Where In The World Is Akio? Toyota's President Is Mysteriously Absent During Crisis

He's in throttle rehab somewhere in Arizona.

In ICU at Tokyo hospital after failing at seppukku.

up yours pussy

Goverment need to make a DEEP investigation to protect customer and really know the true of this dangerous issue. They don't speak clear about the causes.
Yesterday and the day before yesterday in Miami Chanel 51 and 22 The owner of Kendall Toyota Dealer in Miami explain about the Toyota issue but , he said is a very easy problem and just one car was affected and everything is fine, how is possible that this moron explain something different in a TV news for all Miami customer and The President of Toyota explain clearly about this matter. The executives of the brand must take action with this guy too.He must be crazy because his dealer is empty I think. He is the owner of the Kendall Toyota I think because he always make a commercial of this dealer too. This is a real mess for real

Sounds like he is very disconnected, if as reported he hopped in an Audi after apologizing, and not a Lexus. That's not a dig at Audi, I love them. But if you don't drive, or get driven in what your company produces, you really don't believe in them and so how do you hope they can succeed?

I think Toyota may have been trying to make a statement re: Audi's recovery from its sudden acceleration issues in the distant past (?).

Hiding - just like our friend Huu76!

Him and Tiger were spotted at the Frisky Kitty yesterday.....

lol

The Pres of Toyota needs to be highly visible right now and display transparency as to what his company is doing to correct the issue. The fact that they halted all sales on the affected models is admirable but they gotta see this through and protect the customer.

I wonder if my 2010 Land Cruiser will develop a bug. Not sure if I can haul that bad boy down from a high speed run w/o ramping a few Solstices and Cobalts.

For a Toyota owner, you are surprisingly on the right track! You have to hit something that has brakes and little likelihood of surging against the other operator's wishes. Me, I'd suggest larger non-Toyotas than the Cobalt and Solstice. Don't go dying on us now.

I think it's time for a new CEO... Now is the time for effective leadership, Toyoda obviously isn't that leader.

Maybe his absence is due to the lack of Onstar crash identification notice on Toyota's product lineup.

Japanese by nature are very deep thinkers, and shun and outwardly spoken appearence. They also ten to shy away from shameful siutaions.

I bet he is working the phones, working with engineers, marketers, and PR people to figure this mess out.

This situation has been poorly handled from the get-go and I bet he feels personally responsible for it. Somebody is going to have to take the fall for this. I wouldn't be supiresed it was him or Lentz..

this is such bullshit. leaders LEAD--regardless of their cultural background.

This is correct. His job is to aid in the solution of this whole issue including but not limited to customer support, not merely take the blame. This is a key element to discovering his whereabouts.

He isn't missing. He's just finalizing the details of the next generation of Toyota's. Which will dominate just like the current Toyotas.

"dominate" with problems?

He released a statement on the issue, so, he hasn't disapeared.

check egmcartech.com

That was an old one we reported a few weeks ago. Plenty has surfaced since to warrant an appearance. People are genuinely scared and need reassurance from the top that things will get better.

that was last week

He is touching himself going KOBOSAKI NAGAMITCHI MITUSBUISHI GEISHA SUSHI

HE is stuck in a Camry on I-66 going 70 mph and cant stop because the gas pedal is stuck

LOL. now that's funny.

lol.. funny responses above,...

No excuse for a CEO , this is his ship ..he worked the american operations before becoming CEO for crying out allowed. In this country we expect clear communication from a single source .. not this drip drip of uninformed mish mash of info from dealers, the caterer at toyota and the guy who cleans the floors ... Lentz or Inaba who head the US operation better step to the plate ..
I really don't think the recall is serious ..as there is gradual wear on the pedal .. but LaHood's "mistaken" comments (made for his UAW constituents) are making this recall into a hash for Toyota .. While i want to see GM and Ford succeed , i dont appreciate it being done by Govt sabotage and dirty tricks(FUD)..which is what the congressional Hearing and NHTSA are deploying ...

The FUD level has gone off the charts ...

I'm really not a bit surprised he staying "under the radar". Obviously the Sheep storm that is hitting Toyota was years in the making.

See, it just goes to show, you can hide some things from people, but not all things. Eventually, it all bubbles up.

Akio Toyoda is in the world brainstorming, obeserving the opinions, thoughts and intents of hard-core haters, purposely staying out of sight out of mind and preparing Toyota and Lexus for the big kill when they introduce those next 8 astonishing new models over the next few years. I think his strategy to stay somewhat out of the picture of this Media Mess is absolutely brilliant! It will pay dividens inspite of this CTS (American Supplier of parts) recall mess. You can bet he's working on a way to eliminate the use of sharing the love of American made parts mixed w/ future Toyotas and Lexuses......

CTS claims that the failure is within design spec. Toyoda's quiet manner is more reassuring.

The "kick toyota when they're down" game will mean short term success for competitors. It doesn't mean GM/Ford/Dodge will produce even better cars, they will work harder to distract consumers from flaws.

Overcoming this issue will produce a truly superior quality brand with even fewer recalls. In the long term Toyota wins. Unless they fail.

Toyoda speaks no drama: engineering is working on it
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123398847

1. 3rd generation Toyoda is too alienated from the regular man - he is busy with LF-A and other supercars.
2. Japanese culture is very different from ours in America where you can apologize on TV and people will forgive you. Think about our society about 35-50 years ago where people still had some sense of shame and decency.

That said - I still think he is not capable of running the company for reason #1 even before this crisis. Wantanabe was actually a smarter businessman. Toyota needs a single voice, but it's not going to happen.

he's been busy romping with the rich and powerful in davos.

toyota really has no grasp on how to deal with this situation. in a crisis of this magnitude, the CEO should get on a plane and fly to the heart of the situation. it's the CEO's role to lead now, NOT hide. he should be testifying before congress, not some regional exec. that's what CEOs DO!

Now that Toyota Corp has been caught with it's pants down hiring the ex-NHTSA employee helping avoid recalls- they will have to learn to deal with some truly deserved bad publicity- it's just bad form.
It's still an engineering problem and a revisiting of risk management and sourcing. Long term I see Toyota customers and supplier Nippon Denso winning on this and Mr. Toyoda losing face publicly.
Then I buy another toyota in 200000 miles.