To err is human.  But apparently people believed Toyota was inhuman, incapable of making mistakes.  I’m surprised by the media and public outrage over their recent brake recalls.

Yes, the brakes are obviously a critical part of the safety system and yes it’s tragic that people died.  But it’s not like Toyota intentionally set out to put their customers at risk.  That would be bad business.

“But they’re known for their quality!” Ever drive past a Toyota repair shop?  If they never had problems, those shops wouldn’t exist.  No product as complex as a new car with 20,000 parts is going to work perfectly as designed for perpetuity.  Despite rigorous testing, issues still arise as the number of users and miles accumulate.  And then they fix them to make them right.  That’s what warranties and recalls are for.

“Perfection is the enemy of good enough.” If companies had to wait until they were 100% sure a product was perfect before launching it, we’d still be waiting on that first Model T.  If Microsoft had to get 100% of the bugs out of their software before releasing, we might finally be running Windows 3.1.  This is the reason complex products come with a warranty, not a guarantee.  The company says “we can’t guarantee it’s not going to break, but if it does, we’ll fix it.”

Now if evidence is presented that Toyota was negligent or slow to act in this safety-related issue, then it’s fair to rake them over the coals.  But until then, let them fix it.

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