One of the many articles that show Toyota's nightmare in real light (without the media glare that is). An interesting anecdote towards the end though, where the writer has mentioned about the infamous Audi 5000 issues of the late 80s:

Toyota either blames its customers and faces the wrath of the media or expresses contrition and admits it has quality issues. Perhaps having learned from the backlash against Audi when it—rightly—blamed its customers, Toyota has chosen the latter course of action.

Now you know why Toyota is in a fix. The real problem is not the recall but how to firefight right way. Because whatever it does now, the mass media will pounce on it. Say it is the driver's fault, they get thrashed because they were arrogant enough to pass the blame onto innocent blonde heads whose only fault was texting while driving and not knowing how a car functions other than knowing about its stereo system. Say it is their fault, they still get thrashed because Toyota is no longer the bastion of quality blah, blah, blah.. A classic case of the modern global organizations' operations being influenced by things out of their hands.