WOLF: Also weighing heavy on rescue crews, the pure heft of all that snow. It was enough to partially destroy the roof on this fire station and send crews and shovels scrambling to rooftops.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When something collapses you really never know when it's going to happen.
WOLF: But that's far from the only concern. Power lines are still down and access to critical services remains spotty for many.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I fell and may have fractured my arm. I'm not entirely sure, but, of course, my doctor's office isn't open to tell me that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF: Tell you what, we are seeing other things get back to normal, like some of the city services. A few of the bus lines are open, but, again, just the few. That's the key thing. When it comes to Metro, the interesting thing there is still the underground railroads are still operating about every 30 minutes, but above-ground there is some action.
But, again, that is certainly limited. And then this afternoon as more clouds come in and with that bearing some snowfall, we could see more of those shut down very quickly.
So that's the latest we've got here, again, from Georgetown. Let's take it back to you in the studio.
CHETRY: All right, Reynolds Wolf for us. Thanks so much.
HOLMES: We turn now to Rob Marciano. He is in the extreme weather center right now. I guess, Rob, we're asking now when's this thing going to start? When are we going to start seeing that snow up here in New York?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Timing it out to start in D.C. this afternoon, New York City overnight tonight, and not wrapping up in some cases until Thursday morning.
Here it is on the radar scope. Check it out. Moisture from the Canadian border all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. Sounds like Groundhog Day because this storm seems to be similar than the last. But it is different.
Decent amount of moisture down to the south, heavy rain there. And Chicago getting some snow. And this snow is pushing east across the Ohio Valley and then this storm will intensify as it hits the Atlantic coastline and become a more classic nor'easter, which makes it a little bit more touchy to forecast.
Twenty states right now have some sort of winter warning and/or advisory. Six to 12 is expected in Chicago, 10 to 20 I think most in D.C. New York is going to get some out of this, probably over 10 inches in New York City and big-time winds as well.
We'll get into a little bit more of the dirty details in about 30 minutes. T.J., Kiran, back up to you.
HOLMES: All right, the dirty details. Looking forward to those. Rob, thanks buddy.
CHETRY: Well, we are bringing you a little bit of good news. Christine Romans up next "Minding Your Business." She has some what she calls good great news about your 401(k).
HOLMES: Sounds good.
CHETRY: We need to hear some good news, right...
HOLMES: Yes.
CHETRY: ... when it comes to our budget? She's going to be here in a minute.
Sixteen minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: All these country songs we've been playing on the show are in honor of you. You let them know you'd like some country.
HOLMES: Our request, country. My sister has one on country kick, like three artists. But still, I like that one.
CHETRY: That's a start. It's the beginning of your collection of country music.
Meanwhile, it's 20 minutes past the hour right now. We are "Minding Your Business" this morning. Christine Romans is with us with some good news, which we love to hear...
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
CHETRY: ... about our 401(k).
ROMANS: A year ago I sat here and told you that the economic recession was going to be a problem for your 401(k) match. That lots of companies were pulling back and they were going to match contributions into your 401(k). That was the casualty of the great recession. Now the same people who told us that dire news a year ago have a new study saying guess what? The 401(k) match is back. Eighty percent of the firms that cut the match to save money in the past year are restoring it.
A couple different things here. Look, even if you're not hiring people, you want to keep your employees happy. We know that people are getting a little restless, right, with high unemployment rate, but they haven't been able to move around a lot. So you want to keep your employees happy. This is one way to do it.
Also, because these companies have found they're not very confident that you're saving enough money for retirement and they're trying to put the tools in place to help you do that. Only about 54 percent of employers, you know, they're less confident that you're saving enough money. Chances are you probably aren't because one in five employers said that only one in five employers was very confident that you're saving enough money.
Survey after survey after survey shows that you're not saving enough money for retirement and the great recession has even made that worse if the longer you've been working in your career, probably the longer you have to work to make up for what you've lost. But at least the 401(k) match is back.
HOLMES: Is back.
