Page 94 - Toyota Under Fire

THE RECALL CRISIS

damaged in the eyes of many. It would lose its leading market
position and spend billions of dollars on recalls and incentives to
lure back customers. Senior executives would be ordered before
Congress and would repeatedly make public apologies.
How did things go so wrong so quickly? How could a com-
pany whose quality was legendary suddenly need to issue recall
after recall, seemingly unable to find, much less correct, defects
in its cars? How could Toyota react so slowly to mounting evi-
dence that customers’ lives were in danger? Did Toyota cover up
evidence of problems in its vehicles and attempt to avoid respon-
sibility for fixing them? How could Toyota make blunder after
blunder in the court of public opinion? Was the idea of quality
and putting customers first just nice rhetoric, with nothing be-
hind it? Had Toyota completely lost its way?
Those are all reasonable questions when you take a look at
the summary timeline of events from August 2009 through Feb-
ruary 2010 (located at the end of the chapter). Answering them,
and understanding the mistakes that Toyota made, requires look-
ing at those same events through Toyota’s eyes, tracing the history
of sudden acceleration claims, and separating fact from fiction.

The Saylor Accident

Given the Saylor accident’s seminal role in all that ensued and its
coloring of the public’s understanding of the allegations of unin-
tended acceleration, it is remarkable how few people are aware
of the actual details of the crash. As it does with every fatal acci-
dent in its jurisdiction, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Depart-
ment conducted a thorough investigation of the accident. The
29-page report reveals some startling facts that eliminate virtually

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