Page 13 - Toyota Under Fire

PREF ACE

each year, began one of the most prolonged and intense periods of
scrutiny of an automobile manufacturer in 20 years. That scrutiny
was focused on Toyota, which up until that point had been widely
regarded, and rightly so, as the manufacturer of the safest and most
reliable cars on the road. Over the course of the next six months,
Toyota would recall more than 10 million vehicles. It would be ac-
cused in the national media of turning a blind eye to customer safety,
of losing its way and putting profits before quality, and of deliber-
ately hiding electronic defects that could make vehicles unstoppable.
In the media frenzy of reporting on the troubles of this iconic
company, details would be lost, such as the fact that what hap-
pened to the Saylors was the result of a dealership’s not follow-
ing Toyota procedures and putting the wrong, outsized floor mat
into the Saylors’ loaner vehicle without securing it; the mat then
jammed the accelerator pedal, causing the accident. Nor would
it be noticed that there was no forensic evidence of electronics
issues in any of the many accidents investigated. Nonetheless,
Toyota’s public image, so carefully cultivated over 50 years by
focusing relentlessly on continuous improvement and serving
customers, was severely damaged. From being a paragon of cor-
porate citizenship, it became the butt of late-night jokes. This
started in the United States, and at first Toyota viewed it as a
regional perception problem that could be handled by manage-
ment in the United States, but in the Internet age, nothing stays
local for very long, and it soon became a global crisis.
If the start of the crisis was the Saylor accident, you can view
February 8, 2011 as a major milestone—that’s when the National
Highway Transportation Safety Administration released the details
of a 10-month, $1.5 million intensive study of Toyota electronics
led by NASA. Summarizing the results, Secretary of Transportation
Ray LaHood, who had fiercely criticized Toyota during the crisis,

xii