American Consumers Defend Toyota, Gov’t Drives Accelerator Issue

NEWS AND PAST RECALLS
The Wall Street Journal article titled “Secretive Culture Led Toyota Astray,” Feb. 10. 2010 cited two unnamed Toyota Motor Corp. sources as telling the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that there had been mounting evidence for years that “Toyota cars could speed up suddenly.” The report follows yesterday’s announcement involving Toyota’s recall of 437,000 Prius hybrids over potential braking difficulties, along with an earlier recall this month for 2.3 million vehicles over sticky gas pedals that involved a sales freeze on eight models.

Washington bureaucrats such as Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Democratic congressional lawmakers Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan and Rep. Edolphus Towns of New York are asking questions scheduled for congressional hearings beginning today. On the hot seat with Toyota is the NHTSA as well.

Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda noted on Tuesday that “I don’t see Toyota as an infallible company that never makes mistakes. We will face up to the facts and correct the problem, putting customers’ safety and convenience first.”

I believe Mr. Toyoda is sincere in his apology. More importantly I believe in the brand. Toyota quality is not so much in question for me, and I believe for most Americans.  Automobile recalls do happen, and Toyota’s record is far better than most automakers.  What is striking for me is whether Washington and the media are making this issue more sensational than necessary.  The article today in the Wall Street Journal troubled me as well because it notes unnamed sources in a secret conversation with the NHTSA–something that never impresses my sense of credibility (not with WSJ reporting it as much as with NHSTA officials buying it). Indeed, I keep wondering who has the most to gain from Toyota’s fall from grace with the public especially since I have never heard of anyone complaining about their Toyota in 30 years.

Historically, other automakers have had problems and significant recalls.

• Exploding Ford Pintos in the late 1970s affected 1.5 million vehicles
• Ford ignition fires during the 1980s involved 8.6 million vehicles,
• GM’s loose suspension bolts in 1981 affected 5.8 million vehicles involving steering control loss.  
• Ford’s flawed axels in 1984 where the wheels had the potential of falling off while driving. 
• Honda/Acura faulty seatbelt releases in 1995 recalled 3.1 million vehicles.
• GM’s tailgate cables failure in 2004 recalled 4 million vehicles—134 injuries were reported (in contrast to Toyota’s sticky accelerators in the U.S. that had five reported deaths with four of those fatalities in a shared single vehicle).

Recalls are not uncommon among automakers, but there are Americans who feel Toyota’s issues are being intensified for reasons other than safety—more for political gain in a national climate that is currently very critical of big business and big government.

CONSUMERS RALLY BEHIND TOYOTA, NOT CONGRESS
The rise of the Tea-Party movement has created a climate that many political observers see as an anti-Washington and anti-Wall Street populist attitude. There is some truth to this assessment, but the grassroots anger appears more directed at the policies of big government, wild federal spending, and bureaucratic incompetence in dealing with terrorists (looking at the Massachusetts and New Jersey races).  Yet, one wonders if lawmakers on Capitol Hill are, at some level, overdoing the grilling on Toyota’s recent sticky accelerator issues and posturing for political reasons–to appear as advocates of the small consumer during the peoples’ zeitgeist.

Indeed, Toyota is the world’s leading automaker, and it’s a foreign company (even though it has factory operations here in the U.S.).  Toyota makes an easy target to criticize (the Japanese tend to be polite and not caustic in countering accusations). Criticizing Toyota creates the appearance of being an advocate for the consumer with few negatives… at least, that’s what some think.

If the public sees Washington elites review of Toyota as an unfair and politically motivated, it will bring a backlash. Living in California, one thing is very obvious to me in this region—AMERICANS LOVE THEIR TOYOTAS. There are entire families, two or three generations, which have found Toyota is the brand of reliability.  It is not uncommon to see a 20-plus years Toyota in good condition with more than 350,000 miles. Very few competitors can boost such a record.

Any drawn-out congressional drum beating that Toyota is incompetent on quality or care will be greeted with cynicism even if the automaker fell short on some issues. Many Americans value the role this automaker has provided in building quality trucks and cars, and providing energy-saving hybrids for the future. This was very clear in the ABCNews.com report “Toyota Recalls More Cars, But Customers Stay Loyal,” Feb. 9, 2010.

