Associated Press

You're more bitter than most. Besides what you've posted, have you personally had any mishaps or accidents related to the brake issue?

I'm not defending them but which car company has handled their problem and subsequent recall better, or different, for that matter?

 

Bitter? LOL. No, the correct word is upset. Generally bitterness is associated with some form of grief, pain or injury. Mine is more disappointment leading to being upset.

But I'm far from being alone in this feeling. poke around on other web sites and you will see the vennom. More directly, however, a co-worker who owns a 2010 Camry feels pretty much the same way as I do, and has no plans to ever buy another Toyota product after his Camry. You're just not seeing it on this, a pro-Prius web site.

To be clear - I'm NOT worried about the brake issue, but yes, I've felt the phenomena. Twice. That's NOT my issue.

I don't know? I wasn't aware that I had to track info such as this? But I'm sure there are companies that have done a better job than toyota with "damage control". But if you're satisfied with the one Toyota commercial on this, with the sappy music saying they did a bad job and will do better, and Toyota customer's safety is the most important to them, blah, blah...if you think that's the best they can do at damage control...then you and i see things entirely differently.

IMO, Toyota's attempt at damage control has been too little, too late. Not just my opinion, but is also the opinion of numerous automotive "analysts" that look at such things.

 

These efforts are often legal and PR minefields. Too many people and businesses who have tried this have ended up digging their own hole deeper.

 

From CBS News - As I said, this is just as much about politics, as it is about fixing an engineering defect.


"While Toyota scrambles for traction, its new car sales and used car values are heading south - with the Prius losing $1,500 in a week and class action lawsuits are gathering steam, Reynolds reports.

In Washington, facing congressional inquiries and government investigations, Toyota through its lawyers and lobbyists is working full-speed to salvage its reputation. The confidential strategy - Toyota will say little publicly about its efforts - includes efforts to sway upcoming hearings on Capitol Hill and is based on experiences by companies that have survived similar consumer and political crises - and those that haven't.

Rep. Bart Stupak, a Michigan Democrat, said Toyota representatives visited his offices seeking to learn all they could.

"They're probing us. 'What are you going to ask us, where are you going with this whole thing?"' said Stupak, who is chairman of a House subcommittee looking into Toyota's problems.

Toyota, which reported spending more than $4 million on lobbying last year, declined to discuss details of its plans. The company has "beefed up our team" by hiring additional lobbyists, lawyers and public relations experts to "work with regulators and lawmakers collaboratively towards a successful recall effort, ensuring proper, diligent compliance," spokeswoman Cindy Knight said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

Professionals who have waged major damage-control struggles say the best strategy for Toyota mixes apology, openness, details about a specific fix - plus a little help from friends on Capitol Hill. In recent days, American TV viewers have seen ads in which a soft-spoken announcer talks about Toyota's dedication to safety and its customers.

"We're working around the clock to ensure we build vehicles of the highest quality, to restore your faith in our company," one spot says.

Toyota is expected to turn to its natural allies - lawmakers from states with Toyota plants or offices, which include Texas, Missouri, Indiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky and West Virginia. Republicans are considered especially likely to back the company, whose workers are not unionized.

Toyota has been encouraging dealers to contact local members of Congress, according to Bailey Wood, spokesman for the National Automobile Dealers Association. About 60 of the 1,200 U.S. Toyota dealers planned to visit Washington this week, weather permitting, said Cody Lusk, president of the American International Automobile Dealers Association. Their message: Toyota employs 34,000 people in the U.S. and accounts for 164,000 other jobs at dealerships and parts suppliers.


Friendly legislators can limit the duration of congressional hearings and ask favorable questions that would give Toyota officials a chance to tell their side of the story. Their goal would compress unfavorable news stories about the hearings to as few days as possible, while making sure the company avoids being confrontational.

"You're being called up there so Congress can beat you up a little bit," said Gene Grabowski, who chairs Levick Strategic Communications' crisis and litigation practice. "By the time it gets to a hearing, you're there to take some punishment, to listen to their concerns."


The nex few weeks are going to be a zoo.......

 

"The Toyota recalls are the highest-profile congressional probe of the auto industry since a slew of deadly accidents prompted the Firestone tire recall in 2000. Most of the tires were on popular Ford Explorer sport utility vehicles.

Both companies suffered damage to their reputations, but both bounced back. Ford was proactive, briefing officials with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Congress and stressing that the safety of their customers was paramount. Firestone offered to replace its tires for free."


This too shall pass for Toyota. The question to ask is - How long will it take before sales and depreciation stops sliding? I do believe that the damage could have been greatly reduced had Toyota be more pro-active on all these issues - years ago. Toyota is simply in a reactionary mode at this point, and as the CBS article said, they are going to get beat up by Congress and in the press....this is far from being over.

 

Guess Toyota is listening to those professionals (particularly the apology part, which you rebuked), but I doubt they'll get much help from a group that has a major stake in General Motors, especially after the Secretary of Transportation told the public to "stop driving their Toyota immediately."

 

Please note who posted this CBS article.

If you're gonna cite one of my posts, then maybe you should be more complete. I said I was unhappy/upset that it appeared that's all they were doing. I'll rest on what I said - if Toyota's approach to damage control consisted only in airing some appology commercials, then that would be completely insufficient.

As I said, this is (partly) political.

This is from today's Washington Post - washingtonpost.com

"Secrecy and scapegoating have compounded Toyota's troubles. The company relies on foreign car buyers for most of its profit and nearly all its growth, yet decision-making remains centralized in Japan, where top executives have been slow to reveal safety problems that have led to recalls.

Consideration for customers was lacking in Toyota," Seiji Maehara, Japan's minister in charge of transport, said this week after the government learned that the carmaker had known for months about a problem of squishy brakes on its Prius hybrid.

Yet until the Japanese government pressured them to recall more than 400,000 Priuses and other hybrid models on Tuesday, Toyota executives had insisted that the braking issue was a matter of driver "perception."