ROMANS: And they're also putting -- this is a study from Hewitt (ph) Associates, you know, a consulting firm, human resources consulting firm -- they also said that putting in new automated ways to help you do it, to help you save, to get the right kind of mix. So there's new technology they're using to try to help you with your match because you should be doing this if you have that opportunity.
CHETRY: It adds up, especially the match.
ROMANS: It adds up. It absolutely does, yes.
CHETRY: So you have a numeral for us. It's a number that Christine brings us every day on the program. It's driving a story about your money. So what's the numeral this hour?
ROMANS: It's 25 grand. And, I mean, you can imagine this has to do with how much money people are saving.
HOLMES: Saving off like an average of what people are losing.
ROMANS: Yes.
CHETRY: Is that the average 401(k)?
ROMANS: He's still a great recession thinker. This is more than half of people, according to the ECBI, this big employee benefits people, half of people only have $25,000 saved for their retirement. Half of workers only have -- folks, folks, you can't retire on 25 grand. So this is kind of a wake-up call. As the economy starts to get stronger, if your company starts to add new features for your 401(k)...
CHETRY: Right.
ROMANS: ... take advantage of them.
CHETRY: What about people who say, I've been paying into social security, won't I get that?
ROMANS: Yes, you will. And social security is not counted in that $25,000.
HOLMES: We think we'll get that, right?
ROMANS: You will get that in the next 20 or 30 years. You will get that. After that, we'll see what happens.
HOLMES: All right. Christine, thank you. Good news somewhere.
CHETRY: We started off with some good news this morning.
HOLMES: Yes.
ROMANS: Yes. You guys are the ones who switched to social security. I'm just saying, the match is back.
HOLMES: All right. Thank you, Christine.
CHETRY: Thanks, Christine.
Still ahead, we're checking in with Jason Carroll, "A Soldier's Story." He's been following Private Will McLain from the decision to deploy, now to weapons training and getting closer and closer to deployment. How are things going?
It's 23 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Twenty-five minutes past the hour right now. First, though, our top stories are five minutes away. But first, an "A.M. Original." It's something you'll see only on AMERICAN MORNING.
We've been following the story of a new Army recruit. His name is Will McLain.
HOLMES: Yes, we've seen him now, first days of basic training. We saw him roll in there with the hair. He needed a shave and had to lose some weight. We saw him at the very beginning. We talked to his family back home yesterday. And today, the critical weapons training that he will need to survive on the battlefield.
Jason Carroll has been following this young man every step of the way. It's always something interesting. Weapons training, that had to be something for him.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, can't get through basic training without passing this very crucial part. And you know, for privates like Will McLain, the stress is not just about passing a weapons test. It's also about coming closer to learning whether or not he will be deployed to fight a war.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SOLDIERS: I need a burst. I need a burst.
CARROLL (voice-over): It's one of the last hurdles to overcome before completing basic training. Weapons qualification. Before Will McLain enlisted, he showed me how to handle a shotgun back in his hometown of Rosamond, California. But shooting for recreation is nothing compared to this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look. Safe. Did you not pay attention in class?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir, sergeant.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, fire. CARROLL: Where hitting bull's eyes are just as important as avoiding sniper fire.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sniper. I hate this.
CARROLL: Will's shooting scores earned him a rating of marksman but fell short of the score needed for sharpshooter...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get up.
CARROLL: ... or expert.
(on camera): Were there any points through the basic training where you thought, I don't know if I can do this?
WILL MCLAIN, U.S. ARMY RECRUIT: I wasn't well aware -- I didn't know if I could do it. It was more, like, dang, what did I get myself into? Like I've got three years of this coming up. But to realize that, you know, you can make it through it, it's kind of good to feel.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Being vigilant is key.
CARROLL (voice-over): Exercises to be as realistic as possible, some take place at night. Or during the day in a mock Iraqi village where they practice urban warfare training.
