Experts Say Toyota Should Have Accelerated Its Reaction Time to Deadly Sticky-Pedal Problem: Carmaker Launches PR Campaign To Rebuild Its Image
It took a high-profile tragedy for Toyota to give serious attention to the sticky-gas-pedal problem for which the carmaker recently issued a mammoth recall — this after more than 2,000 complaints of unintended acceleration. An off-duty policeman's grisly crash, graphically documented on a 911 call, finally forced Toyota to step up its own inquiry. But the action came too late to prevent incalculable damage to its once-stellar reputation for quality.
At almost every step that led to its current predicament, Toyota underestimated the severity of the sudden-acceleration problem affecting its most popular cars. It went from discounting early reports of problems to overconfidently announcing diagnoses and insufficient fixes. As recently as the fall, Toyota was still saying it was confident that loose floor mats were the sole cause of any sudden acceleration, issuing an advisory to millions of Toyota owners to remove them. The company said on Nov. 2 that "there is no evidence to support" any other conclusion, and added that its claim was backed up by the federal traffic safety agency, the NY Times reports in a story by Bill Vlasic.
On the heels of that reactive failure, Toyota launched a public relations blitz over the weekend intended to rebuild its public image amid the massive recalls. Automotive industry analysts and public relations professionals said Toyota's approach to communicating what it will do about the potentially deadly glitch in some of its vehicles is crucial to its future as the world's largest auto manufacturer, the LA Times reports.
"What they absolutely have to do is convince people that they are working on this and are going to do the right thing for cars on the road, at dealerships and in production," said George Peterson, an analyst at AutoPacific Inc., report LA Times writers Roger Vincent and Ken Bensinger.
BurrellesLuce's Johna Burke interviews Steve Mayerowitz, ABC Travel Producer, who discusses how social media has changed how broadcasters process inquiries and requests from PR people.
