Archive for February, 2010

BusinessWeek’s Scathing Review of Toyota Congressional Hearings

BusinessWeek contributor Ed Wallace wrote an article titled “The Toyota Witch Hunt” that is a must-read for anyone following Toyota’s unintended acceleration debacle. Here are some of the highlights:

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Five Ways Toyota is Like Communist Russia

For all of our boasting here at TundraHeadquarters about the fact that the Tundra is more ‘American’ than the Dodge Ram or the GM pickups, and that Toyota’s profits on the Tundra don’t really go overseas, the recent recall fiascos (officially known as “Recall-mageddon” – shout out to J.D.) illustrate that Toyota’s leadership is frighteningly lacking.

The similarities between Toyota leadership and Soviet Russia - just for fun.

Here are some facts and figures about Toyota’s senior executives and management chain-of-command…and how eerily similar it is to old-time Soviet Russia:

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Toyota Unintended Acceleration Hearings Summary

This week a congressional committee interviewed a handful of people claiming to be unintended acceleration victims, safety experts, and Toyota execs. While Toyota has focused this week on enhanced recall measures and a re-commitment to quality, the media has focused on rampant speculation.

Here’s a breakdown of all the major developments from the hearings:

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Toyota Explains Throttle Control System on Video

Toyota PR Machine Finally Gearing Up

Toyota has made two critical errors over the last 6 months. First, Toyota (admittedly) dragged their feet on a series of floor mat and accelerator pedal recalls. Second, when the “sticky pedal” recall hit, Toyota’s PR machine responded terribly. It was as if Toyota tried to do the exact opposite of the right move. They responded slowly. They avoided making a statement. They acted as if the problem would “go away” if they ignored it.

Things have changed. Now that some time has gone by, Toyota’s media team is starting to churn out some great work.

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Toyota’s Legal Troubles, Independent Testing, and Little Black Boxes

This promises to be a tough week for Toyota. While they’ve finally gotten their PR team in gear, the CEO of the company (Akio Toyoda) is going to be testifying before congress and it’s not likely to go well. Toyoda’s not a confident English speaker, a lot of embarrassing facts have come out about Toyota, members of congress are going to be working hard to get a good anti-Toyota sound bite or two, and despite a mountain of evidence that Toyota’s unintended acceleration problem is completely overblown, mainstream media continues to harp on the issue. Here’s a break-down of what you can expect.

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