Toyota’s sterling reputation for quality took a major hit in 2009-2010 with the recall of 5 million vehicles for unintended acceleration and braking issues. The auto maker was also slow to tell federal regulators about sticky accelerator pedals and was fined a record $16.4 million…not exactly the quality image the firm had built up over the past 4 decades! These quality problems led to a temporary shutdown of all US plants and a halt in the sales of 8 popular models.
Toyota’s situation would likely cause my mentor Phil Crosby to turn over in his grave. “There is absolutely no reason for having errors or defects in any product or service”, he wrote in his 1979 book Quality is Free.
Quality, it turns out, is not to be taken for granted, even when one is the leader in the field. Mercedes faced this same recall issue in 2004-2005, when its suppliers cut corners on quality in response to Mercedes’ desire to pump up corporate profits. Its recall was 1.3 million cars, costing $600 million. You may recall seeing a photo in Ch.6 of our book’s 9th ed. of an E -Class Mercedes setting itself on fire in Tokyo.
Companies that take their eye off the quality ball find that “quality is not free”, and that it may take several years to rebuild a reputation.
Discussion questions:
1.What was Toyota’s initial response to the “floor mat problem” (which it claimed caused the accelerator to stick)?
2.What is Toyota doing today to deal with customer complaints?
3. Name some other recent major recalls of cunsumer items. How were they handled?