ബൂലോകത്തെ ഏക ആല്‍ത്തറ

Japanese automaker Toyota has been experiencing a fantastic reputation for quality control.
The automaker has been going through a major controversy concerning problems of unintended acceleration on many of their models. At first the company claimed the problem was that the floor mat caught on to the gas pedal causing the pedal to accelerate the car. But not too many people, including the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the U.S. Department of Transportation, bought that explanation.

Now Toyota continued the recalls about 2.3 million vehicles and also announced that it would not sell or produce any of the models in question until the acceleration problem is fixed. Starting February 1, Toyota plans to stop production and sales of eight models, including the Camry. The move affects some 14,000 workers nationwide. It comes after last week’s recall for gas pedals that have the ability to get stuck and cause the vehicle to accelerate unexpectedly. Redesigned pedals are being produced as customers work to get answers from the automaker.

Models affected by the recall include:

2009-2010 RAV4,
2009-2010 Corolla,
2009-2010 Matrix,
2005-2010 Avalon,
Certain 2007-2010 Camry
2010 Highlander except hybrid models,
2007-2010 Tundra,
2008-2010 Sequoia
Toyota’s U.S. recall woes have been making daily headlines around the world, setting off worries in Japan the automaker’s once sterling image for top-rate manufacturing has failed to hold up to the pressures of rapid globalization.

Toyota’s stock is now down about 20% from their levels a few weeks ago before the Toyota recall, wiping almost $30 billion off of the car giant’s market value.

The spectacular nature of the Toyota meltdown was both unexpected and fueled by confusion and uncertainty. It fed into a temporary public mania tipped toward fear rather than greed in late January, after the stock market had fallen for the first time in several months.

The result: investors in the stock were down 20% before they knew what hit them.