Toyota Recall
People across the world have been buying Toyota vehicles for decades because of their price, their fuel efficiency, and most importantly their reliability. There have been countless people who say they will only buy Toyota cars and trucks because they know they will be purchasing a good vehicle that will last them for well over 100,000 miles and have no serious reliability problems. This all changed this year when Toyota cars suddenly began accelerating uncontrollably, killing some and terrifying others. The problems that caused this and the poor way that Toyota dealt with the crisis will certainly affect the loyalty of much of Toyota's customers.
The problems that caused the uncontrollable acceleration are downright frightening. Many Toyota drivers reported accelerator pedals that would stick, ensuring that the car would keep accelerating. Others reported their vehicles refusing to respond to anything, including applying the brakes or attempting to shift the vehicle into neutral. This has been attributed to both a faulty accelerator pedal and a problem with the computer system that controls acceleration and braking. This is a problem that will scare some away from Toyota vehicles for a long time, and understandably so. These problems very well could be fatal on the road, and there is no real concrete answer to the software issues that have been presented. No one would want to drive a vehicle that they believed had a high probability of killing them, so this will hurt sales.
The way Toyota handled this problem is equally concerning. Toyota began addressing the problem by stating that it was a result of floor mats that were becoming stuck under the accelerator pedal. This preposterous assertion led many people to place their floor mats in the trunk or remove them from the vehicle only to find that their vehicle still ended up speeding out of control. The problem was then addressed with the claim that a simple metal shim would fix the problem. This was also proved untrue and it was found out that the cheaper accelerator used in making Toyota cars for Americans was one of the problems. Steve Jobs of Apple also found out hat he could make his Prius accelerate in a manner similar to the problems others were having. Toyota took a very long time to attempt to fix the accelerator issue and went out of their way to attempt to disprove that it was a software problem instead of fixing the problems. This is no way to run a business, and Americans know that. Americans want to be treated with honesty in their business dealings. Loss of trust typically means loss of business in America, so it can be expected for Americans to turn away from Toyota.
Toyota has a long way to make up for the problems that these potentially fatal glitches in their cars have caused. If they want to remain a major player in the American auto market they will have to find a way to assure us that their products are completely safe and they are committed to honest business practices.
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