They're going to have to raise the bar on customer service and transparency to get through this. Perhaps one of the benefits of not being a Detroit automaker is that they do not have to behave like one. We've seen the direction that a lot of American automakers have taken in the past decade or two, much of it making products that aren't inspirational and maintaining a disconnect between their customers. Denying blame for this, or not proactively engaging its customers, both those affected and affected by the recall could spell further trouble.

Before Toyota gets lumped into the same associations with the truly fledgling car manufacturers, it will require a healthy dose of honesty. They should be honest with their customers, (admit their mistakes, how they're addressing them, and what they're doing to prevent further failure) and they should be honest with themselves (take it upon the entire company, not just quality control, to make Toyota better.)

There's a lot to learn from failure. Let's hope that the company emerges as a better company for it.

Sure. Exxon recovered from the Valdez incident. Apple recovered from the Lisa. Ted Kennedy recovered from the Chappaquiddick incident.
They should just eat the cost of replacing the gas pedals, lay low for a while and then come out with something cool and people will forget all about it.

Yeah, but has Kobe Bryant recovered from being "the rapist," or will Tiger Woods ever not be known for his infidelities?

Will they spring back? Yeah, they probably will. The problem is that they just announced that newer models of the Prius are not immune to the gas pedal troubles. Their secretive nature won't serve them well for the immediate future. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/02/04/natio...

It seems they weren't very honest about the Prius brakes. Evidently, they've known about the problem for some time.

Not want you want to hear at this point.

Kobe and Tiger are different. I think they've screwed themselves for good. Just like Iron Mike Tyson.

This situation is nearly identical to the Tylenol recall of the 80's.

They will come out of this on top. Initiating a voluntary recall of this scope will ultimately just garner positive press.

Buy their stock if you can afford.

As long as Toyota keeps building super-durable cars (other than the last couple of years, of course), I don't imagine that they'll suffer too greatly.