Posted on 02/05/2010 7:13:18 AM PST by Chi-townChief
TOKYO – Toyota's president apologized Friday for the massive global recalls over sticking gas pedals as the automaker scrambles to repair a damaged reputation and sliding sales.
But Akio Toyoda, appointed to the top job at Toyota Motor Corp. last June, said the company is still deciding what steps to take to fix brake problems in the popular Prius gas-electric hybrid.
Speaking at a hastily announced news conference that lasted an hour, a stern-looking Toyoda promised to beef up quality control.
"We are facing a crisis," he said, publicly confronting the automaker's safety problems for the first time since the global recalls were announced Jan. 21.
He said the company is setting up a special committee he would head himself.
It would review internal checks, go over consumer complaints and listen to outside experts to come up with a solution to the widening quality problems.
"I offer my apologies for the worries," he said. "Many customers are wondering whether their cars are OK."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Ahso, Darkshearesan. The drink, or the weapon?
“Make mine a BÔD ÜGHT!” -gets handed a horrible looking smoking concoction that melts the very air around it.
Hemlock for me.
We’re just not looking at it correctly. S’okay to hit a wall at 80 mph with your accelerator stuck, just as long as you
SAVE FACE
Actually I’m impressed. Nobody at Ford ever apologized for the Pinto.
I’m still waiting for Pontiac to apologize for the Aztec.
The one who should apologize for the Pinto is Nader, not Ford! They did the gastank conversions for free; I know because we had one. That 2300cc engine is the same one they used in the Mustang, and just as good as the 351 Cleveland.
On the local dealer marquee: “Owned by Americans, not American owned.” I will buy them again.
Yeah, none of the American car companies will ever publicly acknowledge any mistake, aesthetic or fatal, they just move along ignoring it. Toyota will probably learn what I’ve learned in my personal life, in a victim society the guy that is actually willing to say “I $%^&ed up” stands out as an honest person that people want to work with and buy from.
We had a Pinto. And the fact that they didn’t charge us to fix THEIR design problem (remember the true problem was the bolt near the tank, not technically the tank itself) does not impress me in the least. They never had the cajones to say “yes, we made bad decisions and a bad car”, it was all “it’s not that bad, it’s not that dangerous”, downplay downplay downplay.
Putting your logo on a car is easy, it’s putting your logo on a mistake that’s hard, and shows real corporate character. Toyota apparently has it, Ford has never stepped up to that plate.
Toyota has a long history of keeping defects hid but this time the white wash won’t take hold.
I keep them in a jar.
/ bad joke
T.O.Y.O.T.A. =
Tell
Obama
Toyota
Opposes
Threatening
Attacks
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.
.
.
.
..
P.S. I love my Tercel that I bought used!!! - after 25 years of buying GM union thug trash.
Iacocca parlayed his masterful performance with the Pinto into the big time!!
I’ve seen the way Korean manufacturers operate first-hand is all.
American customer service: Be inconvenienced by the customer, maybe fix the problem, or maybe call your attorneys.
日本＊ピング＊ (kono risuto ni hairitai ka detai wo shirasete kudasai : let me know if you want on or off this list)
There is that angle, too. I smell it from here.
Funny thing about the whole Pinto gas tank story.
I was reading one of the Houston newspapers several years after that happened, and there on page 28D or whatever was this little 2” long story that said that after the NTHSA studied the problem.
They found that the Toyotas, Mazdas, and Datsuns of the day were actually MORE prone to a fire as a result of a rear end collision than the Pinto.
But we have to hatchet the American businesses, in order to not tarnish the Japanese quality myth.
But in my years in hundreds upon hundreds of situations, I have personally seen enough of this phenomenon to say your observation does indeed hold water, DT.
So often (many) American and other western apologies get that little "but" tacked on right after the statement of contrition, followed by a self-protective, CYA-ish, rambling whine, which then totally deflates the value of the apology in the first place and in fact, even removes it from the classification of being an "apology" to one of just another whining excuse and "it's not my fault", or like Obama "I take responsibility" which I truly despise the most.
I personally think somebody is going to hang themself over this....
Least we know where you are coming from now. Thanks for the slip-up. ;-)
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