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?
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.