Has Toyota's safety troubles made you think worse of the car maker?
As has often been the case with this great recession, news has once again surfaced that will test the public’s faith in a heavyweight automaker.
Of course, this is nothing new, as you know. General Motors alone has faced every test a corporation could since 2008: slumping sales, brand kill-offs and bankruptcy, followed by its recent clawing and pleading to get back into positive consumer faith.
But if you asked many if what happened to GM – a North American company long skewered for shoddy manufacturing and brutal mismanagement – was a total surprise, you’d probably be told no. Toyota, though? Toyota’s downfall is little more intriguing.
The latest hiccup in Toyota’s nightmare 2009-10 has come in the form of yet another recall; this time, 270,000 of the automaker’s vehicles worldwide were called back for having potentially faulty engines.
According to the Associated Press, the engines – many of which were Lexus sedans – were known to stall while the car was in motion.
A recall of no more than 300,000 automobiles doesn’t much register with Toyota’s recent history, but it does speak volumes for a company doing everything it can to repair its image.
You no doubt remember the Japan-based manufacturer’s recent recall of 8.5 million cars over the past 10 months, a fiasco where the accelerator pedals got stuck on many Toyota vehicles, leading to runaway vehicles that were linked to as many as 18 deaths in North America.
For its late response time to the fatal error, the car maker was slapped with $16.4 million in fines by the U.S. government, a record for such penalties.
It was for this massive vehicular tragedy that Toyota has been treading in dangerous water, and it is because of the manufacturer’s latest recall that it may not reach shore anytime soon.
BrandIndex, an organization that measures the public perception of companies, has noted Toyota’s spectacular slump over the last three months, a dip that bests even the freefalls of BP and Goldman Sachs, according to their numbers.
And the car maker’s plummeting sales suggests that such a reputation is still there, but how long will it last?
Has Toyota’s recent safety troubles made you think worse of the 73-year-old manufacturer?
By Jason Buckland, MSN Money
Posted by: Mark | Jul 6, 2021 9:28:50 AM
Yes it has because they have been guilty of the same arrogance as the big three or used to be big three. I can't get over the big cover up and denial over the gas pedal problems
Posted by: j macleod | Jul 6, 2021 9:41:51 AM
No, because they are still better than any American made car. And it is not as if the US car builders haven't had their coverups....
Posted by: toyota still the best | Jul 6, 2021 10:02:40 AM
I don't listen to media hype. I compare the vehicles I've driven, in the past and now. Thanks toyota for the best vehicles in my life.
Posted by: Kim | Jul 6, 2021 10:04:13 AM
Not a chance. Toyotas beat any American made car hands down. Never, in my lifetime, will I ever see ANY manufacturing company, without some sort of recall. Its just one of those things. Look at the McDonalds Glasses, Cribs, Blinds, Foods etc and even our doctors, make mistakes. To Err is human! Machines may build these things, but the design and set up..are still man made. Toyota will continue to have my support.
Posted by: Sam | Jul 6, 2021 10:09:48 AM
I have to agree with j macleod, American companies have had their share of cover ups, the only glaring difference is the big three are American, while Toyota is a foreign company, and it feels like the American Government is trying to make an example of Toyota, considering GM/FORD/CHRYSLER cannot make vehicles to compete with the Japanese.
Posted by: Mr. Whitaker | Jul 6, 2021 10:19:03 AM
Toyota has always made cheap junk. The American public has tried to justify not supporting their own economy and buying foreign by saying that they bought quality at a low price. Now it's been proven that foriegn companies don't give a crap about the American people they just want you to buy their garbage. GM and Ford are still American car companies employing Americans. They build quality vehicles at competitve prices. There is no excuse for not supprting American workers and the American economy. Keep your money in America, stop buying foriegn made junk vehicles.
Posted by: Sam | Jul 6, 2021 10:27:11 AM
Actually, Americans are the ones who coined the phrase, and started making junk, why else would so many Americans keep buying foreign products? think about that before you go throwing stones at someone elses glass house.
American consumers lost faith in American goods, that is why they pushed to get foreign product into the country, wake up!
Posted by: marc | Jul 6, 2021 10:28:00 AM
You people still waving the Toyota company flag are to say the least bafoons. You have been lied to, your lives have been place in jeopardy by said company and you still feel the need to defend them?? With regards to your ignorant statements regarding Toyota quality being better than the "so called big three", Ford currently ranks number one in quality and that is not fiction but fact. When you finally feel the need to pull the wool away from your eyes I hope you can be humble enough to purchase the products you should have been all along, NORTH AMERICAN! This is where you live right? Or would you rather send more money to the Mr. Toyoda's of this world so they can profit even more off of your ignorance in their blind attempts to reach number one status? Just wondering.
Posted by: VJ | Jul 6, 2021 10:31:46 AM
I believe Toyota products are excellent. We have in the past and will continue to buy Toyota products. Our first Toyota was a Previa van that we retired with over 600 k. However, Toyota, in it's quest to be number 1, built too much, too fast and have suffered some setbacks as a result. They will recover. All companies can learn from this and better cars will emerge.
