Fatimah Ali: Saving face at Toyota

CRITICS have accused Toyota president Akio Toyoda of arrogance for not speaking out soon enough and not bowing deeply enough when he first acknowledged that some of the company's cars have dangerous flaws.

In the latest and what might be one of the biggest in a growing list of well-publicized scandals about products gone wrong, what Toyoda says next may well be a defining factor in the company's future.

When a Fortune 500 company has problems of the magnitude of the recalls of at least 8 million Toyota vehicles cited for various mechanical malfunctions, some fatal, the public deserves the reassurance that the company will correct the problems, and that it understands the magnitude of its failure to its customers.

One thing is certain - Toyota's scars will be obvious for a very long time unless the company is able to take control of its growing PR nightmare.

When I read that well-respected automotive columnist Warren Brown of the Washington Post had accused some journalists of having given Toyota a free pass in years past, it made the ground rumble. No doubt that, having missed stories about consumer complaints about Toyota in the past, reporters are likely now to be even more vigilant and critical of Toyota.

For the 12 years I've been test-driving and writing about cars, I've consistently felt that Toyota products were sturdy and reliable, and said so, as have many other auto writers. I've evaluated every one of the cars on Toyota's long list of vehicles that have been recalled for potential mechanical problems, including the Tacoma truck, the latest to be named.

In all my years of test-driving Toyotas, I never experienced an unexpected acceleration, a steering problem or brake failure. The brakes in the Prius I drove didn't respond well to a soft touch, but I never had a problem stopping.

And except for Toyota's smaller models, like the Echo, which thought was too small and too frail, or the fact that Toyotas are notoriously expensive (about which I frequently complained), I thoroughly enjoyed every Toyota I've test-driven.

But it matters very little that Toyota products were No. 1 for years, or that the now-embattled auto giant at one time maintained a sterling reputation for building well-crafted and reliable vehicles, with terrific resale value. Not only are the reasons for the recent recalls scary to consumers, but the company and its president have seemed to bungled his public-relations challenge in a way that has eroded consumer trust even further.

The Post's Brown is correct in his assessment that the press may have been at least somewhat complicit with the creation of Toyota's formerly glowing reputation.

That he questions Toyota now, has given me pause, but it doesn't mean that I don't still believe that Toyota builds solid and reliable vehicles. I do, even though I've only test-driven fewer than 100 Toyotas out of the millions of vehicles they've built during that period.

But with the scores of Toyotas that I've sampled and put to the test, and despite the recalls, I still believe that Toyota makes a quality product. If I were in the market for a new car, I'd buy a Land Cruiser on a heartbeat.

But there's a culture gap that the Japanese company hasn't quite overcome. Take the controversy over the depth of his bows, something that might be humorous to Americans but is deadly serious to the Japanese.

Of the four bows used in Japanese etiquette, all of which have nuanced inferences, Toyoda's shallow bow may have been an attempt to shield the company from liability issues. His next and deeper bow may have been a calculated move that signaled remorse but not contrition, and may have been done for legal reasons, say those in the know.

But beyond the bowing, Toyoda broke rule No. 1 in PR crisis management: Take control of the situation and be forthcoming as soon as possible.

The longer a company stonewalls, the worse it gets. People think you're hiding something. Silence also gives the media an opportunity to fill in the blanks with inevitably damaging speculation.

THE ANGLE of Toyoda's bow is of little consolation to the people whose families suffered injury or death because of defects in company products.

I wonder which bow Mr. Toyoda will make when he holds a press conference scheduled to take place in Tokyo tomorrow.

I'll be really surprised if he doesn't change his tune, is more humble and offer many consumer incentives to help save face - and save his family business.

Fatimah Ali is a regular contributor to the Daily News, and blogs about food at healthysoutherncomforts.com.