To the Editor,

I have just read the Mount Airy News article regarding a “mold or mildew’ problem in a Toyota Prius owned by the Mount Airy Police Department. If seems strange that this was worthy of a front page spread. It must have been a slow news day. It seems even stranger to criticize a product sold by a local business when that business and other local car dealers are responsible for a major portion of the newspaper’s revenues through their advertising.

All this being said, it would seem to be even more newsworthy that the Toyota Prius has just received the J.D. Power and Associates Most Dependable Compact Car Award for the fifth consecutive year. The Prius outperformed the compact car segment in seven of eight categories by a whopping 35 percent. Incidentally, the Toyota Corolla was the second place car in this category.

It was also interesting to note that the MAPD Prius has only depreciated $78 from what was paid for the car in 2009 (this is from the MAPD’s own estimate). Finally, it is our belief that the mildew problem can probably be traced to an improper collision repair rather than a production defect.

Dick Patterson,

president,

Patterson Toyota Scion