Toyota 2010 Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Toyota 2010 - Term Paper Example This meant that the driver would not always be able to stop the car when he pulled the brakes consequently causing serious accidents (Jackwin, 2010). The second recall was made on January 21, 2010. Numerous crashes were reported which could not be explained by the floor mat incursion. Research indicated problems with the mechanical sticking of the accelerator pedal which Toyota labels sticking accelerator pedal. After a series of research findings Toyota recalled approximately 5.2 million vehicles with regards to the floor mat problem and an additional 2.3 million with regards to the accelerator problem (Stewart, 2010). These decisions were a result of numerous investigations carried out by Toyota along with the U.S. NHTSA and Japanese transport ministry. After numerous complaints being filed, US safety regulators carried out an investigation into Corolla steering complaints on Feb 17, 2010. The biggest challenge facing the investigators was to differentiate between accidents caused by mechanical or technical faults in the vehicles and those that were merely a result of driver error. Both the Wall Street Journal and USA Today suggested that even when the dealers and automakers realized the cause was driver error it was not always possible for them to say it explicitly, so as to avoid appearing insensitive to their customers (United States, 2010). Investigations were also carried out by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT). The MLIT investigated on the sudden acceleration complaints and released its findings in February 2010. Revealing that out of the 134 cases logged by the ministry between 2007 and 2009, Toyota accounted for 38 cases. However it also stated that since Toyota’s market share was huge approximately 28% the rate found was not unusual. When confronted with the issue the president and CEO of Toyota Akio Toyoda issued a statement