Unintended Acceleration Puts Toyota, Lexus Brands on Unfamiliar Ground

For arguably the first time since entering the U.S. market 50 years ago, the venerable Toyota brand, along with its vaunted Lexus luxury marque, finds itself on the defensive after a fatal crash linked to unintended acceleration prompted the recall of 3.8 million vehicles.

Without a flawlessly executed public relations strategy, as well as a timely engineering solution to ease consumer fears and stem a potential swarm of product-liability lawsuits, the brands risk losing their ...