(on camera): While the company does its field training, this is where they sleep, this is where they eat. It's called a sea hut. These are Will's items over here. That's his pile marked number two. Over here you've got a fire. Two soldiers are responsible for keeping an eye on it every single hour. Again, this is where the company can get in from the cold and take a break.
(voice-over): Will's company has about five more weeks of training before they learn what their next step will be.
DRILL SGT. JOSEPH RIX, U.S. ARMY: I guess deployment is different for every person. So every now and then, you know, we'll sit down and talk to them and answer some of their questions.
CARROLL (on camera): What are most of the -- what are the type of questions you usually get from them? What are they asking?
RIX: Most questions are, where am I going, drill sergeant? You know? And we won't know that until a few weeks before they leave. But that honestly right there, they all want to know, where am I going?
MCLAIN: I think about it a lot, you know. Like if I get deployed, it's part of my job. I'm not worried about it.
CARROLL: Do you still think about home, or are you so focused on training --
MCLAIN: You do. Everybody thinks about it once in a while, you know, especially when you're laying down in your bunk at night thinking before you go to sleep, you got the last (INAUDIBLE). My family, you know, just wondering what they're up to and how they're doing. You always get that thought. But at the same time you've got to realize, like for me, I'm 18. You know, I'm going out into the world. I've got to realize this is what I need to do. It will be a good start for me.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: You know, we just talked about that. 18. So young.
HOLMES: It's amazing.
CARROLL: So young. So young.
You know, when we shot that story last week, Will was actually still in basic training. He's completed his basic training and now begins his specialized training to be a combat engineer. Those are the soldiers who do everything from disarming roadside bombs to building bridges. Again, his specialized training should take place, should be complete in about another five weeks or so. Then he gets the orders for deployment.
HOLMES: And again, that's the one question they all have. And right now, he could end up anywhere. He has no clue. None.
CARROLL: It could be anywhere. It could be Afghanistan. It could be Iraq. It could be Haiti.
HOLMES: All right, this is a great series. We appreciate it.
CARROLL: Right.
HOLMES: We'll be looking forward to the rest of it.
CHETRY: We're growing attached to Private McLain.
CARROLL: Yes.
HOLMES: Yes. All right.
CHETRY: Thanks, Jason.
CARROLL: All right.
HOLMES: And you can see more of our special series "A Soldier's Story" online. Read blogs written about Will McLain about his experiences in boot camp and see exclusive photos, plus all the reports that Jason has filed for this series. It's all on our blog. What's the name of that blog again there, Jason?
CARROLL: CNN.com/amFIX.
HOLMES: Giving you a chance to redeem yourself from yesterday.
CHETRY: There you go.
Must be on that thing a lot. Thanks, Jason.
Well, it is now 30 minutes past the hour. It means it's time for our top stories.
Iran challenging the world yet again, announcing today it will begin enriching uranium to the 20 percent mark. That's high enough to set off a chain reaction seen in a nuclear explosion. And Tehran is claiming that production of higher grade nuclear fuel is to power a research reactor.
HOLMES: The National Weather Service is issuing a new winter storm warning for the mid-Atlantic and northeast, predicting another 10 to 20 inches of snow by sometime tomorrow.
CHETRY: And today, job one for the crew of the space shuttle "Endeavor," checking the space shuttle for damage that may have occurred during yesterday's liftoff. But right now, the ship and its six-member crew are speeding toward the International Space Station where their mission includes three space walks.
All right. So this morning, we're waiting for word from Toyota. The company is expected to announce a U.S. recall of its hugely popular Prius model after already doing so in Japan. Now to give you an idea of the scope of Toyota's problems, just take a look at all of the models that have been affected by this global recall.
The list is long and many say not in line with the auto giant's reputation for safety. In fact, critics have challenged response times and also accused Toyota of being secretive about problems with cars already on the road.
Joining me this morning from Atlanta is Jim Carter. He is a veteran class-action attorney who actually took on Toyota and won. This was a case involving a woman killed in a collision unrelated to the current recall. Jim, thanks for being with us this morning.
