Plenty of things have happened since I began writing for The Truth About Cars that I would never have been able to predict, but perhaps one of the happiest surprises came when Timothy Ogden contacted me for an interview that would go into a book on Toyota’s recent recall scandal. That book, Toyota Under Fire, is now complete, and it references work published here at TTAC as well as interviews with myself and Bertel Schmitt. Not only does the book admirably document the media-fueled scandal, but it also contains profound insights into Toyota’s response to the recall challenge as well as Toyota’s efforts to respond to the economic downturn of 2008-2009. A review will be posted first thing tomorrow, and at 1 PM Eastern Mr Ogden and his co-author Professor Jeffery Liker (author of The Toyota Way) will join us in one of our popular author livechats, in which he will answer your questions about Toyota, its recent challenges, and the culture that helped propel it through its darkest hours. Mark your calendars or, if you can’t make it to the livechat, just leave your questions for Mr Ogden and Professor Liker in the comments section below.
Several of us asked this question, in light of what happened to Audi, then Toyota. The question was “What could they have done differently?” during the initial media response?
With Audi, we learned that a manufacturer cannot, realistically, blame the driver or take an aggressive stance. So that leaves… what? Pathos makes you look weak, a mea culpa opens the door to liability. Scattershot recalls make you look incompetent and liable, while not doing a recall until you have a firm grasp on the situation makes you look callous.
So what do you do when the media effectively holds all the cards? Especially in an era when the media has all the incentive (and little liability) in the world to comprehensively destroy someone or something for the sake of advertising dollars?
This comment has nothing to do with Toyota or the chat session. TTAC, a pop-up ad on *every* picture? EVERY picture?? Really?!?
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Thanks!
Yeah, nevermind, Psar beat me to the question ( and asked it in a better way, anyhow)
Fair or not, Toyota received stiff fines from the NHTSA for being “slow to report” two potential recall issues: 1) relating to the 4Runner, and 2) relating to floor mats. Will Toyota be more proactive in dealing with potential recall issues in the future?