Toyota’s reputation takes hit, but damage not fatal yet: poll

Toyota’s iron-clad reputation for reliability has been dented although the damage is not yet beyond repair, a new poll suggests.

The Canadian Press-Harris Decima survey shows almost three in 10 Canadians would think twice about purchasing a Toyota following the world-wide recall over faulty gas pedals.

But at the same time, 56 per cent still retain a positive impression of the Japanese automaker’s products and 69 per cent believe the firm has done a good job of reacting to the problem.

The bigger issue for Toyota, says pollster Doug Anderson, is if problems keep surfacing about the company or if consumers come to believe the automaker has not been forthcoming.

“There’s still a fairly positive environment out there,” said Anderson, senior vice-president of Harris Decima.

“But if it becomes accepted knowledge that Toyota could have taken care of this earlier and maybe put people less at risk, and failed to do that, things can change for them.”

Anderson noted the poll was conducted before Tuesday’s recall of the popular Prius hybrid model to fix brake problems, although he pointed out the market reaction to that move has been positive. Toyota stock actually rose on the news. That’s generally considered an indication that investors consider the firm’s difficulties manageable.

The poll of 2,000 was conducted Feb. 4-7 and is considered accurate plus or minus 2.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Toyota president Akio Toyoda issued his second apology in a week because of the recalls while seeking to reassure consumers.

“We will do everything in our power to regain the confidence of our customers,” he said.

The Japanese firm had been held up by consumers and automobile connoisseurs as the model of reliability and quality until Toyota announced on Jan. 21 that it was suspending production and recalling numerous models to fix faulty gas pedals that could stick with the throttle open.

Toyota rode its reputation all the way to top of the class, surpassing General Motors as the world’s biggest automaker.

But the automotive giant has been embarrassed by a tumultuous series of recalls across its product lines for faulty gas pedals, brake fluid leaks on Camry sedans and, most recently, the recall of Prius. In Canada, the recalls involve more than 270,000 vehicles.

Those long years of reputation-building is paying dividends for Toyota now in its hour of need, says Terry Flynn, a professor of crisis management at McMaster University.

“This is a company that has for years spent a great deal of their resources making products and services that topped most of the reputation charts throughout the world,” he said.

“So while this has no doubt damaged their reputation, it hasn’t done so” to the extent such revelations might have derailed another firm.

Flynn, who is studying Toyota’s response in comparison to that of Maple Leafs Foods in 2008 following the listeriosis outbreak, says the Japanese automaker has actually been slow to react in comparison. It took the firm’s president more than 10 days to go on television to acknowledge the problems.

But Flynn says the damage to Toyota’s reputation will depend on how many more shoes there are to drop and whether customers get satisfaction when they take their vehicles in for repairs.

The Harris-Decima survey suggests Toyota’s competitors have a small window of opportunity to take advantage of the situation.

Twenty-six per cent of respondents said Toyota’s problems makes them more likely to buy North American next time around.

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