Hmm. Company that has wrecked FM radio (other than talk and classical) vs. a carmaker that makes reliable, clean (except for some weirdness like the heavy, inefficient, fullsize Titan pickup) vehicles?

CC.

Explain again why you guys pair up companies that have absolutely nothing to do with each other's industries on any level?

Yeah, not sure why Toyota is in this category...They definitely won't "win" this contest...

I don't think I'll ever buy another brand of car after my two previous Toyotas. The woman I hope to marry is also a Toyota-addict, so that'll help when it comes to buying a car together. If I could take a vote away from Toyota, I would.

@Buran: The Titan is made by Nissan. I think you mean the Tundra, or possibly the Land Cruiser. Or the FJ-7.

I worked for them for two years and everyone in my department never made any more than $6.50 an hour.

I HATE RELIABLE CARS!!!

FUEL EFFICIENCY REALLY RILES ME UP.

But seriously, why is Toyota even in the contest?

@mgy: As I was reading your comment, I thought you were going to write "The woman I hope to marry will also be a Toyota."

Did the readers who nominated Toyota also nominate Honda and Nissan? Did their email addresses end with "@ford.com" or "@gmc.com"? Just wondering...

I vote Clear Channel. Homogenizing radio sucks!

(That would be my opinion even if I didn't work for a competitor)

@spookyjon: Especially since the Nominee did not specify why they nominated Toyota.

WTF? Why is Toyota in this competition???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Clear Channel is so vile. Every radio station that I've enjoyed before it was bought up by them has gone to right to hell -- in terms of crappy music and the ads ads ads ads ads. If it weren't for WEQX, I'd suck it up and subscribe to satellite.

Toyota was probably nominated over their "Engine Oil Gelling" issue with certain models/years. I have one of the models, but no gelling yet.

Parked in my driveway right now is a 1992 Toyota pickup with about 240,000 miles on it. It is literally perforated with rust, but it has never needed a major mechanical repair and it always starts no matter how cold it is.

As for Clear Channel, gosh, there are so many ways you can hate them even aside from what they've done to FM radio. You can hate them for perpetuating the visual blight of billboards across the landscape. You can also hate them for their efforts to dominate the live music venue booking business. They're not quite as unavoidable as Ticketmaster but they're obnoxious enough.

If we can just suggest any company and don't have to provide a reason why said company sucks, I will suggest the American Cancer Society.

I was a fan of Toyota until we purchased an '06 RAV4. It had acceleration problems resulting in an occasional few second delay between pushing the accelerator and going anywhere. It was just enough delay to be scary when pulling into traffic. Toyota is keeping quiet about it, but the Internets are buzzing with a lot of similar instances.

I see what it is now.... we're stretching this out as long as possible to help fill Gawker's daily posting quotas... Meh.. its better than hearing about someone else who didn't show his receipt.

Cool graphic, consumerist.

Just bought a brand new 2008 Toyota Tacoma... no problems or complaints other than the fact some jack@$$ rear-ended me two-weeks after purchase.

His insurance company covered the repair though.

@JiminyChristmas: As for the billboards, it's not like you can actually rent one and put up anything you want. If CC doesn't agree with it, you can pound sand, while they feel free to rent to every right wing nutjob "save the embryos" group in town.

@Steve518: And I nominate the March of Dimes. Just because I'm an asshole.

@FightOnTrojans: With the way things are going as of late, I will probably end up marrying a car. Or sleeping in one.

@unravel: Once the satellite merger is complete, dive in and enjoy the service. I can't remember the last time I listened to AM or FM.

I've had 2 Camry's and a Lexus. For some reason the 2nd Camry I got was a bit of a lemon in the beginning, battery died after like 4 months and some engine problems. After that tho it was pretty solid.

I like the Lexus if only for that fact that it has a "J" in the VIN so I know it was made in Japan and thus has a higher probability of not sucking. But watch out for the RX series which I think is made in Mexico now.

Looking through the Toyota tags, most of the actual complaints are really for crappy Toyota dealerships. I don't think we can blame the company for that, though.

@B: Oops. I'm a car geek, but I don't like pickups much -- it shows. Yes, I meant the Tundra.

OK Consumerist, the whole "worst company" thing was a cute idea - but aren't we being a tad bit ridiculous at this point? This makes, what? 30 of these dumb competitions? How about people just vote and you publish the worst 5 companies or something. I think it's pretty obvious to everyone that these things are just page-filler and have no value.

@B: all car dealerships are crappy.

i think the winner is clear...

@Nealjs: Do you misunderstand this? The contest is Worst COMPANY in America. They are both companies.

I believe the idea is that all companies, regardless of industry, have a duty to be...umm...good. So we're trying to find the least good!

Around 1980's my grandfather purchased his first toyota and from then on, everyone in our family have been a loyal customer of that company.

I love them, never had mechanical problem and if there was any minor ones they usually fixed them for free, please get toyota out of here......

