The recalls and the lawsuits of a once trusted car company 

Toyota is going to take forever to recover from these recalls. 

Why?

Many people are going to think twice before buying a Toyota now. Turns out the company that boasted its transparency all these years has been brushing off its problems for years. The "Toyota Way" is not really "Moving Forward" after all. 

In a nutshell, Toyota’s acceleration problems began before 2009. The then No. 1 car-maker in the world recalled its Lexus Sedans and removed the floor mats to prevent the gas pedal from getting stuck under it. Then, it said that the accelerator could wear down and then get stuck partly depressed. Then in the beginning of 2010, Toyota announced a Prius recall because a software glitch led to brake failure. Then on Feb. 21, an uncovered document showed that Toyota saved $100 million by negotiating with regulators for a limited recall regarding the sudden acceleration of the 2007 Toyota Camry and Lexus ES models. This was found in the papers Toyota reported to the House of Committee on Oversight and Government Reform because of congressional subpoenas. 

And that’s the summarized version of a summarized version of the events. 

 So pretty much Toyota acted like an ostrich sticking its head in the ground. Turns out its business hierarchy causes lower level members not to report or criticize their own company because it can hurt their chances of promotion or other benefits. Thus, problems like the sticky accelerator problems weren’t solved because no one wanted to report it and the upper level people didn’t want to admit it. 

So much for humility and transparency. "Moving forward"? Of course they were; the Toyota ego was growing bigger and moving forward.

The random acceleration problem appears to be solved. Toyota said that moisture made worn gear teeth on the pedal stick. But noting the company’s rather belated response to repeatedly reported complaints, how do we know the problem isn’t also an electronic problem? What if Toyota is really trying to hide this problem? The Prius had a software glitch, but why did it take them four years to figure it out? 

Meanwhile, Toyota has been hit with the recall of eight of their most popular cars, the loss of trust of consumers around the world, and several lawsuits. And, this is just the beginning. 

So the ostrich has finally pulled its head out of the ground and sees the cheetah already in full throttle. 

Too late, Toyota.