LEX OK, so the pedals are dodgy. But there’s nothing wrong with the acceleration of the product recall under way at Toyota Motor, the world’s largest automaker. What began with 2.3m vehicles in the US last week spread to China and Europe late on Thursday and sparked questions in Congress. A separate probe begun last autumn into faulty floor mats, meanwhile, was widened this week to 5.4m vehicles from 4.3m.
No company relishes a big recall, especially one whose president warned last October that it was one step away from “capitulation to irrelevance or death”. Toyota’s Japanese rival Mitsubishi Motors was pushed to the brink of bankruptcy six years ago when its former truck unit admitted concealing flaws that eventually prompted the recall of almost 3m vehicles. But history suggests that done right, with minimal obfuscation and maximum haste, the damage need not be serious.
