Toyota Scare

[GRG55]

Re: Toyota Scare

The machinery I like to mess with is machinery...much of it would be considered ancient and quaint by most of the sophisticates that hang around here...

Regarding software, some time back I posted this comment on another thread...I occurs to me that perhaps the Toyota circumstances demonstrate that we've now reached that point...:p

Apparently we Canadians are still in denial. I have three close friends [all of them fellow gears] who have recently purchased new pick-up trucks. One has never owned anything but Ford pick-ups, one has never owned anything but GM pick-ups and the third, who is currently living and working in Houston, Texas, has never owned a pick-up truck but decided to replace a less than 2 year old Prius that he was quite dissatisfied with [I'm guessing he had trouble fitting the gun rack].

All three bought Toyota Tundras.

Me...I'm going to drive my F-series Ford until the fenders fall off...:p

Americans Saying ‘No’ to Toyota; Ford Most Popular

March 25 (Bloomberg) -- Americans are turning against Toyota Motor Corp. after sudden-acceleration complaints forced it to recall more than 8 million vehicles worldwide, while Ford Motor Co. is the most popular automaker.

More than four in 10 Americans say they “would definitely not buy a Toyota,” according to the Bloomberg National Poll. The Japanese company is viewed unfavorably by 36 percent of those interviewed, the highest negative rating in the survey, while fewer than half -- 49 percent -- have a favorable impression.

Ford, the only U.S. automaker that didn’t seek a federal rescue, is seen favorably by 77 percent of those surveyed, topping No. 2 Honda Motor Co. by seven percentage points.

General Motors Co., eight months after getting U.S. aid to survive, has a positive rating of 57 percent...

...Of the 44 percent of respondents who said they would definitely not buy a Toyota if they were buying a new car in the next year, 39 percent cited the recent recalls.

“They’ve known this problem existed and they’ve ignored it and managed to get their government buddies to ignore it,” said poll respondent Ken Sorenson, 55, a disabled hazardous-waste worker from Corry, Pennsylvania. He is among those who said they definitely wouldn’t buy a Toyota...

[c1ue]

Re: Toyota Scare

Americans Saying ‘No’ to Toyota; Ford Most Popular

March 25 (Bloomberg) -- Americans are turning against Toyota Motor Corp. after sudden-acceleration complaints forced it to recall more than 8 million vehicles worldwide, while Ford Motor Co. is the most popular automaker.

As I noted before, Toyota has not been proactive in fixing this issue.

Even if the problem is ultimately an unfortunate confluence of the old, the young, and the litigious, the effects on Toyota's reputation was and continues to be devastating.

Even the expense of a full recall of all potentially affected vehicles would ultimately prove less costly than a long term reduction in trust.

[shiny!]

Re: Toyota Scare

I have been in the aviation industry for many years and something like this has been an ongoing concern with the Fly By Wire airplanes, especially the Airbuses.

A friend of mine who flew for America West called them "French Lawn Darts". Told me to never fly in one.

[jneal3]

Re: Toyota Scare

... the effects on Toyota's reputation was and continues to be devastating.

I bought a lot of the ADR shares at the height of the media glare (71.5) knowing that we've already forgotten:

Haitian earthquake
Chilean earthquake
Kate and Jon

This too shall pass, much more quickly than we would expect. Toyota will buy back market share with rebates funded by all the cash they're sitting on. Their CEO didn't pull down $18M last year (Mr. Mulally 'earned' it, I suppose - only in America), and their products will still be at the top of the quality ratings. They were and still are a well run company that has stumbled, and now it's their turn in the box, nothing more.

New York Police Agree Driver Error Caused Toyota Crash

[c1ue]

Re: Toyota Scare

This too shall pass, much more quickly than we would expect.

You can get back, but then again it is probably cheaper just to nip the problem in the bud. For every Explorer gas tank fire issue - which received much less media attention than the Toyota gas pedal issue - there is an Audi or a Pinto.

It is irresponsible and stupid for Toyota management to not be proactive in this instance given the economic state of the US and its likely resulting anti-import stance, not to mention the whole Government Motors business.

[jneal3]

Re: Toyota Scare

It is irresponsible and stupid for Toyota management to not be proactive in this instance given the economic state of the US and its likely resulting anti-import stance, not to mention the whole Government Motors business.

I generally think management is merely unworthy of their salaries...:rolleyes:

I lived the Firestone episode at Ford, and the truth is that the guys responsible for seeing this coming are faced with potentially safety-related warranty data on literally every component on every vehicle they sell, in incredibly small numbers percentage-wise, and the way the data are presented and analyzed makes it almost impossible for people inside the company (and outside our culture - Ford had less excuse on that count) to intuit which one will blow up into this kind of PR disaster. Their real failure is not understanding how 'unintended acceleration' has a history here, and how it dovetails nicely with the American psyche ("It's not my fault!"). They are being properly punished by the market, but having watched Toyota closely on the competitive other side I have complete faith that they will come back.

[GRG55]

Re: Toyota Scare

A friend of mine who flew for America West called them "French Lawn Darts". Told me to never fly in one.

I do a lot of international commercial airline trips and also have a preference for Boeings over Airbus.

I would love to adhere to a "If it's not Boeing, I'm not going" policy...but avoiding flights in Airbus commercial aircraft is pretty well impossible since they split the market roughly half with Boeing, and many carriers have only Airbus fleets. Even long time exclusively Boeing customers, such as British Airways, Lufthansa, and a number of Asian carriers now have heavily mixed fleets.

It will be interesting for Airbus when the report into Air France 447 is completed and released. It's now conclusive that the airplane was intact when it hit the water...so some sort of cascading systems failure sequence that seems to have overwhelmed the cockpit crew might have occurred.