Shinichi Sasaki, member of Toyota’s board, told the Financial Times that he did not believe the company is done with its problems, adding that: “If we step down the level of our efforts at this point in time, it may mean we are sowing the seeds of crisis once again."
The company is working hard to redeem its past engineering mistakes and rebuild its image, that has been plagued by safety recalls in the past year over unintended acceleration, engine, steering and brake problems. The issues were also investigated by the US government, which gave Toyota a record $16.4 million (EUR12,4 million) fine to settle claims it had hidden accelerator pedal defects blamed for dozens of deaths. The automaker is still facing a number of lawsuits in the US.
As a result of this, the company has taken a more direct approach in finding possible defects. The company is hoping that by doing this it can preserve and improve its consumer image, but some analysts say the frequent recalls are having the reverse effect.
In order to find the defects more easily, the company has appointed regional quality control officers, introduced measures to respond more quickly to reports of vehicle problems and has expanded training.
Mr. Sasaki also said that the company would not “despair” if it lost its title of world’s largest automaker because of the recalls.
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