Alex Fisher

The automaker Toyota worked for decades to build an image that equated quality
and reliability with the company name itself.

Sept. 10, 2009 - release of a 911 call of a crash that was due to uncontrollable
acceleration and that resulted in the death of four people => By of Jan. 28, 2010
Toyota recalled 9 million cars worldwide, due to floor mat problems associated
with sticking accelerator pedals and braking problems.

Subsequently, the Department of Transportation and the National Highway
Transportation Safety Board increased scrutiny of Toyota. Congressional hearings
were held in March 2010.


The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report (NHTSA) found no
electronic defect in Toyota vehicles. The conclusion was that driver error or pedal
misapplication was the cause for most of the incidents.
Letters to consumers / Advertisements
Press releases
Press conferences
TV commercials
Social media
January 31, 2010
Toyota ad


As you may have heard, in rare
cases, sticking accelerator pedals
have occurred in some of our
vehicles. We believe we are close
to announcing an effective remedy.
And were temporarily halted
production at some of our North
American plants to focus on the
vehicles weve recalled. Why have
we taken this unprecedented
action? Because its the right thing
to do for our customers.
February 2, 2010

A first letter to customers
ran in major
dailies and Toyotas Web site

50-year heritage

Criticized, the letter is no
longer on Toyotas website
February 05, 2010

Toyotas second letter to
consumers also run in major
dailies like the Wall Street
Journal and USA Today as well as
on its web site.

But, once again, the letter
disappeared from their website.

February 10, 2010

Toyotas third letter to
consumers

Were proud of our heritage and
recognize that, lately, we havent
lived up to it. All 172,000 Toyota
employees and dealership personnel
in North America are working
around the clock to make things
right for you and earn back your
trust.

And we believe that the best
companies learn from their mistakes.
We know we need to do better. We
are committed to doing just that.
February 18, 2010

Toyotas fourth letter to
consumers

History shows that great
companies learn from their
mistakes.

March 02, 2010

Our Pledge to Toyota Drivers Ad
March 30, 2010

Toyota Answers Consumer
Questions Ad

March 30, 2010

Toyota Answers Consumer
Questions Ad


Between September 2009 and June 2012, Toyota has
published no less than 30 press releases related to the recalls.

Informative press releases
Lots of technical information
Compliance with NHTSA requirements
Responses to negative media articles
Highlighting positive media articles
CEO Speeches from press conferences

On February 5, 2010 Toyotas President Akio Toyoda spoke at a press conference in
Japan. "I apologize from the bottom of my heart for all the concern that we have
given to so many customers," he said.











On February 17, 2010, Toyota held another press conference in Tokyo, at which
Akio Toyoda, President of Toyota, and Shinichi Sasaki, Executive Vice President of
Toyota, spoke about quality control throughout all of Toyotas work processes.



Social-media response room, staffed with six to eight people
monitoring the online conversation and responding at all
times: answering consumers on its four Facebook pages; it
created a Twitter chat with Jim Lentz, Toyota Motor Sales USA
president-chief operating officer; and it created two new
platforms, one with Digg and the other on Tweetmeme called
"Toyota Conversations" to aggregate online chatter and allow
Toyota to respond directly.

Approached online brand loyalists and asked if it could repost
their tweets, blog posts and videos on its platforms.

Increased the number of fans on its main Facebook presence
and today it has almost 1,5 million fans.
Who does Toyota have to answer to and speak with:
American consumers
- Complaints directly from American drivers
Worldwide consumers
- No reports but should we start to worry about
our car?
Companies endorsing Toyota
- Dealerships
Companies manufacturing parts to Toyota
- Are they making defected parts
Toyotas employees
- Will there be layoffs at the factories that built the
recalled vehicles

Communication Decisions Made

Hotline was given to the consumer if problems were discovered
Statement from all leading heads from Japan to America
Full page ad ran in U.S. newspapers
Recommendations for how consumers should diagnose the car
Toyota ASCA: Advisory Specialist for Consumer Affairs
Internal discussion session with 32 customers who are also
employees of Toyota
-Review the quality assurance systems in the U.S.
-Developments after the consumer received the malfunction car
back after repairs
-This board decided collectively to report the worst news first
-Create opportunities for employees to listen to live customers
-Make strategies clear to the consumer while improving car
performance

Stories skyrocket in January 2010 after recall

Increasingly negative and critical of Toyotas
response

Toyota fails to meet "psychological"
challengeNY Times Op Ed



Media Coverage
Edmunds.com and Forbes defend Toyota
Toyota Hybrid Horror Hoax
Toyota uses Stanford mechanical engineering
professor and outside firms to tell their story
about ABC News report

