Toyota Recall, Murky Messaging Spurs Consumer Mistrust

Toyota Recall, Murky Messaging Spurs Consumer Mistrust

By Michelle Krebs January 26, 2010

Discussion of Toyota quality and recalls on Edmunds.com has heated up again after the automaker's announcement last Thursday that it is recalling another 2.3 million vehicles.

In Edmunds' CarSpace Forums, Toyota owners are sharing personal experiences with what they say or wonder are accelerator issues in Corollas and Camrys - even some Siennas, despite the fact that the minivan isn't covered by the recall. One comment signs off as "Afraid Camry Owner."

Others defend Toyota, citing its history of quality and the customers' own good experience with their vehicles. Some readers blame recent problems not on Toyota but on suppliers and the American assembly of Toyota vehicles.

It's a debate that Toyota no doubt would like to end. But so far even the company's best public relations efforts appear to have led only to mounting consumer mistrust and an increasing lack of confidence in its vehicles.

Latest Recall

Toyota announced last week that the latest recall of 2.3 million Toyota-brand vehicles is due to problems with sticking accelerator pedals.

This is the first mechanical problem Toyota has acknowledged in a long series of official statements regarding unintended acceleration dating back to its largest-ever recall - 4.2 million vehicles - late last year. In that case, floormats - the wrong ones or the right ones improperly stalled - were blamed for the sticky gas pedal. About 1.7 million vehicles are covered by both recalls.

Toyota blames the latest recall on a supplier in Canada. The automaker told USA Today, for an article posted Monday, that it recognized the problem as long ago as late 2008 but hadn't seen enough problems to issue a recall.

A Toyota spokesman told the newspaper it has no direct reports of injuries or deaths. But the day Toyota announced the recall, ABC News broadcasted a report, prepared before the recall announcement, linking the problem to four deaths. In that case, a Toyota Avalon sped out of control into a pond, killing all four passengers. When police popped the trunk, they found the floormats.

Mea Culpa

At the industry's Automotive News World Congress gathering in Detroit early last week - before the latest recall -- Toyota's highest-ranking U.S. executive said the automaker had learned hard lessons from last fall's recall. Yoshi Inaba, chairman of Toyota Motor Sales USA and president of Toyota Motor North America, hinted the company had mishandled the recall and the accompanying communication.

"During 2009, our commitment to quality and safety - the two most important attributes of Toyota - were severely questioned, and we learned some lessons the hard way," he said in his speech. "These issues generated plenty of debate and unfortunately, some miscommunication ... That was our own fault."

He added: "We have learned from these mistakes and we are confident that we're doing the right thing for our customers," Inaba said.

Mixed Messages

Indeed, the messages were mixed. Toyota issued the first recall of 4.2 million vehicles on Sept. 29, 2009, and the automaker published no fewer than seven official statements on the matter.

But judging from ongoing comments in Edmunds' CarSpace Forums and even on Toyota's own site, this P.R. overtime didn't pay dividends with consumers. If anything, the barrage of messaging only fueled confusion and second-guessing - and, more ominously, cemented a notion in some consumers' minds that Toyota had been leaving something unsaid.

The communication breakdown may have begun with the fact that Toyota's initial advisory focused only on floor mats as a cause for worry. This, combined with the fact that most news agencies carrying the story also detailed the horrific August accident in which an off-duty officer and three members of his family were killed in an out-of-control Lexus, had many members wondering how a mere floor mat could be solely to blame - especially with an experienced officer behind the wheel.

"It goes beyond reason or logic that floor mats are the major problem," said one CarSpace comment, while another stated, "I can't imagine a scenario where someone would... not check to see if there was something holding the pedal down."  Someone else wondered, "Let's just say for now that it is the mats that are jamming up the gas pedal -- why is it such a problem with ONLY TOYOTAS?"  And another concluded, "It's sad to see Toyota so casually dismiss all of these horrifying experiences under the veil of 'driver error'."

These doubts were exacerbated when National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a statement a few weeks later criticizing Toyota for "inaccurately" stating "NHTSA had reached a conclusion 'that no defect exists in vehicles in which the driver's floor mat is compatible with the vehicle and properly secured'" - in other words, that floor mats alone were the source of the problem.

Though this prompted a quick response from Toyota, claiming they agreed "with NHTSA's position... that further vehicle-based action is required," it wasn't enough to prevent consumer discussions from really heating up.

"I am still waiting for a logical answer to the question of why the SUA (sudden unintended acceleration) incidents shot up after Toyota introduced DBW (drive-by-wire)" technology, notes one post in reaction. 

Another fumes, "I think it is arrogant to blow off potential other causes than can occasionally occur.  I happen to think this is the general public's attitude as well." Still another reports that his local mechanic "said they've had many complaints in their shop about surging with the drive-by-wire over a period of time, and not just recently from 'copycat complainers'."

Toyota attempted to put these notions to rest with yet another statement on November 6, this one entitled, "Unintended Acceleration: Toyota Addresses the Issues."  But again consumer reaction focused more on what wasn't said, picking the text apart with comments like, "If the floor mat is the only problem, then why would this be just an 'interim measure'? Seems like it would be a permanent solution, UNLESS there is more to the problem!"

Only when Toyota finally issued the details of its "vehicle based remedy" on November 25 did these folks find what they had been looking for -- an indication that something other than floor mats may be contributing to the problem.  This came in the following form of a promise to install a brake override system in some models "as an extra measure of confidence."

Though it read almost like an afterthought and was hardly an admission of any kind, this piece of the remedy quickly became the main topic in consumer discussions.  "The smart pedal over-ride is the most significant addition," notes one of the first posts in response.  Another praises "the inclusion of a 'smart interface' between the gas and the brake pedal" as "just good business and good auto design."

Others saw the news as evidence that Toyota had been hiding something all along, questioning, "Why bother with the brake/throttle smart pedal fix if that was completely ruled out?" And worrying, "Let's hope the design of THAT one is well thought out."

Concluded one commenter, "I still think Toyota has some homework to do, but I believe that after initially appearing a bit nonchalant, Toyota has taken a good step in implementing the brake override. Personally, I'd buy a Toyota right now."

But it was too late for some.  At least one potential customer who had been considering a Toyota for the first time claims to have put those plans on hold until "Toyota is more forthcoming."

Lessons Learned?

Also stirring confusion, particularly in the media, was the fact that Inaba, since coming aboard Toyota in the U.S. last summer, had been acknowledging and even apologizing for quality issues. But at the same time, his top lieutenants were accusing the media of "piling on," suggesting problems were overblown. In December, Toyota accused the Los Angeles Times of "wrongly and unfairly attacking" the automaker's "integrity and reputation." In an unusual move, Toyota posted the paper's questions and Toyota's answers on its media Web site.

With the most recent recall, Toyota has a do-over opportunity.

Question is will consumers give Toyota another chance and set their skepticism aside.

We'll monitor what they -- and you -- have to say.

And that's the word on the street. - Mark Holthoff, Edmunds.com manager, Customer Support

Michelle Krebs, senior analyst and editor at large, contributed to this post.

Photo by Toyota

The Toyota Camry, the best-selling car in America, is one of the latest recalled vehicles.

 

Michelle Krebs:  is Editor-in-Chief of AutoObserver.com. Follow @AutoObserver on Twitter.