"Obviously a misstatement"

This morning I received an alert on my phone from the Associated Press that all owners of Toyota cars that have been recalled should stop driving them as they are unsafe. "That's interesting.. glad I don't drive a Toyota." I thought, as I turned over and pressed the snooze button on my alarm. I had just begun to fall back asleep when my phone chirped again. I began to regret ever allowing notifications from the Associated Press application but begrudgingly checked it anyway. The notification read, "LaHood says he misspoke on advice to Toyota owners".



Now I feel like a real PR nerd saying this, but the first thing that came to mind was a very busy and tense PR department at Toyota. This is major crisis communications mode people! First the Transportation Secretary says that owners should stop driving their Toyota because they are unsafe; a real blow to the image of that brand as the affordable, safe and fuel efficient standby. Next, Ray LaHood recants his previous statement and adjusts it to this, "take them to dealerships to get them repaired". Oops! I would definitely agree with him when he characterizes his mistake as an "obvious misstatement".

It will be interesting to see how Toyota reacts to this unfortunate event. I will be watching closely to see what their next move is.



I have included a link to the article for your reference.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TOYOTA_RECALL?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT