Toyota’s PR: Like a Bent Fender
While Toyota’s leaders have been parading to Capitol Hill, offering little to say except apologies, what is really curious is the company’s lack of outreach to consumers. Simple logic would suggest the giant car maker might attempt to regain lost trust among the people who buy their products and attempt to salvage its brand reputation. But, that is not the way Toyota does things in the U.S.
Toyota has revealed how it’s gotten problems solved in the U.S. – the company hires legions of Washington lobbyists who get problems – such as potential recalls for defective cars – swept under the carpet, the driving public be damned.
In a city where the primary commodity is influence, influence is bought and sold. No place is influence more available to buy than in the halls of Congress. Money gets action. Toyota knows how the game is played. It is called corruption.
Excuses are flying over why the National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA) didn’t respond as early as 2007 with a recall over Toyota’s accelerator problems despite deaths on the highways around the country. Chances are that NHTSA was told to back off. A Toyota lobbyist made a call to someone who made a call, and the problem went away. No fingerprints, except on the money.
NHTSA, by the way, is under the Department of Transportation, whose Secretary Ray LaHood has no apparent credentials in the field of transportation beyond driving to his restaurant in Illinois before becoming a politician.
Toyota so far has not sent any signals that it is authentically concerned about solving its issues or even more importantly, the safety of its customers. It was simply been too easy to buy influence. But, that only works for so long …
Category: Featured, Reputation management
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