Posted by: Sam | Jul 6, 2021 10:41:24 AM
Ford ranks # 1 in quality?, no wonder, being compared to the other 2 (GM/CHRYSLER)
Time to get some knowledge sir, Toyota has plants in the US and Canada, employing Americans, and Canadians, not to mention supporting local manufacturers, sourcing all their parts and products from them.
In fact, the sticky pedal issue was created by parts manufactured by an American company... need I say more??????
Toyota may be a Japanese company, but its products and manpower is all North American!
Posted by: Lewis Van | Jul 6, 2021 10:41:38 AM
I have a 2005 van sienna on which i have had over $15,000 in warrenty repairs. that should speak for itself.
Posted by: donald young | Jul 6, 2021 10:56:25 AM
My experience with japanese cars is that they are junk from the moment they roll off the dealer's lot, and they should never be allowed into the north american market. If you want to buy foreign perhaps you should live there.
Posted by: Mr. Whitaker | Jul 6, 2021 10:59:27 AM
I would like to find out where Sam works so i can purchase his foriegn competators products. Then when i see him on the unemployment line i can tell him to go eat his toyota!
Posted by: Chuck | Jul 6, 2021 11:05:22 AM
Can't believe after all the recall's that you toyota people can't get it in your heads that their product is just the same as the rest. We can all tell stories about the car's we had with over 600k on them, Mine was a 1995 sunfire with 734,000k and it was still running fine went I sold it to purchase another GM car. No power train problems what so ever. Didn't ever leak a drop of oil. As far as Japanese products as a whole being so much better, explain that today's Tv's, dvd players,Fridges and stoves and the list goes on, last about 2-5 years while the old stuff build in North America lasted 20-25 years. We all know someone who has the old fridge in the basement and you can bet it wasn't build in Japan.
Posted by: kerry | Jul 6, 2021 11:06:46 AM
I have driven and owned Toyota, the cost of warranty repairs and additional repairs after the warranty expired led me to believe that it was crap. I currently own a jeep with 400,000km on it and it just takes regular maintenance. No major recalls. My other vehicle is a dodge journey R/T. Again 50,000km on it and no problems. That should speak for itself, if you look after it will last. American is far better than the the foreign crap.
Posted by: Dave | Jul 6, 2021 11:07:25 AM
@Sam
They designed and sent out engineering requests for everything that goes into their vehicles. The fact that you blame the ones who made it instead of the ones who designed is wrong as it wasn't designed properly. Besides, most of these parts are imported and only assembled in the North American plants. The truck I had was built in the US, but it was delayed delivery because the plant was waiting for axles to be sent in from a plant in Mexico. Please, don't blame a sub-contractor for the builder (their customer) not properly specifying the design parameters and inspecting for quality control. After all, if you go to a store and buy something that doesn't meet your needs or had a manufacturing defect, you would return it.
Toyota having these issues when they are building such a small fraction of the number of vehicles coming out of the Big 3's plants show that if anything they are worse off for quality. Ford produces more F-150s and Taurus than all Toyota models combined. To have an equal number of recalls only show the failure rate to be higher based on volume.
The fact is, Toyota is proving to be a company not unlike any of the other manufacturers out there that all have issues. In the end, they all have issues so buy what you like, not because of brand but because you can afford the vehicle and you genuinely like it and so that if work will have to be done you can easily get it done. Me, I would have to travel hundreds of KM to service anything other than a GM or Ford so my work truck is Ford and my personal is a GM car.
Posted by: Jerry | Jul 6, 2021 11:18:35 AM
I usually buy north American made vehicles until recently primary GM. I am not happy with GM because of poor quality parts. I am not sure that GM has got the message. One thing for sure is that my next purchase is going to be a Lexus I am sure that they are making better cars than the big 3, They are not listening to the public when they complain, all they have is excuses
J
Posted by: RB | Jul 6, 2021 11:25:59 AM
Careful how you read Quality. JD Powers Initial Quality Survey asks new car owners how many problems they have had in the first 90 days. The key test, in my opinion, is how many problems are there over the 10+ year life of a vehicle. For this you need to look at http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/cars/types/used-a-to-z.htm . To drill down by model you need to subscribe (for $5, I think). What's interesting is how superior Toyota, Lexus, Acura, Honda, Infinity and Subaru are versus even BMW and Mercedes. Sorry to say, but the American manufacturers still have work to do.
Posted by: Dean Ortis | Jul 6, 2021 11:28:10 AM
No, they still have much better quality . I like my Ford which has also had a recall ; no big deal all auto makers have had them throughout the years . It just seems the protectionists in the States are trying to discredit Toyota to save high paying Union jobs and justifying their bailout of GM and Chrysler. My next car will be a Toyota with all the attention they are getting I am positive that their quality will i
be even better.
Posted by: James | Jul 6, 2021 11:28:16 AM
The exhaust manifolds on my F-150 are leaking again! How many times do I have to pay $1500 to fix something that has been a problem for ten years? I remember the F-150s had this problem since the late '80s. I never received a recall notice. I guess not all problems make the news, huh?