Toyota Recall Aftermath: The Japanese Automaker's Big Disconnect
As the Toyota-recall scandal grows, the company doesn't just face the deep embarrassment of recalling most of its most-popular car makes only after being threatened with a federal investigation. The Japanese auto giant has made some key mistakes in managing the crisis that could cost it even more than the brand black-eye it's getting from its mechanical problems.
Problem one: Customers are frantic, and Toyota's not listening. Chat boards are filling up with the complaints of frustrated customers and media reporters who have tried the 800 number Toyota set up to handle recall questions. For much of the past week, the line hasn't been working, and callers kept getting disconnected. What a beautiful metaphor for the entire problem at Toyota.
Calls to the line late this week reveal the number first takes you to a lengthy recording about Toyota's brake-pedal fix and which models are unaffected and still for sale. But if you play along, you can reach a live human. So hopefully they're getting this back on track... but the customer outrage lingers.
Problem two: Dealers are demoralized and caught in the middle, and Toyota's not helping. Full disclosure: My husband sells cars for Toyota, so I have some personal knowledge of how the recall is playing out at the dealer level. It's not good.
During the ghastly first week, dealers were flooded with customer calls, with questions that generally boiled down to: Is it safe to put my daughters in our car? When will there be a fix to the problem? The answer to both questions: We don't know.
Toyota initially gave dealers no script for talking to customers about the recall, leaving them to vamp or refer customers to that sometimes-nonfunctional 800 line. For salespeople who are accustomed to proudly selling cars with a stellar quality reputation, this has been unpleasant to say the least. Toyota also lost its opportunity to steer the message dealership staff delivered to many of its customers.
In addition, the company hasn't reached out to dealers with any kind of offer to compensate them for lost sales. They're standing around car lots with cars they can't even let customers test-drive, not earning. You can probably guess where that could lead -- to mass exits of knowledgeable, Toyota Certified sales staff who've completed extensive company training, for jobs with other car brands.
Whenever the recall dust settles, Toyota may have additional problems to deal with. As they struggle to win back customers' trust, Toyota may also have to cope with problems of shrinking staff and brain-drain at the salesfloor level.
If they're going to reach out to reassure sales staff in hopes of keeping them on board, they'd be best advised to do it fast. Otherwise, they could face twin problems: fewer customers and fewer knowledgeable people available to show customers why they should buy the brand.