JIM CARTER, CLASS ACTION ATTORNEY: Good morning, Kiran. Thank you.
CHETRY: So this morning we're talking about yet another recall, 400,000 of Toyota's 2010 hybrid models, including the popular Prius, being recalled for problems with the anti-lock braking systems. Just give us your estimation, how much bigger do you think this is going to get for Toyota?
CARTER: Well, I think the longer Toyota stalls and avoids coming to the table with all of the problems they're having, I think it will spread even further than it is. As you know, their main problem has been sudden acceleration, sudden unintended acceleration. This is an issue with the hybrid vehicle where there is a programming glitch that causes braking problems. So I think that Toyota is going to be in for more and more lawsuits until they come to the table and get a grip on the problem and go forward from there.
CHETRY: Jim, this is interesting because, in some cases, our Kyung Lah has been reporting from Tokyo about a lot of this. They seem to know, I guess, that they want to reprogram software in the Prius hybrid model yet for the plug-in and the Lexus, I believe, they say that right now they don't have a fix but they're saying that the cars are safe to drive. Is that good advice from this car company?
CARTER: I don't think so. Although these problems may not occur in only a small percentage of the cars, most of them may not have a problem at all. However, if you go on 30 miles an hour, that's 44 feet a second. If you have a fraction of a second delay, say, a half a second, that's 22 feet. That will get you out into an intersection when you're trying to stop at a stop sign. It's a very dangerous condition.
CHETRY: Well, Toyota is facing right now at least 34 class- action lawsuits. Also, I believe 12 individual lawsuits. So far this number could grow. In some cases though people are seeking damages for either death or injuries due to the sudden acceleration problem. So is this just the tip of the iceberg in terms of these lawsuits?
CARTER: I think it could be. It depends on what the scope of the injuries are. Fortunately, they don't seem to have been that many deaths yet, about 19 deaths out of over 2,200 complaints over the years since 2003. But if something does happen, that's going to come back to haunt Toyota. Every time somebody gets injured catastrophically or killed or a family is wrecked by one of these problems, Toyota is going to catch a lot of grief because they're going to get sued.
CHETRY: Is it all the defeat of Toyota? Meaning, you just mentioned that there have been complaints dating back years. In fact, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says it received some 2,000 complaints and this is for the sudden acceleration dating back to 2004.
CARTER: Yes.
CHETRY: Yet it took six years for the recall to happen. What should the government's role have been as well?
CARTER: Well, the government's role is to investigate defects. They have an Office of Defects Investigation there to ask questions of these car companies. They have subpoena powers. They have discovery abilities. And they can ask for corporate documents and look at these things.
However, the car companies historically -- and I'm not saying Toyota is any worse than any other car company in this regard -- but historically guard their recall issues very, very carefully. They try to limit the scope to certain models. They try to limit the scope to certain years. And when they do that, a lot of times the government just doesn't have the power or the resources to keep up with everything and to find out everything they need to know.
Very often these types of issues come out of the class-action lawsuits where lawyers and engineers get together, discover material from the car companies, and from that material they really discover what the real problem is and eventually it will probably get fixed. CHETRY: Right. You know, it's interesting that you say that because our Drew Griffin has been doing some special investigations on this and he talked to some auto experts who are saying they don't want this to be an electronics problem, an electronic system problem in its cars. That is quite an expensive undertaking to fix. Do you think that cost factors into some of the decision making about exactly what is wrong with some of these cars?
CARTER: It does in every case. When we discover material from car companies, it all comes out under protective orders so it's generally never made public. However, they have task forces, they do cost studies, they say, what's the least we can get away with? And generally that's what the course of action is for the car company. What is the very least we can do to get past this crisis?
CHETRY: Well, all right. Thanks for your take this morning. Jim Carter, class action attorney specializing in the auto industry. Appreciate your insight this morning. Thank you.
CARTER: Thank you, Kiran.
