Japanese car manufacturer is facing a crisis that could finish them off as a car manufacturer. In recent days, many would have heard the news stories regarding the accelerator problems which have led to several popular models being recalled. With a damaged and dented reputation from this latest problem to hit the car industry business, has Toyota lost all creditability to operate successfully on the global market?
The company has been engulfed with complaints from many concerned drivers, but has told its many worried consumers to keep driving on without the fear. How can you though, when you hear what has been going on? It was revealed that 180,865 Toyota models will be recalled in Britain and 8 million worldwide by The Times newspaper on Wednesday. The accelerator issue has been freshened today by further reports of dodgy brakes on other models that haven't yet been asked for intensive looks.
Okay, it has admitted its faults, but in America, many people Stateside are furious that Toyota knew about this problem ages ago, yet decided against investigating it. Well now, the naive Japanese are paying the penalty in the biggest possible way. It isn't a simple fix of the fault; this is now a problem that has left the company on the back foot in the worst possible fashion. They won't be in the driving seat for car production sales for a good while now.
Toyota have had a very tough and trying 18 months. Car production sales have slumped worldwide, largely down to the recession and the scrappage scheme promoted by the government has produced dismal results. Couple with that is the failure to compete in motorsport, with Toyota announcing their departure from the FIA Formula 1 World Championship in November. This was little surprise following nine years of spectacular underachievement on such a large budget. Now with this to deal with, the reputation of a company that has been at the forefront of worldwide manufacturing for nearly three decades is under severe scrutiny.
The seven models being called back are the Corolla, Aygo, Avensis, Yaris, iQ, Aygo, Auris and Verso models. Toyota has complained about getting terrible press, but frankly they deserve it. There have been 26 incidents in Europe alone and at least 18 people have been killed in America, thanks to the accelerating fault. So, how can the media ignore this blatant mechanical problem? It’s impossible to hide away from such press coverage. It must be said the French manufacturer PSA, who own Peugeot and Citroen have recalled over 6,000 models with a similar problem, though these were also being dealt with at a Toyota plant in the Czech Republic. Therefore, PSA isn't so entirely to blame.
The square of the blame must lie with the production workers, but largely at the Toyota management, for dismissing something that has been going on for months, then only acting when they realised of such a problem was hurting their name. Sadly, it has taken deaths and near-misses to highlight this course of action, which in honesty, bonkers. The advice from the company is keep driving if you haven't experienced a problem. My advice is entirely opposite. If I was a Toyota driver, hand your car in, life is more important than a flashy model. Toyota is now a damaged brand and its global reputation ruined. Can they come back from this, I severely doubt it. We could be saying farewell to the recession's biggest casualty very soon on a technicality.
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