“’I will be as loyal and supportive to them as they have been to me,’” said Gilbert Villanueva of Northridge, California. Villanueva said he has owned Toyotas for 32 years and currently drives a 1993 Toyota truck and a 2007 Camry that has been recalled. ‘They never let me down before,’ he said. ‘I am confident of their solution.’”

ABCNew.com also cited Consumer Reports Michael Quincy, an auto specialist:

“’I think Toyota has a very feverish following,’ he said, noting that the automaker has scored points with consumers for both its trendy Prius models and, notwithstanding the recalls, its safety record.”

Toyota loyalty among American consumers is not limited to ABC News respondents. The online Driving.ca at www.driving.ca noted the commentary “War on Toyota” by columnist Terence Corcoran of the Financial Post, www.financialpost.com, who argued

“There is little doubt that Toyota, the world’s greatest auto maker in recent years, has become the victim of much more than another typical out-of-control All-American media frenzy. When top-line political gamesman such as U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Congressional pit bull Henry Waxman, and conniving United Auto Workers executives start piling on, this is clearly much bigger sport than the usual ritual public lynching of auto executives, a routine occurrence in Washington. The attack on Toyota, at this time of U.S. economic weakness and populist excess, is fast turning into a great American nationalist assault on a foreign corporation, an economic war. The White House has denied any such motivation on the part of the United States. But that denial lacks credibility. While it may be technically true that President Obama’s team didn’t explicitly reach a decision to target Toyota, nobody in this crowd needs a presidential order to turn the Japanese auto giant’s Sudden Unintended Acceleration (SUA) problem into a national industrial advantage for the United States. The owners of the union-dominated Government Motors can spot a strategic economic opportunity without waiting for the memo from head office.” [bold emphasis from Newschaser]

Readers to the driving.ca article further expressed

• “I owned a 2005 Pontiac for ONE year and received 4 recall letters about the Throttle Body. That’s right FOUR on the same parts.  The letter basically told me that if I don’t fix this issue right away, the vehicle could shut down my brake controls AND my steering. I think no matter what, Toyota will remain number one in the marketplace and people will see the value. At least they [Toyota] had the guts to go public with the recall rather than hide it like all the other car companies. WAY TO GO TOYOTA! As least they have the confidence in their brand to do this!” – FL, Feb. 5, 2010
• “Let’s put matters into perspective, 40,000 people die on U.S. roadways every year and perhaps another 3,000 on Canadian roads. I would be more concerned about drunk drivers or driving cell phones than faulty accelerators.” – SR, Feb. 4, 2010
• “Thank you for finally printing an article that takes into consideration ALL the facts, and doesn’t aim for sensationalism, I just bought a 2010 Corolla and am still pretty impressed. No car is fail-safe. People who believe they should be, should not be behind the wheel.” –Ali, Feb. 4, 2010

WHAT THE CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW SHOULD DO
To be sure, the congressional probe will be curious about the following:

1. When did Toyota first know about accelerator problems?
2. When did the problem reach a threshold that demanded an address (the criteria)?
3. What was the strategy behind doing a recall in Europe first, and then five months later in the U.S.? Does a five month wait between recalls constitute negligence or merely business sensibility (there were hardly any complaints in the U.S. by comparison with Europe in 2008 and most of 2009)?
4. Do the number of reports, valid complaints and injuries suggest negligence?
5. How do negative comments and reports fair against the body of satisfied consumers and what they have said?

In addition, lawmakers should take time to understand the Japanese business mindset from several different viewpoints. It will help to understand their decision-making process. The Japanese prize efficiency, quality and hard work. When they apologize, they do so often because a noticeable failure is shame on the honor of the name, the brand, the family.  The apology is not for something done morally wrong as much as it is for something not done well and in the true spirit of an arrangement—that is, in this instance, that Toyota customers and enterprises that rent Toyota vehicles should never have been inconvenienced—to have their harmony disturbed. This is a sociological dynamic buried within the Japanese mindset associated with the thoughts found in  Zen Buddhism and Shintoism and goes back over a thousand years.  In other words, the peace of the consumer has been disturbed, and now Toyota must do everything possible to restore equilibrium.

