Introduction
Ignorance of the complaints from our customers about the malfunctioning parts manufactured by Toyota has been the critical problem. Ever since the whole crisis rose, the need for effective customer communication has prevailed. With little prioritization of Toyota customers, it has cost a lot to the organization: I am talking of over 6 million recalls, the fines that have totaled to about $50 million. Above all that, there has been a greater drift when it comes to the standards that do define Toyota as a brand.
To resolve the accelerator crisis, there is a need to provide customer satisfaction, improved productivity and quality of the products manufactured by Toyota. To achieve effective communication to take place, there is need to break the barriers that do exist between the top management and the departments through the provision of courses related to customer relations and leadership. There is also need to shift the suppliers as a way of ensuring the quality of the products that reach the customers. For Toyota to retain the quality standards and the best auto brand among the competitors, real customer’s relations should be attained.
History and Description of the Current Situation The crisis was reported on August 28th, 2009 when Mark Saylor, a California Highway Patrol officer together with his family passed on in an accident. The accident was caused by the 2009 Lexus ES350 whose acceleration was out of control with the report from 911 saying that one of the occupants said the vehicle had no brakes (Toyota, 2012). After some investigation, the Toyota Company said that the out of control acceleration was as a result of the wrong floor mats installed on the Lexus, which later on interfered with the gas pedal (Evans, 2010). In September 2009, Toyota announced the recalling of the floor mats on about 4.2 million Lexus and Toyota vehicles