How Well Will Toyota Handle the Issues of Public Perception in its Recently Announced Recall?

I asked my sources about this and got the following:

Recalls are typically not counted in reliability standings even though corrective action may require a visit to a dealership to resolve the issue.

There may be cases where the issues surface and it is reported on the survey (say JD Power) as a visit for an issue. It is not clear if it is counted or not as a ding against the automaker, but it most likely is at that time.

So quick action can prevent reporting something as a reliability issue theoretically with some entities.

So I did play devils advocate asked if you can issue a quick recall and preserve a reliability ranking. While this is possible, is is also highly unlikely that it would occur due to the expense of the recall itself.

So does the short term cost of a recall cost less than a mediocre reliability record over the long haul?

Most of us can remember the reliability ranking of most of the brands out there for years, but very few can remember the number of recalls after a few months.

In this case it is wise for liability and safety issues to be addressed by issuing a total recall of the affected models. Better to get those mats off the road before the cockroaches come out of the woodwork and start suing.

a recal is a recal toyota should get branded as a not so reliable/safe auto maker.

Just look at ford, the fire stone tires were not made by ford but ford shure got roasted for it.

I used to have a 2005 Prius with the OEM all season floor mats. I've personally NEVER had a problem with the floor mats. I'm thinking that it is USER error on this part.

The driver side floor mats come with these plastic clips that clip into the carpet floor to hook and hold the mats in place. I'm sure if people didn't use the included hooks then the floor mats will slip around from daily of just getting in and out of the car and they JUST MIGHT somehow manage to get caught up on the accelerator eventually.

Just another excuse for lazy people who won't spend the extra 30 seconds to install the provided clips/hooks to SECURE an item that was intended to be installed that way.

daily use*

UAW....have you read any of the articles? Either you are playing stupid or...you are. Don't answer that, we all know the answer.

All of the cars have the hooks. It's a matter of whether or not people used them.

It won't change a thing. They responsibly issued the recall. I've never owned a Toyota and probably never will, but I respect their honesty.

Ford made a top-heavy piece of shit that rolled over easily and blamed the tires. They got off easy.

Explain how a decade of bad press and image is getting off easy.

The NHTSA does not exist to solve peoples problems. Why are you getting defensive about Toyota's issues, do you realize you are blaming domestic companies in that last sentence...

UAW you're a moron. The people died because an individual person put the wrong floor mat in a car. It has nothing to do with the vehicle design. If a mechanic didn't replace the oil drain plug on your POS ford Tempo would you blame Ford? Well maybe you would as the UAW only hates 1 thing more than Foreign car makers....the Domestic auto companies (until you get your next contract)

Ford got very little bad press overall - they fobbed it off on a tire company. 200 deaths and 700 serious injuries caused by Ford. Toyota wouldn't even be in business in this country if they pulled that. We're talking floormats here, and one very unfortunate death.

The more you argue that it is legit the deeper you dig yourself into a corner of thinking and will say anything to try and prove yourself right, which is why you brought up the domestics in a discussion about Toyota's issues.

Idiot proofing is all part of engineering a product, and I would argue a very critical component of design. An engineer must assume anything and everything that can go wrong will go wrong, and take precautions to avoid these accidents from happening. This includes drivers not reading instructions and drivers not knowing that you have to hold down a start button for 3 seconds to shut a car off.

Ahh Joe....exactly what makes the USA great. zero personal responsibility. Let's sue and it's everyone's fault but mine.

wow, Badgewhore, do you believe the crap spewing out of your mouth? Engineering is one of the few professions that still holds respect among the public. Lawyers are one of the professions that no longer has it, and Doctors are another that still have it. Engineers aren't the sadistic twisted criminals you make them out to be.

""Einstein didn't bother to idiot proof his atomic bomb"

Once again you're wrong. While Einstein’s physics played a small role in its creation the real father of the atomic bomb was Leo Szilard. Einstein was never a part of the Manhattan Project nor ever visited Los Alamos. Einstein was in fact a pacifist, and protested the use of the bomb in a famous letter to President Roosevelt.

You should rant about history unless you know about it.

save your breath huu, you are making perfect sense to me

This minor recall will not hurt Toyota/Lexus.

1uaw and Joe .... as you can s even when death is the final result of Toyotas wrong doing some people think they can do no wrong. How sad.