HOLMES: All right. And we have been talking this morning, amazing story, the search and rescue was called off weeks ago. But would you believe now a month later a man has been found alive in the rubble in Haiti. We're going to talk to our Sanjay Gupta about just how this was possible. Sanjay is live for us this morning in Haiti.
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HOLMES: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
A remarkable survival story to tell you about out of Haiti. A 28-year-old man rescued from the rubble yesterday. This is now four week after the earthquake. His name is Evan Muncie, you see him there. Video here is exclusive to CNN.
We don't know for sure, but he may have been trapped there the entire time. If so, how in the world is this possible? Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us live. He's following this story in Port-au- Prince. I guess, we're all you scratching our heads. This is just amazing. I guess, give us some of this background first. We don't know for sure. We think, though, he was there the whole time. But is it possible that some other way he got trapped in there after the earthquake?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is possible, and the truth is, you know, having covered this for some time now, sometimes it's impossible to absolutely establish the veracity of some of these accounts. But you know, we asked the same questions. We heard a tip that this has happened that a man had been pulled out alive after being trapped the entire time now, four weeks to the day, and we went to the hospital where he was taken to try and investigate that a little bit. You know, the images that you're looking at are some of the first images of him actually in that hospital. According to his brother, he lost over 30 pounds. Doctors, nurses all very busy trying to resuscitate him. He did describe having received water at times over the last four weeks. In fact, he said someone in a white coat would bring him water from time to time.
Whether he was hallucinating to some extent or what exactly happened there is unclear, but, to your point, T.J., I think he would have had to have had water at some point. Otherwise, he simply wouldn't have been able to survive. I asked the same questions that you're asking to the doctors that cared for him initially. Here's what they said.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was emaciated. It was obvious he hadn't had anything to drink or eat in quite some time. He had open wounds that were festering on both of his feet.
GUPTA (on camera): But you believe it? I mean, you believe it to be true. This would be the longest survivor so far of this earthquake.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Yes, I mean, there's no reason for me to doubt it. That's what the bystanders relayed to us. The patient was so incredibly weak and frail when he came in.
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GUPTA: As you look at some of these images again, some of these exclusive images, you know, it's worth pointing out that when he came in his vital signs were weak but relatively stable. He had lab work done, blood work, that was consistent with someone who is severely dehydrated, severely malnourished. But he did not have crush injuries, those crush injuries we've been talking so much about. That may have been a big indicator, a big help, in terms of allowing him to survive this.
But again, no matter how you cut this, it's extraordinary. And as things stand now, he is the longest known survivor, a month to the day after the earthquake, T.J..
HOLMES: And Sanjay, you said he would have had to -- there's no way he would have survived without water so he had to have gotten water some kind of way. What about food as well? Can you go that long if you have water and not the food? Isn't there a report -- wasn't he trapped somewhere in a market or somewhere where he might have had access to this stuff?
GUPTA: Yes, you know, it's interesting, there have been documented cases of people fasting, for example, T.J., going up to a couple of months without food. So I think it is possible to say in a month's time without food he may have been able to survive. But with regard to water, there's no absolute study that says you can't survive past day six without water. It's dependent on the conditions around you, how hot, humid it is. All of that.
But I think it's safe to say that at four weeks he would not have survived unless he had access to some water in some way. He was trapped in a marketplace. He was selling rice apparently. But it was this particular location where he was trapped I don't know if he actually had access to that food at the same time, T.J..
HOLMES: Wow. An amazing story. Certainly more questions that a lot of people have. Certainly guys like yourself, doctors, trying to figure out exactly what happened here and how he was able to survive. Sanjay, we appreciate you. We look forward to your reports from Haiti. Once again, thanks so much, buddy.
GUPTA: Thanks, T.J.
HOLMES: All right. Kiran.
CHETRY: Just amazing.
Well, right now it's 43 minutes past the hour. Rob Marciano is going to be coming along in just a moment with this morning's travel forecast. They're bracing in the mid-Atlantic states for round two after the huge snowstorm this weekend. We'll get the forecast after the break.