72% of Americans have followed the recall Toyota news
stories "somewhat closely" including 31% who have followed
them "very closely".
Rasmussen poll, February 8, 2010:
59% of Americans viewed Toyota favorably
22% viewed Toyota very favorably.
29% view Toyota unfavorably.
23% believed the federal government is criticizing Toyota to aid
General Motors of which it is the majority owner




Most Trusted Automobile Brand
2009 #1
2010 #20
2012 #9
However... Toyota isnt in the business of being trusted,
theyre in the business of selling cars.
And the Camry is still number one!
Toyota implemented a rebuilding strategy:
Improve organizations reputation
Actions to benefit stakeholders
Offset negative effects


Message:
Full Apology: Toyota accepted full responsibility for
the crisis.
Compensation: Toyota offered to fix the cars or full
reimbursement for the damaged vehicles.


Pre-crisis
The company didnt realize that this was a crisis waiting to
happen. In a Nov. 6, 2009 press release, Toyota stated that
Six times in the past six years NHTSA has undertaken an
exhaustive review of allegations of unintended acceleration on
Toyota and Lexus vehicles. So since 2003 the company was
aware of this kind of allegations, but still it didnt realize the
extent to which such allegations could break into a crisis.

Crisis event
Once the crisis started, Toyota didnt recognize it. It did recall
millions of vehicles, but its communications efforts were
considered to be too little, too late. It didnt address the real
issue customers emotions, anger and desire to be
reassured. Instead, it focused on technical aspects of the
problem and reiterated its long term heritage.

Cultural differences also played a big role in the handling of
the crisis: while in Japan it is considered wise not to talk to the
public in the case of a crisis as long as the company does not
have facts or answers, in the U.S. it is a whole different story.
Toyota should have reached out to an U.S. PR company that
would have suggested how to communicate in the North-
American market.

In the era of the Golden Few Minutes, a.k.a. Social Media
Era, Toyota missed its chance of establishing itself as the
authoritative source of accurate, confirmed information,
because it took the company too long to respond and when it
eventually did, it was considered too little, and non-
empathetic. Toyotas President was not available to the
media, which increased speculation. When the President
eventually spoke at a press conference, his response was not
considered to be as much about the victims, as about the
companys financial loss and well-being. Furthermore, his
apology on Feb. 5, 2010, was not done in a timely fashion and
was not considered as having any sense of remorse.

Post-crisis

Some of the companys response strategies were based on
rebuilding, but some of them were based on diminishing of
the crisis.

Toyota did learn from the crisis situation. It did a good job
especially in social media.

Communication:
Expressed concern for the stakeholders safety
Informed public about the reason of the problem
Informed stakeholders of the actions taken to correct
the problem
Informed stakeholders what is being done to avoid
future problems.


Toyotas recall crisis was a predictable and preventable one
both in the case of the technical crisis, as well as in terms of
public relations. The company should have done a better job
in assessing the reputational threat.

Although the company did issue a good number of press
releases, they were mainly addressing the technical aspects of
the crisis. In terms of addressing the real issue emotions due
to death of people and fear it may happen to any of us, the
company adopted a silent strategy. This usually leads to
negative comments. The company should have taken control
over the situation and establish itself as the credible source of
information.


During the recall, the Toyotas spokesman gave suggestions for the
consumer to diagnose the car problem. Also in the same statement
he mentioned that the problem with the specific accelerator pedal
was assembly from a specific supplier. The company should have
communicated to the consumer that they will no longer be
purchasing parts from the specific company.

Along with the newspaper ad Toyota could have developed a
creative commercial using employees on what steps are being taken
to improve Toyotas performance

Dont state you acted too quickly and can assure it will never
happen again
Respond quicker and take more decisive action



Learning from the Audi case Toyota should have anticipated
more claims of sudden acceleration that were simply driver
error. Toyota could have more actively educated the public on
how to avoid this problem (weather it was a real threat or
simply a fear in the minds of the consumers).
Toyota should have fought back against their attackers. In
many of the cases of reported sudden acceleration the drivers
were participating in unsafe activities such as texting while
driving or even being under the influence of marijuana.

The company could have shown a bit more empathy with
accident victims. Some press releases were a bit dry.


Discussion Questions
Do you think it was a wise decision for President
Toyoda, of Toyota to not attend the congressional
hearings in the U.S. stating to leave that to his U.S.-
based executives while he focuses on improving quality
controls.
Do you feel that this ad shows that Toyota was taking
necessary action to regain their consumers trust? Did
you feel that Toyota is taking the blame or pointing the
finger elsewhere?
Why was Toyota able to so easily recover from this
crisis when Audi was nearly destroyed by a similar
problem?

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