Toyota is planning to voluntarily recall about 2/3 of the Prius cars they have made.

Someone in Japan learned that when you turn the steeling wheel and drive real slow into a curb, it can break something in the steering mechanism. Trust me, you drive very slowly in Japan a lot, with the steering wheel turned all the way the left or right.

Usually, it is bad business for a car company to do something like this. However, Toyota is sucking it up, making the changes on their own dime before a tire blows out, or a car rolls over and kills someone. By doing so, Toyota earns points for doing the fix.

That's the way a quality company does business, I think.

What do you think?

Editorial Commentary by Mr. Stolyarov: This is good news from a responsible company. It demonstrates that government regulations are not necessary to force companies to respect consumer safety. Companies like Toyota -- concerned about their profitability-- will take adequate and often generous measures on their own.

Dr. Bill Belew is a former Intelligence Officer for a Destroyer Squadron. He lived 20 years in Japan, where he started a language school for Japanese ECS. Dr. Belew teaches classes for a vocational school and online for a national university.

See Dr. Belew's blog, PanAsianBiz, for news and discussions about business and current events in Russia and Asia.

This TRA feature has been edited in accordance with TRA’s Statement of Policy.

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Learn about Mr. Stolyarov's novel, Eden against the Colossus, here.