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CHETRY: Welcome back. A shot of Pittsburgh this morning as we listen to the Rolling Stones. It's only 15 degrees in Pittsburgh, cloudy. A little bit later they're getting -- calling for some snow, at least in Pittsburgh, going up to a high of 30 degrees today in the Steel City.
HOLMES: That's the high? Wow!
More heavy snow are going to be moving in from the Midwest to the mid-Atlantic states. Travel problems still haven't cleared up from the weekend. They're still trying to get rid of that whole backlog. Parts of DC, you'll remember, got 30 inches of snow. Some people are wondering now, will they be able to get out in time, or is this new storm going to cause a problem and will they ever get out this week?
Sarah Lee standing by at Reagan National Airport. So what does it -- but they had a little opening there. They still have this window, maybe, to try to clear some of these -- these planes out, but some of these folks are probably not going to be going anywhere this week.
SARAH LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, and that's why a lot of folks out here are working -- working very hard to try get these passengers out of here because they are dealing with a near three-day backlog.
Take a look behind me. We got on scene about 4:30 this morning, and it's been looking pretty much like this, a steady stream of passengers, not crowded or, you know, confused or any kind of chaos. But a steady stream, kind of unusual for this early in the morning. Taking a look outside, you can see that all of the gates are pretty much filled here with the jets, ready to take people out of town because, again, they are trying to get ahead of this storm.
Checked with the major carriers here at Reagan National Airport, they're all offering a revised ticket policy for the people who are affected by this, traveling to, from, or through the destinations that are affected by the storm, but, of course, you're going to want to check with your carrier about that. Some of these airlines are actually waiving the change fees for people who have to take other flights.
Regionally, at Dulles International Airport, they have been open and they are operating almost up to full capacity. Same is -- the same deal with Baltimore-Washington International north of here. And also, the -- as far as the, again, the movement here in the terminal, seeing plenty of people coming through, trying to make it to their planes before this next storm comes through, which is predicted to hit here in just a couple of hours -- TJ.
HOLMES: All right. Sarah Lee keeping an eye on things for us there. Thank you once again.
CHETRY: All right. And so let's check it out. How much can they expect there in Washington and all the mid-Atlantic states and even a little further north?
Our Rob Marciano keeping an eye on the radar picture for us this morning. Hey, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, good morning, guys. This storm a little bit different than the last one. You remember how compact the last one was, and New York didn't get any snow, Boston didn't get any snow, and Baltimore, DC and Philly got it all.
Well, this one is a little bit more widespread, a little bit more of a classic nor'easter. It's already dumped a fair amount of snow across parts of the Midwest, and we do expect to see up to 12 inches of snow in parts of the Ohio Valley, Western Great Lakes, all the way into parts of Kentucky today. Already saw a foot of snow in parts of Minnesota, even Arkansas seeing some snow, Little Rock got 4 inches. That was a record for a 24-hour snow total.
All right, from the Canadian border all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico, that's where the moisture is. So we've got a bit of tropical connection. Heavier rain expected across the south to about Nashville. North of there it will be mostly in the -- in the way of snow, and this is all heading towards the east quickly.
I do want to point out that Chicago has two-hour delays right now because of the snowfall there, and Cincinnati seeing a ground stop until 8:00, so already seeing travel delays, at least in the Midwest airports, and those will be obviously increasing as this thing pushes off to the east.
Again, 6 to 12 expected in these highlighted red areas, maybe 10 to 20 in -- in DC. I think that will be the most. We'll have to see how this thing winds up as it heads off the coastline. It's going to bomb out like a classic nor'easter right here.
How long it sits here, how strong it gets will determine how much snow from DC to Philly to New York to Boston gets. And 10 to 20 seems to be a good range. And the -- the amount of travel with this thing will not be quite as bad as the last time, but it's going to be fairly impressive.
Twenty states right now have a winter storm warning in effect. A pretty big system .
Guys, back up to you.
CHETRY: Big enough that they're calling it "Snowmageddon."
