Mr. Toyoda's Apology

By Roy Exum (Archive) · Saturday, February 6, 2010

I can't think of a better way to do this except in an "open letter" to Akio Toyoda, the president of Toyota and grandson of the company's founder. On Friday he issued an apology for the auto giant's recent spate of troubles and, with all due respect, Mr. Toyoda, "that don't wash" in the South where I come from.

So, as I write to you, I humbly beg that you would take this letter from just one American to heart:

Dear Mr. Toyoda ...

In recent weeks many people in the United States have been concerned about the well-publicized woes that have befallen your company. I am sorry that some minor defect has caused great alarm to those who have found your Camry sedans to be one of the greatest automobiles ever made by mankind, and I regret that some instances with the revolutionary Prius hybrid car's brakes have caused the American public to get in a froth over -- what -- just 120 actual cars.

So as you "apologize" with your traditional bowing on the front pages of major newspapers and in front of network cameras, I want to tell you how more deeply I regret you omitted to mention Toyota has given millions of Americans the best vehicles they have ever owned. Let's be honorable enough to keep the sensationalism in perspective.

I similarly regret you failed to point out that millions more Americans have found Toyota to be a wonderful employer in our country, be it in the automotive factories, the dealerships that so beautifully are spread for customer convenience in every one of our major cities, or all the way down to the college kids who pay their tuition by washing cars on your lots.

Allow me to be real frank; your apology would be laughable if it weren't so sincere. Anyone who loves America can readily see past your present-day problems. We know, fully and well, what your family has meant to us. Anyone who tells a Toyota joke -- we are bad about that in any calamity -- would also love, at this very moment, to have a new Avalon or Highlander in his driveway. You can take that to the bank, Mr. Toyoda.

I know what I am talking about. I have owned several Toyotas so I know firsthand the undeniable excellence behind your family's name. I am also certain that Toyota, quite literally, has a valiant history of "raising the bar" for every other automobile manufacturer in the world. Don't play yourself short. A gas pedal? Bad brakes on 120 Prius's? Please, sir, don't let the whiners, the naysayers, or what I call "The Legion of the Miserable," tarnish your global dream.

Let me tell you a quick, personal story. At a time during my life when things were flush, I owned a beautiful Toyota Sequoia. It was undoubtedly one of the best vehicles I have ever driven. I loved it. But then I got in a jamb and couldn't keep up with my payments. I'm hardly alone. The world's economic woes of late have placed others in this country in the same awkward fix.

In any event, I am hardly proud my Sequoia was repossessed. It wouldn't have ever happened to me if I'd done a better job with my X's and O's but the fact is that it happened. It is also a fact I'm working hard to get back on my feet -- I'll do it -- and when I do I'm going to Toyota Credit, get 'em to look up the file, and --- so help me -- I'm going to make it right.

Am I mad or bitter? Absolutely not. Am I disappointed I didn't fulfill my end of the bargain? You bet I am, but the point I am making is that Toyota had nothing to do with my collapse. It is the American way to get back up, dust off your britches, and try harder. Your current mess is exactly the same thing except of a far-bigger scale. Guess what? The solution is also the exact thing.

Millions of Americans have owned Toyotas because your family's company have enabled them to do so. Do you not think, even for a second, there is more gratitude in America than worry over a temporary flaw with a gas pedal. For heaven's sake! Again, keep it in perspective.

The great majority of us fully realize the Toyoda family is fully committed to excellence. I remind you that those of us who drive your cars always look forward when we do so, not in the rear-view mirror. You, sir, must do the same. Soon this will be only a slight bump in the glorious road Toyota and its people have now firmly entrenched in our hearts.

Please, sir, I beg you, quit whipping yourself over this. We Americans are used to our favorite teams losing a game ever now and then. That's life. We know a fuel spill or a sewage leak is never on purpose but that sometimes it happens. We deal with it and move on. Sir, you are dealing with it -- let's now move on.

In closing I thank you on behalf of millions -- yes sir, millions -- whose lives you have made better with a Toyota. The Toyoda family name is one the whole world has cherished since your grandfather changed the horizon, and the standard, for the rest of us.

While we respectfully and admiringly take note of your apology, I speak for tens of millions who today urge you to just fix the gas pedals and be done with it. Please never quit sending us your Toyotas and your Lexus's. They are absolutely among the most marvelous automobiles ever known to mankind.

Onward, Mr. Toyoda, and if anybody dares give you any more grief you simply tell 'em, "Just stand back and watch."

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