“Big product recalls are never easy,” writes The Wall Street Journal (Oct. 24, 2016). In 1982, Johnson & Johnson recalled 31 millions of bottles within days of 7 people dying from cyanide-laced Tylenol. (J&J spent more than $100 million on the recall and product relaunch and was widely praised for its response). In 2009, Toyota recalled more than 8 million cars worldwide because of a faulty accelerator pedal, costing over $3 billion. And in 2015, 70 million Takata airbags were recalled in the U.S. alone. Consumers, however, are often willing to forgive mistakes if they believe the company is looking out for them and moving swiftly to address problems.
But, as the Journal‘s article “Samsung Recall’s Fatal Flaw” concludes, a rushed conclusion, based on incomplete evidence, forced the company to kill the Galaxy Note 7. A laboratory report last month said scans of some faulty devices showed a protrusion in Note 7 batteries supplied by Samsung SDI , a company affiliate, while phones with batteries from another supplier (Amperex) didn’t. It wasn’t a definitive answer, and there was no explanation for the bulges. But with consumers complaining and telecom operators demanding answers, the company felt it knew enough to recall 2.5 million phones. That decision in early September—to push a sweeping recall based on what turned out to be incomplete evidence—is now coming back to haunt the company.