HOLMES: "Snowmageddon." Another round of this. And, you know, weather guys like Rob live for these big storms. You don't want damage and things, nothing like that, but still, when these things happen, I mean this is when these guys need to be on their game.
CHETRY: Right. They live for the accurate forecasting that comes with these types of storms.
HOLMES: Yes.
CHETRY: All right. Well, Rob, we want to get your take after you see this one.
This is meteorologist Jim Kosek from AccuWeather. He had a little trouble keeping it together in the big moment. Check this out.
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JIM KOSEK, ACCUWEATHER METEOROLOGIST: Fourteen to 22 inches of snow. Oh, boy.
Are (ph) paralyzing, crippling, record-breaking storm comes today! Tertiary problem? Yes. I've been reading the dictionary.
Blowing and drifting! Oh, three, four, five, feet drifts! So you shovel. It drifts back over! Shovel, drifts, shovel, drifts, shovel! Ahhh!
Could I get a one way ticket to New Orleans? Sun comes back Sunday, Monday!
Listen, I love (INAUDIBLE) but we could...
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CHETRY: Rob, now there's a debate, you know, on the Internet about whether or not this is real or fake.
MARCIANO: No -- you know, he works for AccuWeather. CHETRY: No, and I know he really -- I know he really exists, but whether or not he was really that jazzed up or whether it was just an act.
MARCIANO: You know, these storms only come by a handful of times in a meteorologist's career, so I -- I appreciate his enthusiasm. There was a lot of good content in that weather cast, good information, and, you know, maybe I should get a little bit more jazzed up about this stuff.
I'm not going to do his impersonation right now, but certainly the body language, the -- the volume -- I like it.
CHETRY: We like you just the way you are.
MARCIANO: All right. I'll keep that in mind.
Blizzard conditions expected tomorrow into Thursday, guys. Blizzard conditions!
HOLMES: Rob, thanks, buddy.
Fifty-two past the hour. We're back.
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CHETRY: Fifty-five minutes past the hour right now. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Time for your "AM House Call".
And this is some sad news. A Pennsylvania Democratic Congressman, John Murtha, died suddenly. It happened yesterday after complications from gallbladder surgery. Now, many people are asking what went wrong.
Our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is live in Atlanta and there are some close to him that are saying this could have been a -- a surgical error that took place.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Kiran, that's right. This should have been a really simple surgery. Laparoscopic gallbladder removal usually is no big deal. Many times people don't even get admitted to the hospital. They're in and out in one day.
We talked to a source close to Murtha and this is what he had to say. This is a quote from him. "He," meaning Murtha, "went in for a routine, minimally invasive surgery, was discharged. They hit his intestines. He was taken to the hospital two days later." And, as we all know by now, he was in intensive care where he stayed until he died.
Now, nicking the intestines is a known complication of gallbladder surgery. It hardly -- it's very rare, but it does happen. When you nick the intestines, the person can get an infection and can die -- Kiran.
CHETRY: And so you say it's rare. How often? I mean, for a surgery like this, because as you said, most people think of it -- I mean, obviously it is surgery, but minimally invasive and -- and quite easy to recover from. How often does an error like nicking the intestine happen?
COHEN: Right. We -- we couldn't find any good statistics for specifically nicking the intestines in a gallbladder surgery. However, this is an interesting survey that folks at the Mayo Clinic did recently.
What they did is they asked doctors how often have you been involved in a major surgical error in the past three months, and 9 percent of the surgeons reported making a major error in the past three months, and 70 percent of those said it was their fault. They didn't blame the hospital or the system they were working or anything like that.
So we all need to remember, even when something's laparoscopic, even when it's minimally invasive, things can happen. It's rare, but errors do happen.
CHETRY: Wow! Sad news for the congressman's family as well.
Elizabeth Cohen for us this morning. Thank you - T.J.
HOLMES: All right. Stay with us here. Just a few minutes to the top of the hour, and your top stories coming your way in 90 seconds.
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