TOYOTA CRISIS
The first thing that came to my mind with Toyota was the quality and durable vehicles. But, the situation is not same now. Toyota now reminds me of recalls. Worlds' largest car manufacterer can be so negligent amazes me.
Its not just a defect its number of defects. Started with the floor mats getting stuck with gas pedal and then came the unwanted acceleration of gas pedal. Also, Automobile engines disruption caused by power lines/other sources and brakes on Prius hybrid 2010 are the latest probables.
7.6 million cars recall from nearly 5 continents with such a fatal defect has greatly hampered the reputation of Toyota of building safe and durable vehicles. Adding fuel to the fire was the silence of the Akio Toyoda, President and grandson of founder of Toyota Motor Corp.
After enough of buzz comes his apology statement in the press conference held on friday, Feb 5, 2010. Mr. Toyoda during the press meet put the emphasis on building safe and quality vehicles rather than sales and profit. Toyota now faces long-term challenge about its profitability and more impotantly the challenge to regain the trust of the customers in coming future.
Re:Toyota-crisis
ReplyDeleteFor decades, Japanese car companies from Honda to Toyota have been marketing their product around the world, convincing customers that nothing could compare with Japanese innovation and technologies. Even though Toyota has a big reputation in the world for its best quality, the quality control problems that Toyota is facing now may have a negative impact on the Japanese Inc’s entire image. Not only are consumers stepping back, but Toyota's quality-control problems have put a question mark on today’s auto manufacturers.
Toyota has been suffering from a massive recall of vehicles of more than 7.5 million cars, of possible two faults. The first one in which the gas pedal (accelerator) gets stuck in a position preventing the driver from slowing down and the other one where floor mats bend and push down accelerators.
Toyoda, grandson of the company's founder, finally apologized in the press conference held on Feb 5, 2010, and said he personally would start a dedicated committee go over customers complaints and take necessary suggestions from outside experts to come up with a solution.
With the current situation, it is has been noted that Toyota is taking serious steps to fight with the devastating moment of their history. Toyota dealers are taking extra steps to take care of their customers, and are trying best to rebuild their confidence and trust during this recall. All of the nation’s Toyota dealers are offering extended service hours, while some of them are planning to stay open 24 hours a day until all customer vehicles have been examined. This includes free car washes, free service and oil changes and other complimentary services focused on improving customer communication and confidence.
From massive recalls to repairs and sales opportunity losses, there are concerns in the industry about adverse effects on Toyota’s reputation, sales and earnings in the long run. However, as long as Toyota does not make any errors in terms of its response to customers, the media, regulatory officials etc, I think they are not going to have a very huge impact on their reputation, sales and earnings as well.
Being a Toyota driver, this recall concerned me. However, my model is not one being recalled. The recall does raise doubts about the quality of the product, and what happened during the process to make such a tremendous mistake. However, my vehicle has not caused me any problems, and I am very happy with the product. I would consider buying a toyota for my next automobile. Nevertheless, would I have the same thought if my car would of been recalled. I'm am not quite sure about that.
ReplyDeleteAfter hearing about the recalls I was a bit shocked by Mr. Toyoda's decision not to attend the congressional hearing last month. In his stead he appointed Toyota's North American President to attend. I wondered how the CEO of a major corporation during one of their largest crises in the history of Toyota chose not to field questions and provide an outline for how Toyota is planning to solve the issue.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ted. I think that it was a bad decision for Mr. Toyoda not to attend. I also found it interesting when researching the company that some are saying this crisis is making the company more popular and helping their business rather than damaging it. I personally do not own a Toyota, and would think twice before buying one.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ted and Jen. I would have to think long and hard before buying a Toyota anytime soon. Although, I have only ever owned Honda Civics so far. It is just very important that Toyota does the right thing in order to continue their business. I watched one of the videos, where someone was explaining a Toyota accelerating and not being able to slow it down, it was scary and brought tears to my eyes hearing this lady explain the story. I can only imagine trying to control a car going so fast. Trying to keep that car from hitting any other cars would be hard to do in numerous situations. It is scary to think of and even more of a reality when you watch some of the Toyota videos.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ted that Mr. Toyoda should attend the congressional hearing. However, I think that he might have went through thorough considerations about that because if he have to talk with a translator as a representative, the whole hearing will be very insincere on the consumer side of view. On the other hand, we should give Toyota a chance to recover as people make mistakes. I respect Mr. Toyoda’s attitude to apologize the determination to correct from his mistakes. At least, Toyota had put the whole crisis under control since this incident from 3 months ago.
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