Toyota responds to the L.A. Times article

Toyota responds to the L.A. Times article

Filed under: Safety, Toyota



You know what they say about life at the top... Toyota will probably add a few more bittersweet reminiscences to that pile of axioms once it recovers from the beating it's currently taking.

The automaker has responded to the recent Los Angeles Times article concerning its safety record by issuing a statement and posting the entire e-mail Q&A document it gave the Times. Not surprisingly, Toyota calls the article an "attack" and says the "questions were couched in accusatory terms." After lookig over the doc, it's true that some of the questions posed do have the flavor of, "Have you stopped killing puppies, and if so, why?"

Others come off as a tad disingenuous, such as, "If Toyota's position is that the problem is caused by floor mat and pedal interaction when the floor mat is improperly installed by the driver or another third party, why would the company have settled those cases?" Nearly every life form on the planet knows that companies will settle cases even when convinced of their own innocence because it's easier than going to court, especially in the U.S. We're not saying Toyota is innocent, and perhaps the Times had to ask, but the practice of settling lawsuits is so common that we find the question intriguing.

On the other hand, some of Toyota's answers left us wondering. Its response regarding the steering relay rod issue in 4Runners, in which the company asserts that it's up to a jury to decide whether Toyota knew about the problem in the U.S., struck us as odd.

At the very least, Toyota might want to dial back the polemics. Any corporation that has gone through a steadily-expanding PR nightmare can tell you we're heading to the point where mere words, and perhaps even the historical and scientific data, do no good. Just ask Johnson & Johnson.. or GM... or Audi.

Their execs -- and any decent crisis management consultant -- would likely tell you that at this point, you do whatever you need to do, spend whatever you need to spend, but you get ahead of it. You can read Toyota's statement and the complete L.A. Times Q&A after the jump.

[Source: Toyota]Continue reading Toyota responds to the L.A. Times article

Toyota responds to the L.A. Times article originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 26 Dec 2009 09:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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