JAPANESE AND AMERICAN VIEW ON QUALITY AND CARE
The Wall Street Journal article “A Crisis Made in Japan,” Feb. 6, 2010, written by Jeff Kingston, director of Asian Studies at Temple University, is partly correct and partly off when it comes to Toyota business dynamics. Kingston correctly notes the following about Japanese corporate mindset that afflicts some of its major players:

“It is not surprising that Toyota’s response has been dilatory and inept, because crisis management in Japan is grossly undeveloped. Over the past two decades, I cannot think of one instance where a Japanese company has done a good job managing a crisis. The pattern is all too familiar, typically involving the problem, foot dragging on the product recall, poor communication with the public about the problem and too little compassion and concern for consumers adversely affected by the product. Whether it is exploding televisions, fire-prone appliances, tainted milk and false labeling, in case after case companies have been shortchanged their customers by shirking responsibility until the accumulated evidence forces belated disclosure and recognition of culpability. The costs of such negligence are low in Japan where compensation for product liability claims is mostly derisory or non-existent.”

To be clear, it has not been proven whether Toyota has been derelict over its response to sticky gas accelerators as Kingston assumes. Nonetheless, what one needs to understand is that Japanese culture places quality control on the front end, not the back-end, of product creation and delivery. The Meiji Restoration of the late 19^th and early 20^th Century in Japan catapulted this poor Asian nation into a powerhouse when the rest of Asia was dominated by foreign powers. That drive to know the best way or method in every quarter of industry, government, and education is the same drive for excellence found in the creation of automobiles.  For the Japanese mind, an effort must be good from the outset and one must strive for quality, a kind of perfection.  Complaints, an inferior product, means you did not get it right from the outset and one’s honor is lost on such failure.

In short, the Japanese go to great lengths to anticipate and work out problems to avoid any crisis or failure.  When Kingston says crisis management is “undeveloped,” I would argue that may be true, but it is because of where the priority for quality is placed–at the beginning.  Whereas, with many U.S. companies and a paranoid litigous society, we expect to hear complaints and rely on input that to correct problems that should have been addressed from the outset.

That is not to say that Toyota is exempt or innocent in its efforts to correct the problem–I currently do not have enough information. It is, however, an observation on how the Japanese mindset works and it leads one to another great quality of the Japanese where Kingston and I may agree. The Japanese, when they finally recognize a major mistake or failure, are herculean in their drive to get it right. For this reason alone… this attitude of getting it right… at the beginning of a process or even in a failure in a final product, fuels my confidence and deep admiration  of Toyota and its leadership.

MAKING THE BEST DECISION WITH TOYOTA
If congressional bigwigs conclude that Toyota should have done more (though I think Toyota has handled it well so far), they cannot take the automaker to task without criticism falling  on NHSTA as failing in their watchdog duties.  If taking Toyota to task on accelerators is merely a political maneuver fueled behind the scenes by UAW and the administration as many Americans suspect, it is a strategic blunder.  The Japanese are very pro U.S.  and great allies on a range of economic and political spectrums. They remain the most stable and notable Asian democracy in the Far East with an economy that ranks among the top three in the world.  Any unfair appraisal and treatment of Toyota makes everyone the loser.  American consumers would see Toyota resell values drop. American factories that build Toyota cars might see their hours cut and a loss of business. Albeit, there are some short-term gains for the government-run GM and Chrysler to pick up Toyota consumers, and for the independent Ford, but these are short-lived and unworthy of the true nature of free market competition.

Toyota is a brand that has kept a great record for decades. The automaker has a record of quality, care and profitability.  Strangely,  in the final analysis, what is foreign to American sensibilities is any grandstanding by the government or obessession by media to ruin a great company as a political payoff to union leaders to shore up dying automakers in Detroit.  I hope that is not the case.  If so, watch out Washington, you may see a populist uprising of Americans who love Toyota at your doorstep protesting this Fall alongside the Tea Party activists.

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Note: if you are a Toyota owner, I would love to get your feelings on the Toyota you owned or currently own in the reply.