Talk:Professionalism/The Toyota Recalls of 2009-2010

Eric: History, previous recalls, this is what happened (these accidents), this is how toyota handled it.

Kristin: Ethics. What did toyota know, what didn't they know, how did toyota handle the situation, and how that could be questioned ethically.

Nate: Examples, James Sikes - someone who tried to take advantage of toyota - someone who tryies to abuse the recall situation (maybe toyota is not at fault and it is all people like sikes), David Gilbert, people mistaking gas for brake?

Outline

History of Toyota

- Recall History

- General Safety Record of how their cars are viewed

---They are viewed as safe cars?

-Consumer trust and Toyota

-Discuss past recalls

Timeline of this (2009-2011) Wave of Recalls

Discuss the Ethics called into question.

-Did toyota do something wrong in making this mistake

-Did they intentionally go ahead with a bad design

-Did they delay recalls longer than they should have

-Did toyota properly explain the 3 second emergency shutoff.

Toyota Fined 16.4 Million for Failure to act quick enough

Possible other reasons for Claims against Toyota.

-Did some people make a claim that their accelerator stuck just to get $$ compensation out of toyota for a crash that was user caused?

-Is there ever a bias for people to believe they hit the brakes when really they hit the gas and the accelleration was caused by themselves (can reference NHTSA study i think)

Whistle blowing against toyota: David Gilbert

-Are his statements fair, or do they unfairly tarnish toyota's reputation?

-Is toyota fair in their consideration of his point of view, or do they immediately try to sweep it under the rug?

Trying to Ride the Craze and gain some Fame: James Sikes

Case in Point: 1984 Audi 5000

- In this case many Audi cars had runaway acceleration, ultimately proved to be driver error.

-Recall Mgmt. Should audi have recalled thier cars, since by failure to call back cars they ultimately lost the market share. similar to cynide and tylenol case - tylenol recalled all pills and began putting safety tops on bottles.

5 Ethical Lessons: http://business-ethics.com/2010/01/31/2123-toyota-recall-five-critical-lessons/

Division of Labor:

-explanation of the vehicle problems

-recalls of the "sticking floor mats"

-results, law suits, study results * the NHTSA study that showed no correlation of the acceleration to electrical errors

-what actions could have been done to improve the situation faster? * What could toyota have done? did they do anything wrong? did the media blow it up?

-what went "wrong"? what procedures were overlooked? how could this have been prevented? -

references to review:

person to investigate google: David Gilbert Toytota. http://www.safetyresearch.net/2010/03/08/response-to-toyota-and-exponent/ http://www.toyota.com/recall/

http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/daily-news/100511-Toyota-Hasn-t-Seen-the-Last-of-Government-Fines/ - auto companies are required by law to submit timeliness reviews to document a problem is in the process of being address. Toyota was fined $16.4 million dollars because of their failure to immediately recall vehicles with sticking accelerator pedals.

http://www.syracuse.com/have-you-heard/index.ssf/2010/05/toyota_waited_months_to_issue.html

http://www.nhtsa.gov/About+NHTSA/ci.Records+Relating+to+NHTSA's+Timeliness+Query+(TQ10-001)+of+Toyota's+Recalls+for+Unintended+Acceleration+Due+to+Interference+Between+the+Accelerator+Pedal+and+Driver's+Side+Floor+Mat.print