On Wednesday, Ray Lahood, Transportation Secretary, gave guidance to owners of Toyota cars. He said, “My advice, is if anybody owns one of these vehicles, stop driving it. And take it to a Toyota dealer.” Obviously the only words that stuck out to people from his advice was, “Stop driving it.”

When later swarmed by reporters, Lahood tried to take back his words by saying, “What I said in there was obviously a misstatement. If you own one of these cars, or if you’re in doubt, take it to the dealer.”

Toyota has declared to have fixed it’s problem concerning it’s Prius’ Hybrid and encourages all who want, to come into the dealership to get it fixed.  However, Toyota is not so blunt or concerned about its drivers as to stay “Stop driving,” like Lahood.

With this recall and criticism, Toyota’s company has dropped sales in the U.S. dramatically. Also, Toyota stocks are down by 5%.

Surprisingly, Toyota has posted a $1.7 billion profit in the third quarter despite the $2 billion it spent in recall costs.