Toyota Takes New Approach

Have you seen those new Toyota ads?  The ones in which the company apologizes for letting quality slip.  These are very unusual for a corporation facing product liability suits — and they are exactly the right thing to do.

Typically companies in Toyota’s position clam up.  Statements are defensive and evasive.  Maintaining such a posture during the long life of a litigation will leave a company’s reputation in badly compromise.

Yet public opinion studies have shown that companies that publicly speak to their problems — that defend themselves but also acknowledge faults and both pledge and work to fix them — build the trust of customers, suppliers, and potential jurors.

Toyota was slow to grasp its problem and engaged in denial for too long.  But now it has put corporate reputation first.  It is right to do so.  And it likely to do better in court as a result.