Page 227 - Toyota Under Fire

TOYOT A UNDER FIRE

Kiplinger’s list of the “10 best cars of the past decade,” more than
any other automaker.*
Perhaps even more pertinent to the recall crisis, which focused
on the safety of Toyota vehicles, at the end of December 2010
the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety awarded eight Toyota
vehicles its top safety award,† in this case tied for second place
among all automakers. It is ironic that, at about the same time
the Insurance Institute was awarding Toyota for its outstanding
safety, seven major auto insurance companies were filing a lawsuit
claiming, “certain of Toyota’s cars and trucks have a defect that
causes sudden uncontrolled acceleration to speeds of up to 100 mph
or more.”‡
Overall, the various data on the impact of the recall cri-
sis paint a picture of a company that took a significant hit, but
recovered quickly to levels near where it had begun. Nonetheless,
real damage was done to the brand. For instance, J.D. Power’s
annual study of customer loyalty showed that Toyota had fallen
from the top spot to a few percentage points behind Ford and
Honda. Edmunds.com data (see Figure 4.5) on customer con-
sideration of various manufacturers shows that the biggest hit
to Toyota was among customers who were predisposed to con-
sider non-Big 3 manufacturers like Honda, Nissan, and Hyun-

* “10 Best Cars of the Past Decade,” Kiplinger, December 2010; http://portal
.kiplinger.com/tools/slideshows/slideshow_pop.html?nm=10_Best_Cars
_Trucks_Decade_2000_2010.
† “66 Winners of 2011 Top Safety Pick Award,” Insurance Institute for High-
way Safety, December 22, 2010; http;//www.iihs.org/news/rss/pr122210.html.
‡ “Toyota Sued by Insurance Companies over Alleged Acceleration-Related
Crashes,” Los Angeles Times, January 3, 2011; http://latimesblogs.latimes.com
/money_co/2011/01/toyota-sued-by-seven-insurance-companies-sudden
-acceleration.html.

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