The largest car maker in the world has made a huge recall of several of their models in an effort to put a stop to accidents linked to faulty accelerator pedals.
The massive recall Toyota announced came on Tuesday 26th of January as some 2.3 million Toyota-made cars concerning eight models have been discovered to have gas pedals that could likely get stuck and trigger uncontrollable acceleration.
The Toyota models subjected to recall are:
Camry (2007-2010)
Matrix (2009-2010)
Corolla (2009-2010)
Sequoia (2008-2010)
Tundra (2007-2010)
Highlander (2010)
Avalon (2005-2010)
RAV4 (2009-2010)
The same gas pedal problem was not found on several Camry models like the Camry Hybrid. Unlisted Toyota models like the Yaris, Land Cruiser, Tacoma, Prius, etc. have also passed quality inspection.
For this reason, Toyota has decided to suspend the production of these specific models on six assembly plants around North America.
Toyota’s reputation as a reliable car manufacturer has been tarnished and this would also probably strain their profits for this year’s first quarter, if not the entire year. In terms of sale, Toyota has sold more cars than any other car company in the world, placing them in the number one spot. After this incident, however, the future of Toyota looks cold 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 since some parts of the gas pedals that are used in North America are also used on some Toyota models in Europe. It is said that only one supplier from the United States was the only source of the defective part.
A prior incident in Japan back in 2006 concerning Toyota is also being related to the current recall. The incident involved the Japanese government conducting a criminal investigation on Toyota because of several accidents that took place and being traced to manufacturing problems. Charges were never filed against any of Toyota’s executives and personnel 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.
In a previous statement, Toyota announced a forecast sale of 2.19 million cars in the US and Canada and over 8 million car sales worldwide for this year. Then again, due to this recent embarrassment, that sales forecast could dramatically go down or could even cost Toyota huge in their sales profit.
The quality control conundrum Toyota’s currently having is also being blamed on the growth strategy of Katsuaki Watanabe, the company’s previous president. One particular aspect of the strategy involved increased and fast production which is said to have been a factor to poor quality control. In 2009, Watanabe was succeeded by the grandson of Toyota’s founder, Akio Toyoda.
Numerous safety firms have reported that over 2,000 incidents of sudden acceleration concerning Toyota vehicles and at least six deaths were also reported.
It is still unclear what kind of effect this would bring to the company but the important thing for it is to bring in the proper changes to its manufacturing and quality-control processes as soon as possible.