Toyota Recalls More Than A Year's Worth Of Cars. Recall Spreads to Europe

Welcome. Cars are perhaps the most exquisite and complicated of man's creations. Due to the complexity, competitive pressures, budgets of time and money and especially the human factor, mistakes are inevitable. What is not inevitable, however, is how an organization responds to the emergence of mistakes. The response of an orgnaization speaks to the culture within it and the values it holds dear. Some companies find their proudest moment in how they respond to the ill winds of fate, others not so much. Companies which fall behind the event curve on such an issue (and at the moment, external events appear to be rolling over Toyota), for instance when such a perception is no longer buried within enthusiast-blogs and finds its way into the MSM, the overshoot there has the potential to cause much more reputational damage than if the affected company responsibly comes out, explains the problem, and rationally describes what remediation actions will be undertaken and when ... Respond correctly,and a company can demonstrate authenticity and build, or reinforce and enhance, a good reputation ... do the opposite, and a hard-won reputation can be devalued in a very short time. I don't know if a corporate reputation has as many lives as a cat, or if Toyota can draw on a pile of good-rep credits ... but with their sluggish behaviour to these kinds of issues they are at least 3-strikes down (pardon the mixed metaphor) after the steering track-bar issue, the (several times repeated) floor mat issues, and now the e-pedal issue ... they had better wake up and treat their customers with more respect or find themselves nearing the crest of that slippery slope of customer perception, satisfaction and opinion ...