The reason the truck lines exist is to satisfy the US market, they are adhering to their customers wants and needs and thus you end up with the tundra......... I doubt you can find many tundra's in EU or JP

Who's designing these brackets?

Hey, editors -

Perhaps next year, set a threshold for number of votes before a company's added to the list? And/or needing rationales why?

I'd like to see a minimum of three votes, where someone has to say why or it's not counted would go a long ways to make these quicker, more accurate and more fun.

:)

@KyleOrton: I don't think I'm misunderstanding anything. I just think this is not a very well though out "contest."

Giggitygoo put it best.

PS: failing that, I nominate nuns for next year's awards. Simply because their frocks scare me yet their tightly gripped, expertly wielded rulers make my body parts* tingle.
* Wrists. My wrists! Geez, what are you pervs thinking?!

As of my vote, 29 people voted for Toyota. Can at least one of you give the reason? Maybe it is the oil gelling thing, but I'm really genuinely curious.

Up until last year, I was driving a 1987 Camry, and it only finally died of excess rust, not engine or drivability troubles. Any company that can make me a quality product like that has no beef with me*.

*reserving the right to change my mind if they are lubricating their engines with puppy guts or something.

CC not only wrecked what you hear on the radio, it wrecked it for those of us who work in it. They are the devil. Jocks for that company do a shift live in their home city and then voice track shows that run in smaller markets since CC is to cheap to hire talent. Bastards.

Hmm. Toyota makes affordable cars that last 989623982 years while retaining a ridiculously high resale value. They've always been at the forefront of hybrid mass-production and their other cars already get great gas mileage. They provide jobs for thousands, and from what I've heard, treat their employees well. WORST COMPANY EVER.

@Amiga_500: Same here. I do think it was pretty crappy of them to try to cover up and deny that issue. But now, at least as far as I know, they've agreed to cover it if you can show reasonable evidence of regular maintenance. No problems yet.

As for Clear Channel, they are in a whole 'nother league of evil. They win this hands down just for turning FM radio into a wasteland of screaming, obnoxious car dealer ads, annoying DJs, and homogenized music. They are pretty much single-handedly responsible for the fact that I no longer listen to any radio except NPR (they bought out and destroyed the decent local radio I listened to before).

Toyota sucks because they're a Japanese company that's stealing the thunder of American comps like GM and Ford! yARR!!!

CC obviously. They've wrecked havoc on radio media.

Clear Channel ruined radio, making portable music players move to the forefront for personal music. They grew too fast and look at them now, barely scraping by in the face of declining ad bucks and booming satellite radio. They so rightly deserve to fry.

I voted Toyota because, despite being a happy Prius owner, Toyota still played a huge part in the destruction of the CARB ZEV mandate and the cancellation of battery electric vehicle programs.

hmm.. Toyota made the cut (a good car company...which you even admit you know "why they are wrath-worthy" ) but "The Fed" didn't, even though they are a corporation and loan money to companies/banks just like BOA and wachovia, etc.. and are ruining the ecomony and US dollar in the process. Makes no sense to me but whatever.

Aaaand the round 30 bye to Clear Channel.
YAY FOR CENSORSHIP AND CRAPPY RADIO! GO CLEARCHANNEL!

BOOOO FUEL EFFICIENCY AND CARS THAT RETAIN RESALE VALUE!

...yeah, they just don't add up.

Why the hell are you allowing companies into this tournament without any justification? That's like me and four friends showing up and playing in the NCAA basketball tournament because we say we're a team.

I think you need to come up with some sort of system for properly seeding these companies. Maybe you could use the articles in your blog software as a means of determining who should be in.

Hypothetically, if you need 128 companies in it, Clear Channel with 150 articles about their bad service and 10 about how they did something good, is probably a shoe-in. Toyota with 75 articles about how great they are, and just two about product recalls, might not make the cut.

Seriously, think about it. Because it's total bullshit that you're even bothering to put decent companies in this tournament with no justification at all.

Clear Channel has this one hands down. They've changed the formats of 3 radio stations I used to listen to down here in Atlanta in the 7 years I've been here.

On the other side, I'm still driving the wheels off of my 2000 Corolla, 7 years and not a single major repair ($500+) has been necessary. I'm very happy with Toyota thus far.

@satoru: "Made In Japan" is a Good Housekeeping seal, AFAIC.

@freshyill: Seriously. Why not ClearChannel vs. Ford for making consistently crappy cars and complaining to the government when Toyota pwns them?

haha what kind of competition is this? clear channel is the devil of the radio and ad world

Yesterday we had disgraced subprime mortgage-hawker Countrywide vs. the unindicted Dish Network. Today it's widely reviled Clear Channel vs. Toyota, maker of widely relied-upon cars.

Jeebus, Consumerist, who set up these brackets? Just send Clear Channel and Countrywide straight to the quarterfinals and save us the formality of these early-round blowouts.