The Trouble with Toyotas: So? What’s next?

It looks like Toyota’s dragging of its corporate feet on the sticky throttles fiasco is starting to take its toll. Last week, shares in the Japanese automaker plunged by 14 per cent—that’s a loss of $21 billion in market value, kids. So why are investors pounding Toyota so hard? Maybe because the Japanese has been anything but on ahead of the situation in the public’s eye. Mizuno Credit Advisory director Tatsuya Mizuno reportedly told Business Week that Toyota has "wasted too much time without doing anything," adding that the automaker used to have foresight for taking action but is now, "very far behind the curve." To wit:

• Last fall Toyota made the original recall of 3.8 million vehicles for floor mat issues a “voluntary matter.” Oops, scratch that. In fact, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which insisted the recall was anything but “mandatory;” • Last week, Toyota said that it was shipping new pedals to factories to replace the sticky units. Oops, scratch that. An angry response from dealers and the public forced the automaker to change its mind and send the parts to dealers directly to expedite the matter. Now this week, Toyota has taken out ads in 20 major U.S. markets to explain why it has temporarily suspended production at several North American plants. Funnily enough, you won’t read anything about what the sticking throttles. The headline reads, "A temporary pause. To put you first.” The only mention of the recall of 5.3 million vehicles for floor mat issues (that may lead to unintended acceleration) and a separate recall of 2.3 million vehicles for sticking gas pedals (that may also lead to unintended acceleration ) is to check out the automaker's website. In Canada, the last news from Toyota Canada Inc was on January 26, when it told its dealers to temporarily suspend sales of the certain models. According to U.S. Business Week, A news release will be issued at 6:30 a.m. EST today, followed by a conference call for the media at 11 a.m. EST, Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. said in a statement late Sunday. Other than that… Do you think Toyota has been too slow to respond? Do you think it should been more proactive in dealing with this fiasco instead of waiting for the government authorities to mandate some of their decisions? [Source: Business Week]

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