Lil4X

I've spent the better part of my professional career in corporate communications and I fail to see where TMC was "insincere". Short of having Akio Toyoda commit seppuku on the steps of their corporate headquarters, the "sincerity" of apologies is almost impossible to judge. At the same time, because there is significant liability here, it would be exceedingly foolish to offer abject apologies at this stage.

Toyota has done the proper thing in going right to work on discovering the problem so that it could be properly repaired. It would be far worse to issue an instant fix without understanding why and how the accelerator pedal failed - if that was the issue in the first place. That would almost assuredly produce a second set of failures, and produce an almost unrecoverable situation for the automaker.

Toyota did all that could be expected, shutting down production and issuing a recall, going so far as to warn owners of the consequences of driving their product. From a practical standpoint, there wasn't much else they could do. There is a ticklish legal problem here, and TMC doesn't dare publicly confess to failure, unless they want to face billions in class action suits. You know that's the next step here, and thousands of PI attorneys are already frothing at the mouth to get this issue into court.

Unless the public wants a pound of flesh from TMC execs, there isn't much more to be done from a practical standpoint. Those who believe the company should collectively throw itself upon its sword don't have to stand up before the company's stockholders and explain why they threw their money away.

If some self-styled third-world crisis management "expert" can come up with a way to show "sincerity" without gutting the company, I'm sure TMC would like to hear it.

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

Is this the article on Toyota admitting that they knew the Prius had brake problems? People were bashed on for raising the issue to Toyota because it seemed like they were trying to take advantage of Toyota. However, the Prius issue might actually be a legitimate case. I wonder if the owners had not said anything, would Toyota come out and admit the problem?

flipside909

CTS is quick to respond, but Toyota has really never called them out. This is Toyota's response:

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

im being to believe more and more that this is more media hype than a real problem. All opposing parties involved have a vested interest in bashing Toyota: Transportation Secretary, UAW, the White House, Congressman Waxman. The DoT apparently flew to Japan to convince execs to recall? How come no one flew to Detroit in a hurry when GM/Ford had much more widespread recalls.

There's no hard evidence in these few hundred anecdotal cases out of 10s of millions of vehicles that there was a major defect. SUA cases are difficult to determine what went wrong. Now all these people crashing their Toyota's come out of the woodwork for a class action. To make it worse Toyota is coming out and apologizing basically admitting error even if it hasnt even been proven it was at fault.

This isn't your usual recall. I smell a LOT of BS

GFerg

Toyota to recall 270,000 Prius in Japan and U.S.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6133U820100204

MPLexus301

iTrader: (3)

For what it's worth, this is one of those times where it's nice to sit back and know that you drive a Lexus, and one that was manufactured at Tahara none the less.

I'm not knocking anyone who owns a Toyota but when you buy a Lexus you just expect more overall and when it was built at Tahara you know you're getting what you paid for.

jruhi4

This op-ed piece speculates on the fallout from the upcoming Congressional hearings on the Toyota recalls:

Rivals fear fallout from Toyota woes
BY TOM WALSH - DETROIT FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

As Toyota's troubles take on the scale of a huge mushroom cloud, executives of the Detroit Three and other auto companies are quietly worrying that dangerous fallout from the Toyota crisis could be heading their way.

Looming large on the horizon are congressional hearings, the first of which is next week, into Toyota's response to reports of unintended acceleration in some of its vehicles.

Congress doesn't hold high-profile hearings and then do nothing.

It often takes action -- with the precision of a sledgehammer, rather than a scalpel.

Remember the TREAD Act -- for Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability and Documentation -- enacted in October 2000 at the height of the furor over tire failure in Ford Explorers equipped with Firestone tires?

As a response to the Ford-Firestone brouhaha, Congress ordered a host of new regulations and reporting requirements for all vehicle and tire manufacturers, including tire-pressure monitoring systems for all new cars and trucks.

You can bet that lawyers and lobbyists for General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Nissan, BMW and other automakers are working nonstop to contain the impact of whatever Congress might enact to either punish Toyota or to attempt to prevent a future recurrence of the gas pedal problems.

Execs should rehearse
Meanwhile, Toyota's attorneys and spinmeisters better be relentlessly rehearsing with whatever executive or executives who will surely be sweating bullets when facing questions from Congress next week.

Word is that Toyota's top U.S. official, Yoshimi Inaba, will testify about the recalls, a decision that may well be second-guessed if he doesn't do well.

Toyota would certainly take some grief if it sends only American executives to face Congress on behalf of a foreign-owned automakers. But veterans of the Ford-Firestone crisis can recount tales of nasty xenophobic feedback stemming from public appearances by Ford's then-CEO Jacques Nasser, a man of Lebanese descent with an Australian accent.

Danger lurks at every turn in the Toyota crisis, as Ray LaHood, the U.S. Transportation secretary, is discovering, too.

Peppered with questions about how well -- or not -- the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has handled the Toyota recalls, a flustered LaHood has been all over the map with his responses. He has talked tough about holding Toyota's "feet to the fire," yet also complimented the company for stopping sales and production of eight models. He advised the public Wednesday to "stop driving" recalled Toyota models, but said soon afterward that he had misspoken.

No doubt, the Toyota crisis creates opportunities for the Detroit-based automakers to bring some long-lost customers back to their showrooms.

But there's also dangerous potential fallout for all in this story, with lots of twists and turns to come.

http://www.freep.com/article/2010020...om-Toyota-woes

jruhi4

Turns out that Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan Hybrids have brake issues similar to the 3rd-gen Prius. For more (including a video):

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/02/04/r...on-hybrid-mod/

RX_330

I'm a member of some domestic forums and the ignorance and hatred toward Toyota (and other Japanese automakers) is even more astonishing now that these recalls have come up.

spwolf

while they are similar, they are also more serious... Prius does not experience brake failure, does not go to the failsafe mode, does not drop brake pedal by an inch and brake padel does not become much harder to press, and warning lights do not light up.

I8ABMR

I am still amazed at how much coverage the media is giving this. It seems like it gets worse and worse by the minute. This easily the most negative press Toyota has probably had in its history. I am sure they will be able to regain consumer confidence relatively quickly though.

lexusscturbo

iTrader: (12)

I never said outsourcing was the problem, Outsourcing is fine......Its the part that the design of the approved part was sleezy

encore888

I could not believe that CNN.com was running this as its headline story:



http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapc...ex.html?hpt=T2

"List of problems" - that's very misleading.

Talk about rampant sensationalism, innuendo, and outright inaccuracy! Exposed some of their careless reporting here:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/5200422-post4.html

AYEmike

i understand the importance of getting your new Toyota back in the dealership to get the issue fixed, but the news is just totally murdering the image of Toyota cars until there's nothing let. Talk about forcing the rise of domestic cars. Pushing domestic cars back on the streets. Why didn't the news ever mentioned about Chevy's exploding gas tanks or the recommended tires on ford cars that had tire blow outs? This just sounds like a witch hunt to blame on Toyota.

lexusscturbo

iTrader: (12)

For those tires on the Fords..Ford modified the original tires to their specs. And went on the lower tolerances of rec. PSI for the tire pressure.