For the past couple of months, Toyota has been bombarded with bad press because of countless recalls and problems with their hybrid vehicle called the Prius. Towards the end of last year extending to the beginning of this year, there have been recalls on the Priuses made in 2008 and 2009. Problems with them included brake failure, problems turning off and turning off and problems with the accelerator. These defects have caused mild to catastrophic loss and damage in some cases. While reports of this came out, Aiko Toyoda, president of the Toyoto corporation ignored warnings about recalls and faulty parts. Why? He, along with many business associates figured that since only a few cases were reported that it would not be cost-effective on their part to remove the defective models from the road and the market as a whole. I have heard of all the cases in the media and felt blessed that my family (owner of Prius) was not affected, but we were. I was in ours with my father. We were backing out of our driveway when the brakes failed and we accelerated and crashed into the curb. We were lucky in that we were not out in the open road and did not sustain any serious injuries. We called Toyota and reported the problem, and corporate said that since there were not any other occurrences that they would delay their visit and inspection of the vehicle. As of now, our car is back at the dealer where we purchased it and my father has been driving a (non-Toyota) rental car ever since. For links on this issue, click
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here.
Above are images of ad space that Toyota purchased off of the Pasadena 110 freeway as it approaches the 101. Toyota had their people plant the iconic image of the sun that is synonymous with their third generation Prius. After reports of fatalities and accidents came up as a result of faulty Toyota products, guerilla artists took it into their hands to change the happy ad space into a somber, makeshift memorial honoring the 34 that have died as a result of malfunctioning Priuses.
Wow, it sounds like you have a personal connection with this topic! I'm not sure if it was after you wrote this entry, but I believe Toyoda has apologized for these issues-- what do you think of what he said? Is it too late for him to make an apology or try to make reparations? Perhaps the fact that he ignored these issues in the past makes his apology less effective.
ReplyDeleteInteresting topic! I would have never thought about something like this so I am glad you brought the topic to my attention. It is interesting to see how companies like these owe apologies. i think you will have an easy time defending your argument because of the effective stance you already took.
ReplyDeleteThat's unbelievable! It's funny to see how Priuses aren't as "great" as the public seems to think they are! Has anyone apologized for it yet?
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