Wednesday, January 26, 2011

More Recalls- More Thoughts For Toyota


I'm not a hate monger- nor do I respect pundits who egg-on or speculate a bad situation. Nothing worse than something or someone who's never been down or in a similar situation- hoping for the misfortune of another; however, it's in the news- Toyota's recalling some 1.7 million vehicles for fuel leaks.

"The recalls are mostly in Japan, but include Lexus IS and GS luxury sedans sold in North America. That's where the world's No. 1 car company faces the biggest challenges in winning back customer trust.

U.S. dealers will inspect cars to see if loose fuel pressure sensors caused leaks. There were no accidents suspected of being caused by those problems, according to Toyota. The car maker has received 77 complaints overseas, 75 of them in North America, and more than 140 in Japan."

Going into its second year of the recall spotlight- the news does not bode well for the automotive giant.

Aside from its aging platform fleet, it's tarnished North American image; getting beyond these recalls I'm afraid, is going to be easier said than done at Toyota.

As these cars age, their components and assemblies will- and if there's any hint of a problem, whatsoever, I'm afraid the media and consumer advocates will spotlight, well, another "recall."

I'm not saying there isn't a genuine problem or flaw with the design/quality of the parts in question- but anything less-than-perfect- if it's on a Toyota- it's going back as a recall.

It's just a shame- you spend thirty years building a reputation of unflappable durability and customer satisfaction (for the most part); now you're the butt of every joke told on a used car lot- and the topic for every blogging auto enthusiast who writes web content.

No comments:

Post a Comment