People do forget things easy don't they.
Can remind all you folks Toyota holds the record of the worlds largest safety recall. And it only happened after a number of fatalities which resulted in US legislators forcing Toyota to act, Toyota promply ignored the issue until shit hit the fan.
The law suit for this is ongoing. This whole debacle went down in 2009-10.
The recall was for EIGHT models built over a 5 year period.
**kluger is the only car to ever flip in a Wheels test for stability control effectiveness (2007 city)
**Lexus GX460 (prado based) one of only 2 cars in the past decade to recieve a NOT SAFE - DO NOT BUY by US consumer reports
Reputation leads to complacency. THAT is the problem. It is the consumer who will pay for the car-maker's complacency. As to the guy who's brainmatter went through the windscreen because his gas pedal jammed, he paid it with his life.
Like it or not, it is up to us consumers to keep carmakers on their toes. At the end of the day any carmaker is still a corporation. Whose sole purpose is to make money. Down to the core the only difference between car maker like Honda/vw/Toyota and a company like BP(who's oil spill ruined gulf of Mexico) is the product they sell.