As we have discussed earlier, Toyota Motor Corporation has faced some massive recalls involving their automobiles. The question is, “Is it too late to ask for an apology?” The consensus is that the general public is willing to forgive under a few predetermined circumstances. However, TMC in the eyes of some, are just providing lip service to the public.
Last month, Toyota was fined a record $16.4 million dollars for the accelerator sticking issue. This was after a recorded 30,000 vehicles since 2000 may have been involved in an accident due to the sticking accelerator recall.
Many members of Congress want answers. Toyota Motor Company has reiterated that they are doing everything possible to resolve this issue. However, many members of Congress are growing impatient as TMC and Exponent (firm hired by Toyota to conduct tests) have been unable to give them clear answers.
Congress contends that TMC and more importantly Exponent are not adhering to their requests. Many in Congress emphasize that Exponent has no real written course of action to conduct experiments. Also, Exponent has not been able to provide a time-line as to when the experiments may be concluded.
Meanwhile, Toyota continues to run advertisements in North America pledging their devotion to quality. What are some of your reactions? Is this just lip service, or is Toyota being as proactive as they can be?
JOUR 840: Crisis / Image Management 
I just posted a link in my blog using Toyota as an example of using image management. I think that it is not too late for Toyota. I think that they can bounce back somewhat, but not 100 percent. Those loyal consumers will stick by Toyota, but other consumers will just write them off.
Dana S.
By: danasanchez on June 30, 2010
at 4:12 am
This week, Toyota announced a recall of more than 270,000 of its Lexus vehicles because of an engine defect that could cause cars to stall. A Toyota official said the company has known about the problem for about two years. Did Toyota learn anything from the acceleration problems? Wouldn’t it have been best to address the Lexus problems at the same time as the acceleration problems? Rather than continuing to drag out the bad press, Toyota could have addressed all of the known problems at the same time and presented an image that the company was proactively addressing issues across all of its lines.
By: Nikki N. on July 8, 2010
at 1:12 am