Consumers are so reactionary. Japan's culture puts "face", honour, dignity above all else. In fact, it is still common to hear about harikari (suicide) to save face.
This round of quality control issues is not new news, all manufacturers have suffered this, Ford has the record at some 14 MILLION recalls due to cruise control issues. Also, recently GM, Honda, Ford and others have recalls due to some life threatening malfunction.
Toyota's founder's grandson and Japan's largest and most respected company will come out of this mishap even better than before. This disgrace in the eyes of his and their customers is loosing face for Mr.Toyoda and he will make major changes with regards to quality control like never before. They will come out of this on top and to the chagrin of all other competitors. They will have wished they never made it so public and embarrassing.
You think now that Toyota's flagship, Lexus is always at or near the top (JD Powers), in the not so distant future, Toyota (IMHO) will be number one in numerous if not all categories. It is a solid company, making solid products.
Recently, I have seen Toyota's Kanukistani sales figures and some of these are the best (records) they have ever had! The customers are speaking out, that they believe in the company and its products.
As some of you have mentioned, this could be a witch hunt by the domestic 3, the media, the government all in concert to aid their failing past tense BIG domestic 3! Perhaps it is the owners, that are not familiar with their vehicles and hence the problem is exacerbated. Granted there are flaws, no doubt, when humans are concerned, always!
Remember, >80% of all Toyotas sold in the last 20 years are still on the road! Who else can say that?
