Women Drivers at It Again': Subaru Dealership Slammed for Sexist Facebook Post Blaming Fatal Car Crash on Female Driving

A Subaru dealership in the United Arab Emirates is facing heat after posting a photo on Facebook of a fatal car accident with the caption, “Women driver at it again.”

The car crash killed four on Thursday night in Dubai, including a 9-month-old baby, according to Al Jazeera.

The offensive Facebook post was removed by Subaru Emirates. The Daily Mail captured the image before it was removed by the company (Screenshot: Facebook)

The blanket blaming of female drivers by Abu Dhabi-based Subaru Emirates unleashed an uproar on social media, and was called the “PR disaster of the weekend.”

The company removed the offensive post and issued an apology.

The original post read: “Women driver at it again. An entire family has perished as a result of a grave mistake by a lady driver on SZR this weekend. A Jordanian woman parked her car right in the middle of the road on Sheikh Zayed motorway after it suffered from a tire puncture. She ignored the driver’s warning to take her car off the road and fix the tire on the hard shoulder area.”

“Unfortunately a driver who was passing through that area had warned the woman to instantly take her car off the road but that she did not listen. Call it her ignorance, 4 innocent soul paid with their life including a 9-month-old baby boy. Another woman in the car was said to be seriously wounded,” the post said.

“Well, RTA cannot put in extra parameters for women to check their presence of mind during crisis situation while driving, it’s all about being responsible drivers,” it added. RTA is the Roads and Transport Authority.

This is how the original text appeared according to a screenshot on Al Jazeera.

This is the apology which the company posted on Facebook on Sunday:

Dear Readers,

A recent post on our Facebook Page offended the sentiments of a number of people.

Our sincere apology goes out to everyone for this.

We respect your sentiments and have taken down the post with immediate effect.

At Subaru, SAFETY IS OUR TOPMOST PRIORITY AND CONCERN.

The news posted yesterday was intended as a general awareness message. Sometimes with the best of intentions a final communication may come out wrong. This was one such instance. We just want to bring to everyone’s notice to please be more cautious while driving.

Our sincere apologies once again.

MSN captured several comments before the post disappeared, including one which said: "Subaru Emirates – I don't think Subaru should be selling cars to women then. This is a very prejudiced post. If your timeline highlights accidents, they shouldn't be profiling the 'gender' of the cause of the highlights. Awareness should be about driving discipline & educating all drivers, not segregating what you think to be a standard 'women' driver instance."

"We've all made jokes about women driving in jest. But posting a statement BLAMING one for a lethal accident then defending it is despicable," a man named Faisal Hashmi tweeted.

Gulf News quoted an unnamed employee in the Dubai showroom who said that the original statement was posted by an outsourced media contractor without the approval of Subaru Emirates.

“At this stage Subaru Emirates will look to discontinue their relationship with the individual,” the employee said.

Alex Malouf, a Dubai-based blogger and social media commentator, tells Gulf News that companies often place social media responsibilities in the hands of inexperienced employees or contractors.

“Whoever is controlling social media needs to know what to say and what not to say online. You are not just representing yourself but you’re representing a brand. The person handling social media needs to know how the brand should be represented and understand the brand's procedures,” he said.

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