Toyota tries to cut costs on recalls – Los Angeles Times

February 22, 2010 | By Ken Bensinger

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/feb/22/business/la-fi-toyota-docs22-2010feb22

The title of the article is self-explanatory, but it drew my attention amongst the sea of headlines because the topic hits close to home. Toyota has been a brand my family has trusted for decades. It’s infuriating that such a well-known company would be trying to find ways out of safety regulation, even ones issued by the federal government. Referencing Edward Freeman’s Stakeholder Theory: a successful company takes all the stakeholders into account and strives to benefit consumers and investors alike. What happened to the morals and values when it comes to management of Toyota? The document of “wins for Toyota” outlining various accomplishments in saving money and labour by “negotiating, stalling or outright avoiding the issues is proof that the safety of customers has yet to out-weight the importance of profit. Even when the reoccurring problem of sudden acceleration continues to be the cause of numerous accidents, the recall only identified 2 minor issues with minimal costs for the company when officials believe the problem is on a much larger scale. In conclusion, the fact that the credibility of a trusted brand is not being upheld is hard to digest for loyal customers.