Toyota's Tarnished Image: Austin Lee

I know this might not be the popular answer, but Toyota didn't wait too long to start a recall.  Of the millions of cars affected by the recall, only 2,000 complaints were filed.  That is a very, very small percentage.  Toyota has a very long track record of making very high quality vehicles that are respected for their safety as well as their quality.  It was appropriate for them to seek out a possible issue outside of their own engineering as a potential cause for these complaints.  In the end it turned out that Toyota's design was the cause of the accelerator issues.

The problem as I see it is the liberally biased media.  The animosity they have toward corporations is laughable seeing as how they are all owned by major corporations.  When the climate scientists were caught red handed lying about their results or when ACORN was shown to be corrupt, they couldn't seem to find time to report on it.  However, Toyota has an issue with some cars and they dedicate miles of column inches and reels of video tape to bring down the evil corporation.

Toyota will be back and better than ever.  They have some design issues and the market is reflecting this issue for the time being.  Toyota in the future will learn they are not invincible and will look more closely at their own design and engineering as issues arise.  It will take more than bad press to bring down a company as entrenched and respected as Toyota.

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