Toyota Recall Rises
The biggest car maker in the world has made a massive recall of several of their models in an effort to prevent accidents related to faulty accelerator pedals.
In January 26, the declaration for the recall came as some 2.3 million Toyota-made cars concerning eight models have been revealed to have accelerator pedals that could potentially get jammed and bring about uncontrollable acceleration.
Listed below are the car models being recalled by Toyota:
Corolla (2009-2010)
RAV4 (2009-2010)
Matrix (2009-2010)
Avalon (2005-2010)
Camry (2007-2010)
Highlander (2010)
Tundra (2007-2010)
Sequoia (2008-2010)
The same gas pedal problem was not found on certain Camry models like the Camry Hybrid. Other models like the Yaris, Land Cruiser, Tacoma, Prius, etc. have also passed quality inspection.
For this reason, Toyota has decided to put on hold the manufacture of these specific models on six assembly plants throughout North America.
This has costed Toyota Motors Corp. both substantial profit loss and their reputation as a reliable car manufacturer. General Motors used to be the number 1 car maker in the world but that all changed since Toyota overtook worldwide sales, making them number one. However, due to this setback, the future of Toyota looks bleak and it needs to redeem itself if it wants to regain the market’s trust again.
A potential recall may also take place at some point in time in Europe because several parts of the gas pedals that are used in North America are also used on some Toyota models in Europe. It is believed that only one supplier from the US was the only source of the defective part.
A previous incident in Japan back in 2006 involving Toyota is also being related to the recent recall. The incident involved the Japanese government conducting a criminal investigation on Toyota due to several accidents that took place and being traced to manufacturing problems. Charges were never filed against any of Toyota’s executives and employees but this incident has come back to haunt the company in some ways.
Shares of Toyota in the Tokyo stock market were said to have fallen 4.3 per cent right after the recall.
Toyota has earlier announced that its projected car sales forecast in North America will be above 2 million cars and over 8 million car sales worldwide for this year. However, due to this recent embarrassment, plenty are doubting that Toyota would meet that objective.
The quality control conundrum Toyota’s presently having is also being blamed on the growth strategy which was organized by its previous president Katsuaki Watanabe. The growth strategy involved increased and rapid production which is said to have played a role not detecting defective gas pedals earlier. In 2009, Watanabe was succeeded by the grandson of Toyota’s founder, Akio Toyoda.
There have already been information from numerous safety firms that over 2,000 incidents of sudden acceleration concerning Toyota vehicles and at least six deaths were also reported.
It is still unclear how much impact this would bring to the company but the important thing for it is to render the proper changes to its manufacturing and quality-control processes as soon as possible.