Is Toyota Deceiving Nigeria?
Last week, Toyota Nigeria Ltd belatedly broke its provoking silence on the global safety recall saga and how it would affect the Nigerian market. Emerging facts appear to uncover more questions than answers on the issue. Kenneth O. Eze, Ralph Tathagata and Blessing Nwobodo write.

Waiting for Disaster?
Following the global recall of Toyota cars over safety concerns triggered by a fatal crash in California that claimed four members of a family in August 2009, there has been anxiety over what steps Toyota Nigeria Ltd (TNL) would take to address the apprehensions of its Nigerian customers.
TNL maintains that no road disaster involving the brand has taken place in Nigeria. This being its major defense against the clamour for the auto brand to effect a full scale recall of its cars which now pose security threats to road users world wide.
Perhaps, the public outcry could not be drowned forcing TNL to open up to the media last week. Those familiar with Toyota, particularly its Nigerian operations, say it is not surprising that the company claims chances of pedal defects in Toyota cars in the Nigerian market are “quite remote due to our tropical climate.”
Many are concerned that there are more issues involving the auto brand in Nigeria arising from its handling of local consumers. At the break of the global recall, experts unanimously agree, TNL should have proactively engaged frontline stakeholders rather than reacting to backlash from a disenchanted market. They also argue the TNL’s defense is not readily verifiable as there is no forensic accident investigation apparatus in the country.
In the light of the above and Toyota’s public stance, the issue now seems to be: Will TNL rather wait till disaster strikes before adhering to global best practices? And how will TNL and the public know when such an incident occurs, given that accidents in these parts are largely blamed on drivers with no recourse to checks to ascertain mechanical efficiency or otherwise? Does TNL have accident investigation mechanisms in place to detect the actual cause of road mishaps involving its brands?

TNL’s Reaction
In a Thursday, February 18 Guardian newspaper advertorial, the company claims: “Toyota (Nigeria) Ltd deeply regrets the anxiety that a few of our customers might entertain over the safety of certain models of Toyota vehicles based on reports in the global media.”
After assuring Nigerian consumers of their safety in the next paragraph of the advertorial, the company turned evasive, stating that the recalls were targeted at specific parts of the world with peculiar weather conditions. In several related reports, TNL maintains it has received directives from Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan to carry out reassurance checks on three of the eight models affected globally, namely: RAV4, Avensis and some models of Corolla.
Rather than inform consumers categorically that the three listed brands have been marked for recall, Chandrasheker Thampy, Managing Director of TNL was quoted as saying, “the company is making a reassurance call to inform its customers that there is no cause to panic as the problem is very much not likely to occur with Toyota models in the country.”
The fact remains that several Nigerians have reasons to panic as the range of chasis numbers publicized by the parent body abound in the country and obviously have the same pedal malfunction problems. Sola Salako, President of Consumer Advocacy Forum of Nigeria (CAFON) is a victim of TNL’s insensitive customer care. She says she bought a Toyota RAV4 about four years ago and repeated efforts to get TNL to fix or rectify the pedal issues prior to the worldwide recall were frustrated by TNL officials.

What are Nigerian Auto Standards?
Many Nigerians are worried that TNL is treating this issue with levity with the Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) also demonstrating indecisiveness in protecting the rights and lives of local consumers.
Salako is of the opinion that there are more reasons for recall of auto brands in Nigeria than the one necessitating the recall. “What are the standard specifications for cars imported into the country? If there are standards specifications in place, who signs-off the automobiles at the points of entry to ensure compliance?” she queries.

There are Toyota Brands Demanding for Recall in Nigeria
Confirming the need for Nigerians to panic, Kunle Sonaike, an American trained automobile engineer, confirms witnessing in Nigeria, a Toyota brand displaying the same pedal defects similar to that its foreign counterparts.
In the advertorial referred to above, TNL claims it “will commence conducting reassurance checks on the three Toyota models in order to eliminate even the remotest possibility of failure.” It also claims that “the fixing procedure lasts between 40-45 minutes.” These claims are rubbished by Salako’s experience. According to her, she sent her RAV4 several times to TNL to fix the pedal defects and it spent days and on some occasions, weeks, without Toyota doing any thing about it.
At the peak of her frustration, she took professional counsel and lodged complaints at TNL while the car was still under warranty. The whole process simply wore her out. Salako’s harrowing experience in the hands of TNL, by her accounts, reveals that TNL kept dabbling from pillar to post without fixing the life threatening issues that the pedal defects presented.
She recalls that TNL would rather encourage her to pack her car at their workshop for long periods without remedy. Unknown to her, the company was employing delay tactics to beat the warranty period and revoke the provisions, forcing her to seek solutions elsewhere.

Is TNL Begging the Answer?
It will be recalled that an earlier story in M2 quoted a local Toyota accredited dealer as saying: “We have not recorded any recall in Nigeria and it is not likely to happen. The recall only affects brands made for America and Europe.” A stance TNL seems very unwilling to shift from, even with glaring evidences to the contrary staring it in the face.
More devastating is the docility displayed by standards and consumer rights regulatory agencies that are expected to have risen in defense of Nigerians. M2 exclusively gathers that despite the global storm generated by the recalls since September 2009, Nigeria’s consumer protection agency, the Consumer Protection Council (CPC), is just about to demand explanations from TNL on the fate of Nigerian consumers in the whole saga.
Following Toyota’s response, M2 made frantic efforts to contact SON to ascertain its stance to no avail. An SMS to Bola Fashina, PR Manager, SON, on the organization’s initial public statement that it had held a meeting with the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Humphrey Abbah, and all automobile importers in Nigeria and that Toyota brands in the country were safe, went unanswered.
Nigerians are further concerned that local regulatory authorities may lack competence in detecting shortfalls in standards of automobiles and other sophisticated equipment imported into the country.

Is TNL Keeping Toyota’s World Standard?
For those who have been following the recall saga in Toyota especially in the US, the corporate Toyota brand is synonymous with secrecy. To most Americans, Toyota is a secretive and non-communicative organization.
An internet article quotes an American Toyota employee as saying, “working for the company is like working for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) where information is shared only on a ‘need to know’ basis.”
A recent Reuters report has it that the executive in charge of quality control says Toyota was reviewing fewer than 100 complaints about power steering in the Corolla brands and that Toyota sold nearly 1.3 million Corollas worldwide in 2009.
In Japan, Akio Toyoda, Toyota Corporation’s President was quoted as saying that he did not intend appearing at congressional hearings this week in Washington, preferring to leave that to his US-based executives. Toyoda would prefer focusing on improving quality controls.
Reports of deaths in the US connected to uncontrollable acceleration in Toyota vehicles keep surging in recent weeks, with the alleged death toll reaching 34 since 2000, according to new consumer data gathered by the US government.

Conclusion
Whether TNL will demonstrate more responsibility in managing life threatening dangers associated with this global crisis is an issue that only time and those calling the shots at TNL and SON can tell.
Several attempts made by the magazine to get TNL to assure its Nigerian customers of their safety were futile. Even the Corporate Affairs Head, Mrs. Ogunusi, was said to be out of the office premises after initial assurances that she was going to furnish M2 with information on the automobile manufacturer’s strategy to tackle the crisis and mitigate the possible negative impact on Nigerians likely to be affected.
With available evidence pointing to TNL’s unwillingness to accept responsibility for Nigerian consumers, as well as SON and CPC’s seeming ineptitude over the matter, Nigerians ask: ‘Who will save us from the stranglehold of Toyota?’