It's very strange and sad at the same time that some can argue that the deaths of human beings for using a product, in this case a car made by one of the world's biggest automobile manufacturers, can be so easily and cowardly explained away.

Very pathetic.

It seems like this recall could also affect other manufactures in the future once more investigation is on the way.

Huu76, there's no amount of sarcasm or ridicule that can diminish the inherent danger of poorly designed or placed carpeted mats, even if you have an obvious disdain for the safety and well-being of Americans. I don't the accidents got blown out of proportions. And I certainly don't think the people at NHTSA have personal agendas with Toyota. But hey, people are entitled to their own opinions. Just spare us from your lame excuses.

Toyota will handle this well and emerge as a caring company that spent millions on a recall for floor mats. Their marketing arm is a great machine.

how is Tylenol comparable to this? that company actaully killed people. these recalls dont do that. if anything, they're just minor mistakes that become a problem if ignored. i doubt this will even sratch toyotas image in any way. no company is perfect and thats the bottom line of it.

Same way they did when Lexus did their mass recall back in the day.

Loose floor mats sliding under the throttle pedals are a problem in many cars. My 2006 Audi A8 had that problem - it happened twice before I ascertained the problem, and it was a bit frightening. There were clips in the carpet that were supposed to hold the mats in place, but they worked themselves loose every few days - I just slid the mats back in place and reclipped them on a regular basis.

Interestingly enough, my 2009 Audi A4, which is a cheaper car, DOES NOT have that problem. Go figure.

But I digress. I checked with my local Toyota dealer. The service writer told me that the cars in question have clips in the carpet designed to hold the floor mats in place. This "recall" is not a recall in the normal sense of the word, but an advisory. Toyota will supposedly decide at a future date if the clips need redesigning, or if customers simply need to be informed as to how to use the clips.

I can't access the article on this PC. This might be rehashing of what is in that article, but I thought I'd share my experience with you if it is not covered by the article.

To be honest I dont understand how so many people are getting all hot about this. Unlike Hyundaismoke who works for hyundai I wil not be biased about it. I work for Toyota and recently I have been dealing with customers who just laugh at this so called issue. Im a customer relations agent for toyota and my job is to deal with problems with the vehicles we sell. It has been a couple of days that this has been out there and honestly, we have not had any calls about this. I was asked once about it by a customer and I told him that as long as he has the floor mats latched like they should this will not happen. If they are used like they should be, this will not happen. I drive a camry and when the floor mats are latched, all weather or fabric, they do not move around or interfere with the gas pedal.

If the story changes and customer call volume increases in the following days relating to this issue I will definitely inform you guys. Just stating the facts from a more up close point of view.

Go buy yourself a BMW! Then you'll find out having a recall is better than no recalls. Buy a BMW with a six speed automatic transmission and you will likely find out how easily you can get into many unsafe situation like unintended stalling! It can also be so jerky that you cannot concentrate on your driving... Of course BMW is going to tell you there is no faults according to their computer and you don't know how to drive a BMW: it's supposed to be like that. They won't tell you they didn't even make that transmission and have no control over its quality, not to mention fixing it.

copying another post and my response from another forum:

Personally, I think the driver of the car messed up and panicked. He paid for this with his life. This thought may seem cold, but my Dad and two Uncles were pilots in the USAAF during WWII and many times people made mistakes in which they paid for with their lives.


i fully agree.

again, it may seem cold, but the guy was a state trooper and SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER.

i suspect he must've earlier STOMPED ON THE GAS, which caused it to get stuck in the mismatched mat. (and then panicked when he could not UNstomp. ) that's what my new driver nephew did when he got the throttle stuck on their buick.

kids, and troopers, STOMP ON the gas a lot more than ordinary folks.

toyota is over reacting, fortunately on the cautious side, by recalling 4 million vehicles. only a few likely have the wrong floor mats. and only a few of those have drivers who habitually STOMP on the loud pedal. which is why this was NEVER SEEN as a big problem earlier.

you are totally right, huu76.

way too many people have NEVER driven a stick shift, and seem TOTALLY OBLIVIOUS to the simple fact that in N there is no longer any connection between the engine and the drive wheels.

even tho' i now drive an automatic 95+% of the time, i STILL make much use of N. in my hypermiling tricks.