Wk 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Wk 3 - Essay Example Toyota overhauled its safety practices a few years ago after a spate of recalls for unintended acceleration resulted in a criminal penalty in March of $1.2 billion. General Motors has in recent past spent billions of dollars fixing recalled cars and setting up a fund to compensate ignition-switch accident victims and their families, the company has had to take extreme measures to restore trust in its products and management (Bapuji, 2012). In the period between 1999 and 2011, Toyota Motor Corporation had to recall some of its vehicles from the United States market in three instances. The first two instances came under the assistance of the U.S National Highway Traffic Safety Administration upon receiving reports a large number of vehicles from the company were experiencing unintended acceleration. The first recall was aimed at correcting a possible incursion. The second recall was due to a possible sticking of the accelerator pedal that led to unintended acceleration. The recall impacted negatively on the company as it came at a time when it was struggling from recession and it had also suffered from a decrease in sales in the previous year. The period was also marked by a low exchange rate of the U.S dollar against the Yen. This further led to loss of about 750 jobs at the company in its bid to lower its operating costs. The company may also have been economically affected by the recall as the damage to Toyotas reputation negatively affected the resale value of used cars. The company was able to overcome the situation by making the necessary correction on the recalled vehicles. It further ensured that the new cars that were in the production process were well checked and corrected so that they could not be recalled back. The United States government then allowed the sale of the company’s vehicles into the country after they had done all the necessary inspection to ensure that the problems were well taken care of. Another case of recall