For the most part, the safety “issues” for Toyota products seem to have been blown way out of proportion. And for those that appear genuine safety issues, it seems to be a matter of cutting costs which led to a decline in component quality.

Having been a close observer of Toyota for over 25 years, in my opinion all of its current woes can be traced back to an accelerated quest for cost savings in the mid to late 2000s. This drive for profits was partially fueled by yen appreciation but also seemed to have simple human greed as a core motivator.