I’ve fallen completely in love with Toyota as a company, and the Prius in particular, but even if I hadn’t, I might take this as a sign to buy a foreign car:

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Ford issued the largest single recall in its history Tuesday as drivers of an additional 4.5 million vehicles were alerted about a fire hazard from a faulty switch.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said this was the eighth recall, involving a total of 16 million Ford Motor (F, Fortune 500) vehicles, concerning the cruise control deactivation switch manufactured by Texas Instruments (TXN, Fortune 500).

The faulty switch can leak hydraulic fluid, overheat, smoke and then burn, and risks causing a fire even when the ignition is turned off, parked and unattended, the NHTSA said.

The risk is elevated for 1.1 million Windstars that were subject to a government investigation, said Ford spokesman Wes Sherwood.

“We determined with the government that there is a low risk of fires for those vehicles,” Sherwood said. “The other 3.4 million vehicles are the remaining vehicles that have the Texas Instrument switch, so we’re recalling them to reassure customers and prevent future recalls.”

I think the real story here isn’t the jaw-dropping number of cars affected, or even the staggeringly dangerous part that was placed into them (it can catch fire SITTING PARKED IN YOUR GARAGE). No sir. The real story is contained in that one line:

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said this was the eighth recall, involving a total of 16 million Ford Motor (F, Fortune 500) vehicles, concerning the cruise control deactivation switch manufactured by Texas Instruments (TXN, Fortune 500).

They’ve been aware of this faulty part for some time now, in other words. They’ve issued seven previous recalls that failed to net all the defective cars. Seven previous times they’ve underestimated their own screwup, and seven previous times they’ve failed to solve a literally life-threatening defect in their cars.

Seven.

They used this part for at least ten straight years, too. The scope of negligence is stunning.

Meanwhile, why, look over here:

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety announced Thursday that the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight had become the latest hybrid vehicles to get the group’s Top Safety Pick award.

To earn the award, a vehicle has to earn top scores in the Institute’s front- and side-crash tests as well as its whiplash protection tests. It also has to be available with electronic stability control, a feature that helps avoid loss of control during sharp turns or sudden maneuvers.

What a crazy random happenstance!

Now, I’m sure that this award applies in particular to the 2010 Prius, but there’s not a huge difference between it and the 2.5 generation Prius I drive (when the roomie isn’t using it). The Prius in general has a great safety record, for its size.

So, yeah. I think I’ll be sticking with Toyota for the forseeable future.