Posted on 03/09/2010 10:35:27 AM PST by Chi-townChief
By | Published: Between you and me, Toyota really messed this one up.
The company long known for its meticulous quality and, by extension, its meticulous customer care drove completely off the rails in recent years, churning out ever larger production batches, ever faster, even as quality control declined inversely. That led to the recall of more than 8 million vehicles across a slew of Toyota brands. The company did this — and this is where the customer care part gets really murky — only after the failure of what appears to be a Machiavellian effort to silence its customers’ complaints.
But neither history nor customers will consider that to be Toyota’s greatest sin if it turns out that the fixes were just a smoke screen to hide the real problem. Toyota maintains that the defects that cause unintended acceleration are inherent in the mechanics of the gas pedal, which can get stuck, or in faulty floor mats that can tamp down said pedal. But outsiders have questioned whether the real problem might lie in the electronics that govern the vehicles’ acceleration and braking systems.
Now more than 60 Toyota drivers claim that their vehicles accelerated without cause after being recalled and purportedly fixed. Does that mean the root cause isn’t where Toyota says it is? Toyota and the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration are investigating, but haven’t announced any conclusions.
Toyota said in a statement, somewhat contradictorily, “As NHTSA is now reviewing the results of our evaluations, it is inappropriate for Toyota to provide specific information about the company’s conclusions. However, the evaluations have found no evidence of a failure of the vehicle electronic throttle control system, the recent recall remedies, or the brake override feature.”
Some observers have suggested that the recent deluge of press coverage may have made some Toyota owners oversensitive to driving events that aren’t really issues. Others might wonder which class-action lawyer is behind the complaints. I think Toyota may have more on its hands than it thought it would.
Most consumers will allow a company the chance to make good, a golden opportunity that doesn’t last long. A company, after all, won’t win market share until it wins over customers. But a cover-up of a cover-up is worse than the original sin. For customers, it’s an unforgettable insult. Time and investigations may exonerate Toyota of the second offense, but, if not, it will be the company’s biggest blunder yet.
If you drive a Toyota and need some guidance, you can visit Toyota’s recall website.
Update: Numerous news reports indicate that Toyota will conduct a webcast on Monday, March 8, to rebuff claims that the electronics system could be at fault for its vehicles’ acceleration problems. As of Monday morning, Toyota’s recall website did not appear to have details on the webcast.
What do you think about Toyota’s treatment of its customers leading up to and in the wake of this event?
I’d bet that a minimum of 2/3rds of the claims are false. We are the most litigious country in the history of man and i’d imagine a lot of losers are out trying to cash in big.
They got fat like GM.
They wanted to be all things to all people so instead of 10 car models they ended up with 30 or more models and quality suffered.
That CHP said this morning that in their opinion that car failed to stop for whatever reason, and they have zero indication that it was driver error.
The government is not eviscerating Toyota (not that they don't have a substantial conflict of interest.) THEIR CUSTOMERS ARE!!
Exactly.
Apparently so, because we now have 60 people saying these fixes haven’t fixed the problem.
Remember, Toyota has said they really don’t know what the problem might be. They are taking stabs at it, though.
“It isn’t floormats or sticky pedals.”
That remains to be seen. We really don’t know that, yet.
Haven’t had any problems with my 6 year-old Corolla.
Do you suppose they don't want to? I would think they'd very much like to get all of these cars fixed. And actually, the floormats and the sticking pedals were in fact separate recalls. There *was* a prior problem with some of the floormats. So far this problem does in fact seem to be mechanical rather than software. Do you say they should ignore all possible mechanical causes? Just keep the blinders on and only look at electronics? Why should they do that?
I just did a BING! search on "Toyota Denies" - I got over 5 million hits. Does that give you a clue?
Well, no, I don't think it was an "error" either. It may have been quite on purpose. Did they check him for a UAW membership card?
No...?
How many accidents in a Toyota should cause a shut down? one? Should they shut down their entire global operations for every single traffic accident and investigate each and every one to find a precise cause before they sell even one more?
What would be good enough for you?
You have to wonder what the leftist/hippies will buy now if Toyota is not the way for them to go anymore.
Umm, no. They are being targeted and made an example of.
There's nothing more mysterious going on than Obama and his gang taking out some non-union competition.
Good news! This means that quality control has improved!
Or are we talking about just another IDIOT writer?
Maybe not. This guy has shown that a particular short in the wiring in a Toyota can cause runaway acceleration: Response to Toyota and Exponent Regarding Dr. David Gilbert’s preliminary report “Toyota Throttle Control Investigation”
It looks a bit like Toyota skimped on testing all possible flaw paths in their drive-by-wire system, which was required due to higher gas mileage standards.
More death from the Green movement, to go along with the CFC and DDT bans.
I was cussing one of those tamper proof bottles just this morning.
And... ?
In bold face.
It's the fundamental truth of the matter ... and it was predictable the moment Zero and his union goons took over GM and Chrysler.
All the blather and drivel about what Toyota shoudla/coulda/woulda done is irrelevant.
The leftists are trying to take Toyota down, and lying is their favourite tactic. Tylenol was attacked by a lone nut. Toyota is being attacked by leftist liars in Government, Unions, and Media. It's a totally different situation.
The problem is that Toyota is the leftists car of choice so you have to wonder what else is going on here.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.