Is Toyota in For a Bumpy Road Ahead?
Toyota’s latest recall is potentially devastating for the car company. Toyota’s recall – one of the largest of its kind – is likely to change the way people think about the car company. So how bad will this be for Toyota? Looking back at other major recalls, Toyota may feel the heat for a long time.
In 2000, Ford was crushed during it’s “Exploder” incident where Explorers had faulty tread issues with its Firestone tires. That recall came at a time when Ford was on a roll, especially with its ultra successful SUV lineup. And while SUVs remained popular for a few years after the incident, Ford’s brand was damaged. A more devastating public “Death Penalty” occurred in the 1980s when Audi’s 5000 model had shifter-lock issues, which caused sudden acceleration issues. Audi took huge blow, causing an immediate >50% drop in sales . It took Audi nearly a decade to get back on track – mostly due to the introduction of its A4 model in the mid 90s. Audi is now back on track and “Audi 5000″ is merely an urban term.
Almost all of its US built models (no issue with Japanese-built Toyotas, including all of its Lexus or Scion vehicles) were affected. Toyota (like Ford) is blaming their supplier, CTS. As a “General contractor” Toyota is certainly to blame and I wonder if the tactic of handing the blame to suppliers is a wise one in the Information Age. Toyota models affected were: 2009-2010 RAV4, 2009-2010 Corolla, 2009-2010 Matrix, 2005-2010 Avalon, Certain 2007-2010 Camry, 2010 Highlander, 2007-2010 Tundra, 2008-2010 Sequoia.
What do you think will happen to Toyota? Is this going to be another notorious debacle that crushes the company and hampers its “Tiger Woods” like reputation with the US car buying public? Did Toyota make a mistake by not taking the credit for the error?
