Finally heard from Toyota and had the RAV4 fixed. I have to say that everyone involved was incredibly helpful – drove me home, picked me up, gave me a free lunch. Very good stuff. In that it`s not their fault and they`re probably losing a lot of business in new cars I feel very sorry for the dealers – though not for the owners of the company. A friend who owns a dealership told me that just a year or so ago 14million Fords were recalled and there didn`t seem to be anything like the same media coverage. It is, I suppose, a quiet time.
But there is more to it than this. The US government is now in the car business and is in direct competition with Toyota. Some of the absurd outburts by senior Washington politicians – don`t drive your Toyotas – and the media frenzy surely are not mere mistakes. Perhaps not a conspiracy but something stinks.
I am completely unqualified to engage in this discussion, but, Michael, I do appreciate your observation, “It is, I suppose, a quiet time.”
It reinforces my belief that, sadly, in the absence of real news, sensationalism flourishes. My usual comment is, “apparently there is no news today!”
I’d say the big difference between these Toyota recalls and the domestic ones of recent past is that the sticking accelerator problems are suspected in the deaths of 34 people in the US. The last time an auto maker had that kind of claim to fame was Ford in the 70′s with the exploding Pinto. That said, I think there are some US politicians who are relishing the fact that Toyota has fallen on hard times after so many years of North American manufacturers experiencing the same.
Toyota deserves to be slammed because their recall issue was a safety issue that cost people their lives and put countless others at unnecessary risk. Undoubtedly, some Toyota owners lost their lives after Toyota became aware of their braking problem. Hopefully, they get their bank accounts drained with class action suits. Such contempt for their customers deserves scorn and not blind continued patronage.
There are actually alot of criteria they failed to address – in short, the fact that they would have to deal with cross-cultures in a brand recall.
As a results of being, by theuir own admission, “too late” they have endured criticism for what would normally seem fairly trivial.
Failure to address cross-cultural factors with the world’s eyes on them has resulted in increased scrutiny.
I wrote this piece about that… http://blog.appliedlanguage.com/toyota-recalls-reaction-cross-cultural-criticism/