

Toyota's Recall Crisis: What Have We Learned? - gth158a
http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/02/toyotas_recall_crisis_full_of.html

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trustfundbaby
> Toyota's Recall Crisis: What Have We Learned?

How completely unreliable our media can be when it comes to anything not
having to do with Jersey Shore or American Idol?

Forgive the snark, but the idea that a company lost all that money, sustained
such damage to their brand and image built over so many years _simply_ because
of a media that failed to do their jobs makes my blood boil.

~~~
sudont
And to think we scoffed at the Japanese conspiracy of an American media hit
job against Toyota.

~~~
ENOTTY
I would hesitate to call it a conspiracy, which ascribes some true malice to
the media. I think it's probably more of institutional bias towards the
sensational and a catering to people's beliefs out of desire for more viewers.

------
JSig
>> So who won in this debacle?

The author does not mention the advantages that would come to GM as a result
of this recall. Since the gov is an owner of GM, you could argue there was a
potential conflict of interest here.

See this ->>>

"GM isn't wasting any time taking advantage of Toyota's weakened position
after its massive recall and sales stoppage. The General has just announced
new incentives for current Toyota customers.

In a phone call to Inside Line, a GM official said the new offer consists of
zero percent financing for 60 months on most Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and
Cadillac models. Cash buyers get $1,000 toward a down payment and lease
customers can get a waiver of three payments up to $1,000.

To qualify for the incentives, customers must show proof that they own or
lease a Toyota.

This is starting to get interesting. "

[http://blogs.insideline.com/straightline/2010/01/toyota-
reca...](http://blogs.insideline.com/straightline/2010/01/toyota-recall-
update-2-gm-goes-on-the-attack.html)

~~~
baguasquirrel
I remember also reading a piece in Stratfor about how the American leadership
was disappointed with Japanese diplomacy. This sort of boring stuff is
actually important in real-world policy enforcement.

[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:JziQfDN...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:JziQfDNP0AkJ:www.stratfor.com/analysis/20091109_us_japan_managing_alliance+obama+japan+site:stratfor.com&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&source=www.google.com)

[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:t5XDNqP...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:t5XDNqPU0PUJ:www.stratfor.com/analysis/20091105_japan_us_new_stage_relations+site:stratfor.com+obama+Hatoyama&cd=6&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&source=www.google.com)

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blhack
I'm sure that this is a common phrase, but one of my friends gave this advice
to me:

"Their perception is your reality."

He was talking about management, and maintaining a good image to your
employees, but the phrase applies to everything.

People's _perception_ was that Toyota had some terrible electrical problems,
and the news media, being a for-profit endeavor, ran with it.

So Toyota's perceived problems became reality, and we needed to devote 10
months of the brightest engineering minds in the world to change that.

Unfortunately, that's how things work.

~~~
kscaldef
"So Toyota's perceived problems became reality, and we needed to devote 10
months of the brightest engineering minds in the world to change that."

Sadly, that's not how it works. People will forever remember that Toyota had
horrible safety problems, and not that they were actually exonerated in the
end.

~~~
idoh
Indeed. I still won't touch an Audi even decades after the 60 Minutes episode,
even though it turned out to be false. Logically I know but logic only goes so
far.

~~~
dspeyer
So the moral is: don't read/watch the mainstream press at all.

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karanr
My biggest gripe with this is that when the truth finally comes out, it gets
no attention. The perceptions that changed rapidly from "toyota = safety" to
"toyota = death" will be slow to switch back. It will take years, although
Toyota has done a good job marketing themselves since the incident.

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damoncali
The interesting part of this is that NASA did a study. I used to work for NASA
as a contractor. I never met anyone with automotive engineering experience.
Not that there weren't any, but wouldn't it make more sense to hire an
automotive engineering consulting company to do a study? Come to think of it,
I wonder who NASA hired to do the study. I bet dollars to donuts it wasn't
government (NASA) employees.

But people (and therefore politicians) see NASA and think smart. It just shows
you how political this whole mess was.

~~~
Retric
I think some of the people working on all those rovers keep up with automotive
technology. Also, when it comes to the specific systems involved they know
more about sensors, robotics, and real time systems than just about any
organization on the planet.

PS: _NASA engineers were contracted to conduct research into whether
electronic systems or electromagnetic interference played a role in incidents
of unintended acceleration._ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NHTSA-
NASA_Study_of_Unintended_...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NHTSA-
NASA_Study_of_Unintended_Acceleration_in_Toyota_Vehicles)

~~~
damoncali
Well, those rovers don't have engines. But the interference makes a lot of
sense. Radiation/interference is a major issue for space electronics.

Interesting side note: The Hubble Space Telescope used a basically stock
(totally stock?) intel 486 in its computer - mainly, I'm told, because they
came out of the box with remarkable radiation resistance. I was a mechanical
guy, however, so don't quote me on that.

------
gth158a
The events that led Toyota to recall 10 million vehicles may go down in
industrial history as the biggest mountain of a crisis ever made out of the
smallest molehill of a technical glitch. We now have verifiable facts, rather
than conclusions drawn by the media based on assumptions, innuendo and fear.

~~~
gth158a
Here's a list of relevant articles: \+ The Washington Post editorial - "NHTSA
Report Clears up Mystery - and Hysteria - on Toyota Cars" \+ Harvard Business
Review - "Toyota's Recall Crisis: What Have We Learned?" \+ Bloomberg
BusinessWeek - "Toyota: The Media Owe You an Apology" \+ Automotive News "One
Year Later: Let's Get Beyond Toyota Speed Scare" \+ Fortune "The Safety Police
Go after Toyota Again"

------
scott_meyer
So, from the executive summary, it appears that NASA looked at the throttle
system and was unable to find a systematic explanation for it being stuck
open. A stuck throttle, by itself, is quite awkward but if you have a working
brake override system, an awkward lurch will be as bad as it gets.

But regardless of what NASA did or did not find, there were real accidents
involving throttles which were stuck open for minutes at a time with the
engine completely overpowering the brakes. Recall that in the 100mph LA crash
which set off the investigation the brakes were completely destroyed.

That is a real design flaw, an error of commission by Toyota. Other cars, for
example VWs, have a brake override and the drivers manual documents an
accelerator "double-tap" protocol for giving the accelerator priority, say
when starting on a steep hill.

Furthermore, in the week after the recall, the president of Toyota announced
that Toyota throttle systems would henceforth include a brake override. Here's
their official press release making good on that promise:

[http://pressroom.toyota.com/pr/tms/toyota-extends-brake-
over...](http://pressroom.toyota.com/pr/tms/toyota-extends-brake-
override-154194.aspx)

So I can't develop too much sympathy for Toyota. They made a basic design
mistake in a safety critical system, and then refused to acknowledge the
problem. That mistake and their mishandling of it cost them a ton of money and
that is exactly as it should be.

------
eli
Yeah, but 18 months is a long time to wait to see if you need to do a recall
on a potentially deadly product.

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rgrieselhuber
Still getting caught up on all of this, but there was a problem with sticky
gas pedals?

------
beefman
Also from NASA this week: No evidence your neighbor is a Communist.

