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opinion editorialsThis editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by editorial page staff and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers
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Saturday, February 06, 2010
Recall Debacle Takes Toyota on Rough Road
Someone has been asleep at the wheel, both in Japan and in Washington.
Toyota's mishandling and slow response to complaints about sticking accelerator pedals and braking problems has taken the world's No. 1 car manufacturer down a bumpy road and muddied a stellar reputation that may take years to repair.
It's a perfect example of how to kill brand loyalty. And until this debacle, few car manufacturers could claim higher brand loyalty than Toyota. Recent company actions could change that:
Insist that complaints about sudden, uncontrolled acceleration from sticking gas pedals are "rare and infrequent" and should be dealt with by dealers "on a case-by-case basis." Take your time coming up with a solution. Announce you're stopping production and sales of some models with faulty gas pedals. Announce a second recall and say floor mats may contribute to the sticking gas pedals. Waffle over what to do about increasing complaints about brake problems in the popular Prius. Take weeks to apologize about your poor response.
On Friday, the company's president finally issued a "from the bottom of my heart" apology. And while admitting the company faces "a crisis," he stopped short of issuing a recall for the Prius hybrid.
It was Akio Toyoda's first news conference since the Jan. 21 announcement that Toyota would recall 4.5 million vehicles globally, 2.5 million of them in the United States. Some news outlets are now putting the number of recalled vehicles around 8 million.
Sadly, it took prodding from the U.S. government for Toyota to recall the vehicles with gas pedal problems. Toyota is now cooperating with a U.S. investigation into problems with the Prius.
But that said, it didn't help that U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told Toyota drivers to park their vehicles, setting off alarm bells for millions of owners, many of whom then inundated dealers with calls. LaHood later retracted the statement, saying what he meant was, if in doubt take the car to the dealer who will fix it. It would be more helpful to be ready with a coherent message of what the government has done and what the consumer should do.
The automaker says repairs for the gas pedal recall and lost sales will cost it $2 billion. Ahead for Toyota is restoring lost consumer confidence. To do so, Toyota needs a new road map that includes a plan for responding quickly to customer complaints, especially where safety is concerned, no matter the cost.
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