Say it ain't so, Akiyo.

I'm having a hard time truly reconciling myself with the Toyota recalls. Exactly why did Toyota recall the Prius due to "faulty braking" when the brakes were still functioning well within the legal constraints of safety? It made sense with the accelerators- people were killed and hurt. But in the case of Toyota recalling Japan's best selling car for a .4 second braking delay, I have to believe that Akiyo Toyoda's primary motivations behind making a public apology must have been cultural.

As this article states (much more eloquently than I can) the Japanese company had enjoyed a revered position in the automotive world. Toyota did things that American automakers could barely imagine, much less implement, for decades. An arrogance came with that excellence. An arrogance that bred a corporate culture in which questions and investigations were unwelcome critiques on a process the establishment had already deemed not just adequate, but near-perfect.

Adding to the mix is the Japanese government, which has even more influence over its large corporate entities than Washington has over the post-recession Big Three. A dangerous combination of a corporate God complex with government complicity in the mix leads to a damaging lack of internal communication, internal dissent, and perhaps most important to the current situation, internal testing and development.

So as someone who drives a Toyota (Sure, the Scion is sort of a My First Toyota, but it's still a Toyota) and whose family has driven Toyotas for nearly 20 years, I have to say that I'm not afraid of the recall. I have faith in what made Toyota great, what made them actually get to that level where they imagined themselves above reproach. But I would hope that in this case, Toyota will learn the important lessons from this fiasco that Detroit was never really given the opportunity to learn. Until it was too late.

Total Recall

Am I the only one who has had the passing thought that the Great Toyota Recall of 2010 and the media attention focused on might simply be a ploy to sway drivers toward purchasing vehicles from GM?

Apparently not.

But for some conservative bloggers and even some mainstream media outlets, this is much more than a passing thought. It's a frightening harbinger of the New World Order.

I don't really think that the government is sabotaging Toyota's image to garner buyers. But I will say this: GM has survived for so long by sole virtue of being an American institution, not a competitive company. I think it's going to be a while before they are able to work past using media and government funds as their business plan, and start actually acting like a car company.