[Nyororin]

Currently in the process of buying another Toyota, and will continue to do so.
At this point I see no evidence of mismanagement of the issue.

People simply do not realize how systems work, and the process of elimination pattern that goes into finding a fault and issuing a proper reaction to it. The first day someone says there is a problem, you don`t magically know what caused it. There has to be a process of elimination - finding problems that are real and not user error, sorting the problems into chronic issues and total flukes (or due to gross misuse) - and then figure out what to do about it.

It seems like the media is so willing to jump on them for having multiple recalls, but what else would they have had them do? Wait for more accidents so they could be 100% sure of every possible issue?

With the Toyota recall the first problem they were able to confirm was the floor mat issue - so there was a recall. Was it the only issue? No, but if you know that even one accident was caused due to the mat eliminating that chance is the first step. Afterward, they were able to isolate another unrelated issue which they took prompt action on and issued another recall.

It seems people expected them to KNOW these issues ahead of time and fix them at the first complaint. But obviously if they had known the issues they would have been fixed before the cars were being sold. Even 20 similar complaints out of millions and millions of cars is not enough to magically know what the issue is (or even know if there is a real issue - without research it could have been people spilling glue into the pedal shaft. With the rarity of it, it would be plausible.)

I think the biggest problem is that US dealers aren`t required to know much of anything, and that there doesn`t seem to be any regulation on them. As long as they sell the cars that is all that matters. So the behavior of idiotic salespeople is reflecting badly back on the company as a whole. If people are reporting the problem but the dealers are saying "I`ve never heard of that!" and not even bothering to report it to corporate... It`s a dealer (franchised in the US) mismanagement issue, not a corporate one.

In the end, I think this is really a head shaking level of media hyperbole about a very rare issue - fueled by a couple high profile cases. I believe even the pessimistic figure on the probability of being involved in a recall related accident was 0.0004%. Of course, if you`re over 60 it jumps to 0.02% - which somehow makes me think "user error" in a lot of those cases. Unacceptable numbers - even one case is too many - but I`m more likely to be hit by a falling meteor while out in my garden.

As for "bouncing back" - who knows. Too many people see "Recall" "safety" and "Toyota" in the same sentence and set their minds without bothering to actually look into it.