Toyota Motor could have trouble reaching its lofty sales goals if the company fails to address its most pressing issue in decades: quality.
Toyota's sales success is built on a hard-won reputation for making safe cars that don't break. But that reputation took another major hit last week, the second in just months.
Toyota said it was recalling 2.3 million vehicles in the U.S., and an unspecified number in Canada, to correct “sticking accelerator pedals” on specific Toyota models. The first widespread news of this matter came in an ABC News broadcast -- prepared before the recall announcement -- linking the problem to four deaths.
The latest recall comes on the heels of last November's Toyota recall of 4.2 million vehicles in the U.S. and another 200,000 in Canada. That one was to address gas pedals that could become trapped under floor mats, causing sudden acceleration.
It's fair to say that Toyota hasn't faced a crisis like this in decades. Until just recently and for as long as anyone can remember, Toyota has enjoyed nothing but growth and profits, loyal owners and happy employees, profitable dealers and a general sense of well-being.
Loyal owners? An R.L. Polk survey that found that Toyota had the highest loyalty rating of any manufacturer selling vehicles in the United States last year -- 59 per cent.
Quality vehicles? Since 2005, Toyota's Lexus luxury brand has remained atop J.D. Power's Initial Quality Survey, with the Toyota brand not far behind.
Sure, the gap between Lexus/Toyota and rival brands has shrunk, with the industry average creeping closer to Toyota. And among non-luxury brand, Hyundai Motor and Honda Motor topped Toyota in the 2009 IQS.
But Toyota actually improved to No. 4 in J.D. Power's 2009 Vehicle Dependability Study from seventh in 2005, though Lexus slid to third after topping the charts for years.
Toyota, to the company's credit, has publicly taken on the quality issue. In a recent story in Automotive News, a senior Toyota quality official said Toyota's rapid production increases (to meet sales growth) and a proliferation of models are heavily to blame for the recalls and other quality black-eyes.
Whatever the reason behind the recalls and such, Toyota now finds itself looking at a resurgent Ford Motor and ambitious global auto makers such as Hyundai-Kia and Volkswagen. VW, in fact, says it plans to be the world's biggest auto maker by 2018.
So Toyota is finding that being the world's No. 1 auto maker includes having a bull's eye on your logo.
Here's a little warning shot for Toyota to consider: According to The New York Times, Compete Inc., a Massachusetts research firm that studies online car shopping in the U.S., says Ford has surpassed Toyota in customer consideration for the first time since Compete began tracking such data in 2002.
The public can see what's happening here. As a result, Toyota's bullet-proof reputation is taking hits in terms of public perception.
Perception aside, if you are the owner of any of the following vehicles, the most recent accelerator pedal recall applies to you:
2009-2010 RAV4
2009-2010 Corolla
2009-2010 Matrix
2005-2010 Avalon
2007-2010 Camry
2010 Highlander
2007-2010 Tundra
2008-2010 Sequoia
If you have concerns, Toyota says you should contact your Toyota dealer for assistance. You can also visit www.toyota.ca for more information or call Toyota's Customer Interaction Centre at 1-888-TOYOTA-8 (1-888-869-6828).
