Filed under: Car Buying, Etc., Recalls, Safety, Toyota



If you think Toyota is still reeling from negative opinions stirred up by the company's rash of recalls in 2009, North Carolina State University has some news for you. According to a new study conducted by researchers at the institution, the recalls had "little to no impact" on how buyers see the Japanese automaker. Robert Hammond, an assistant professor of economics at NCSU, says the research specifically looked at the used car market to negate the impact of outside factors like incentives, marketing campaigns and models not associated with the recall to begin with.

The idea was that examining average prices of models affected by recalls associated with sudden acceleration would give researchers an idea of how willing buyers were to pay for the vehicles. Overall, used cars covered by the recall campaigns saw their price decline by a mere two percent. The figure is within the statistical margin of error for the study.

So, what's behind the slow in Toyota sales? Despite an abundance of fleet sales last month that saw the company's figures swell by 7.5 percent over January 2011, Toyota still fell well behind the industry average. With production back on track after last year's earthquake tragedy, the company may have some explaining to do. Hit the jump for the full press release.Continue reading University study shows recalls have hardly hurt Toyota

University study shows recalls have hardly hurt Toyota originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 16 Feb 2012 13:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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