Filed under: Marketing/Advertising, Recalls/TSBs, Safety
Is Toyota trying to sneak in a recall under the radar?
Toyota is issuing a recall Special Service Campaign for 9,000 FJ Cruisers so that the company can inspect vehicles equipped with Dunlop and Bridgestone tires. There is concern that the inner bead may have been damaged due to a supposedly unique mounting process. This, in itself, is not particularly unusual, but what is a bit strange is how the company announced the recall campaign - with a post on an enthusiast message board.
The message was posted on the FJ Cruiser Forum by a user with the name "TMS USA", and the spokesperson says that the automaker has not contacted the mainstream media regarding "this small volume service action", but is trying "to be a bit more proactive and provide the right information to consumers and customers via consumer-generated internet discussions".
Now, by law, automakers have to contact owners regarding recalls, but no specifics are put into place regarding the type of media that is to be used. The FJ Cruisers Forum currently has around 3,500 members, which would seem to represent an unusually high percentage of FJ owners. In this sense, it would seem that Toyota has found a tightly-focused means by which to spread the word to the appropriate parties, but it also might appear as if the automaker is making a deliberate attempt to avoid the media scrutiny that follows such announcements. Indeed, as of the writing of this post, a search of Google News returns no hits on this subject.
[Source: FJ Cruisers Forum; tip courtesy of JayC]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Paul 11:50AM (6/29/2006)
maybe it just shows that Toyota cares about their customers unlike the big 3 who wait until people are killed before they address a problem.
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Speed Racer 11:54AM (6/29/2006)
Three cheers to Toyota for EMBRACING an enthusiastic owner community... assuming that "TMS USA" is actually an authorized Toyota source.
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Chad 11:55AM (6/29/2006)
Have to protect that glass reputation bubble.
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Michael Karesh 12:05PM (6/29/2006)
Most recalls of this size receive no media scrutiny. It's only the ones with hundreds of thousands that tend to get it.
To my knowledge, every car manufacturer refers to recalls as "campaigns," "service campgains," etc. Even inside these companies you won't hear the word "recall." This might be for the same reason you'll hear a doctor say "myocardial infarction" and not "heart attack." Or maybe the reasons are a bit different.
Anyway, as the post notes the key part of any recall is a letter sent to every registered owner. This is how I've generally learned of recalls on the cars I've owned, not through some press story.
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voz 12:07PM (6/29/2006)
#1 your a moron for posting such dumb comment "maybe it just shows that Toyota cares about their customers unlike the big 3 who wait until people are killed before they address a problem ". What it shows is that there trying to keep it as hush hush as possiable. They don't want people to think that there products have problems and if someone where to get killed because of a tire mounting problem then it would have been all over the news and Toyota would be making recall out loud to the media and public to take note.If your taking about Ford problem with the firestone tires on the Explorer is not fords fault the the tires were defective and that they blew out that was firestones fault.
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Paul 12:17PM (6/29/2006)
#5
its always someone elses fault. face it american made cars are dangerous and unreliable
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Richard Warren 12:18PM (6/29/2006)
A domestic doing this would be eaten for lunch in the press and here. Toyota or Honda does it and their wonderful. If it looks like bullshit, smells like bullshit,steams like bullshit, it's bullshit. They've got a problem and it's under the radar. Honda did this all the time, prided themselves on not having a recall, in fact is was just a company started recall with a fancy name. Yep, it's bullshit and Americans buy lots of it.
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HemiDakota 12:21PM (6/29/2006)
Since Toyota crosses platform with same components in order to be more profitable and to save money, you can bet that a announced recall of 1-million vehicles for a steering defect would really be a 5-6 million world wide under the table.
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Vik 12:29PM (6/29/2006)
Bottom line is that Americans have made their decisions over and over again. The Japs make a reliable care with superb resale value. Domestic Heeps are barely able to keep the doors open while the Japanese automakers are employing more and more Americans.
If Toyota et al reliability was really suspect people wouldn't be buying their vehicles in droves. The proof is in the balance sheet.
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JR 12:29PM (6/29/2006)
6. #5
its always someone elses fault. face it american made cars are dangerous and unreliable
Posted at 12:17PM on Jun 29th 2006 by Paul
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Hey Riceball, your taking out your fartpipe again.
