Green Options

This has been the worst year Toyota has ever had for recalls (4.8 million), but so far its reputation for quality seems to be weathering the storm. Even with the sudden acceleration issues, rust problems, deaths, and Toyota’s generally poor handling of it all, consumers so far seem to be willing to forgive. Granted, Toyota’s sales numbers are off by about 24% this year, but I think that largely mirrors the same declines most automakers are seeing, rather than some cognizance of quality problems on the part of the consumer.

Regardless of Toyota’s issues, certainly the Prius has remained a strong competitor in the US, with the 2010 Prius receiving good reviews and stomping the feet of the other hybrid players. The Honda Insight has been universally panned as a bad car—so it’s essentially DOA—and even though the only major competition, the Ford Fusion Hybrid, has received rave reviews—including one from yours truly—the Prius still outsells all the other hybrids combined.

Yet is Toyota’s Prius reputation on track to take a hit in the coming year with reports of brake failures starting to rise? If so, it could mark a major setback for a company apparently on track to use the luster of the Prius name to drive sales of a whole subset of dedicated hybrids as well as another, and potentially more disastrous, blemish on Toyota’s name.

It seems that in the quest to sell the cheapest hybrid they possibly could — a “hybrid for everyone” as Honda’s tagline goes — Honda has majorly skimped on some truly essential bits. Have they made a critical strategic error?

As detailed in the just released August issue of Consumer Reports magazine, out of a crop of 22 small hatchbacks and wagons, the Insight — Honda’s much-touted all new Hybrid — came in 21st on the road test with one of the worst performances CR has seen from Honda in longer than many of the editors at the venerable publication can remember. The only car in that group to fare worse on the road test was the Dodge Caliber.