Toyota’s brand and reputation of providing safe and viable cars is one more shaken as the company announces the safety recall o 1.3 million Corollas due to their engine stalling. According to the Japanese auto maker, the recall would affect 2005-2008 Corolla and Corolla Matrix vehicles, after three unconfirmed accidents, one leading to a minor injury, might be related to this problem.
Today Toyota said the engine control modules on affected vehicles would be replaced as part of the recall at no charge to their owner. Starting mid-September, Toyota will mail an interim notification to advise owners of the recall and later issue a second notice when parts become available to complete the repairs. More details are available on www.toyota.com/recall
Earlier this year, Toyota issued another recall for 8.5 million cars and faced some bad publicity and a challenge to regain consumers’ trust. They seemed to have achieved their goal as their generous incentives did bring the potential customers back into their showrooms. A later recall in June led to the company’s stock dropping.
Yet the brad press and the lower value stocks didn’t seem to affect the company. Together with the strong yen and other negatives, they ended up not amounting too much. Earlier this month Toyota raised its fiscal-year earnings forecast and posted its highest quarterly profit in two years driven by an extremely high demand or Toyota cars, Corollas and other models alike.
Will the recall of a total of 10 million cars worldwide this year alone affect the overall 2010 results, or will Toyota’s lures succeed once again at convincing people to buy their cars?