Recalls: what makes Toyota different?

Forbes has an interesting look at Toyota's recent recalls and the relatively neutral reaction consumers have had compared to when GM recalls vehicles. As a percentage of vehicles recalled compared to the number on the road, Ford sat at 11.7 percent, Toyota at 10.1 percent, GM at 6.8 percent, Honda at 4.0 percent, and Chrysler at just 2.5 percent. So if Toyota has a relatively high number of recalls, why don't consumers mind? It has a lot to do with how Toyota handles recalls, say columnists Joann Muller and Jonathan Fahey. Toyota has "perfected the art of detecting and fixing quality problems early, often before customers even notice them," they say. What's more, Toyota's vast component sharing means when one piece of technology fails, the number of vehicles recalled is very high. [Thanks to Mike for the tip].