Got news for you, the most people killed that FORCED a recall is the japs tires as they did with ford and to this day the japs lied as to the cause
So here we go again with tire problems, seems they are too stupid or totaly lack of care about American drivers, or both.
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DRoger 12:30PM (6/29/2006)
As stated so eloquently earlier, this is bullshit. It's not an attempt to be proactive and it not taking care of customers, it's being sneaky. Man, some people just can't be fair-minded when talking about Japanese cars.
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Turtle bait 12:36PM (6/29/2006)
Toyota produces crap, their recall rate is 10.6%, GM recall rate is 6.2%, so don't give anyone that bull about Toyota is doing the right thing. They are living in a glass house and it's begining to crack. When a company starts trying to hide it's problems, they are keeping even more problems hid from the public.
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cj hanson 12:43PM (6/29/2006)
thank God for Toyota. I have owned cadillac's for years and I must say for the last six I have owned a toyota and I will never owned another cadillac. Toyota
makes a good dependable car.I can have any car I want, But I am very satisfied with my Toyota
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Paul 12:47PM (6/29/2006)
I am beginning to think you guys are xenophobic
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robbie 12:55PM (6/29/2006)
I think comment #10 is derogatory and should be removed, not to mention that the writer's comments are totally devoid of any real intellectual merit. JR should head back to Dallas and cavort with the rest of his racist ilk.
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MikeInNC 1:09PM (6/29/2006)
Despite the fact that I like the FJ, I think this is intentionally covert. If the recall percentages posted above are correct, it's Toyota who's build quality needs to be examined. I think Toyota builds a reliable vehicle but a recall, no matter how small, is a recall.
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Richard Warren 1:15PM (6/29/2006)
#9, You're right. Bottom line is that Americans have made their decisions over and over again.
So now, go do your math, add up GM, Ford and DCX sales. They sell more than the Japanese. See, more bullshit bought into, it's what we're best at, buying into it.
Just like an article someone showed me from CR, "Wild Salmon" isn't. Two things wrong there, "wild Salmon" oooh boy, bought into that, second, CR reports. Waht, they asked the dead sliced fish, "were you caught in the wild?"
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thisisajoke 1:16PM (6/29/2006)
Wow! I love Toyota! You can tell that they love us so much that they don't want to worry us about a simple little recall about some stupid little problem like a steering defect. They're so thoughtful. Unlike the evil American auto companies that want to kill our children and our environment. GM, or should I say General Murderers, should be ashamed of themselves for not being so thoughtful. They should be bought out by Toyota immediately and then all factories should be destroyed. Shame on Ford for even building cars. How dare they. Toyota will show us the way with their love. They don't care about profits. They care about loving us.
If you can't tell.. I was being sarcastic.
Wake up all you Toyota fans. The company is not perfect because it's growing very fast. No car company is. If you keep denying the fact that Toyota is starting to lose it's luster, you'll be very dissapointed.
Like any company, as it grows bigger, especially at a fast rate, the quality and efficiency will take a nosedive.
If you want another example, look at Apple computers. Now that they're building more computers and iPods then ever before, quality has gone down the tubes.
With the domestics and the Germans, to regain quality and efficiency, they had to reduce their size. As a result, they've gotten much better. Toyota will do the same. Just you wait and see.
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Pat 1:18PM (6/29/2006)
Many non-life threatening recalls are never published.
Ask any car dealer. They will do warrenty work on your
car that has been a big problem but was never published
except to new car dealers
Tires are life threatening safety issues and should be published. Shame on you Toyota. This kind of behavior
will not be accepted in the U.S.
I have a ford expedition that had a full tire recall
and I was never notified until I shredded a tire and
the dealer then put all new tires including the spare
on my car at no charge.
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Ted M 1:19PM (6/29/2006)
If this was a GM recall, it would be front page news basically, but since it's Toyota it must be a fluke, right? I've seen more Toyota recalls this year than for the Big 3 combined.
Paul has no idea what he's talking about. I'd rather be in a GM right now compared to Camry with transmission problems or an FJ Cruiser with tire issues. Transmission and tire problems ARE serious last time I checked.
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