Lexus

Toyota has a full-blown crisis on its hands. As has been widely reported, sticking gas pedals and potentially dangerous floor mats caused Toyota to recall 5.3 million vehicles since last fall, including some of its most popular models. The floor-mat problem led the company to call back models from its high-end Lexus brand, hitherto renowned for quality and reliability. These problems has been compounded by a long-delayed and less-than-reassuring response from Toyota.

Consider the problems themselves. In August, a Lexus ES 350 was weaving wildly and at high speed through traffic on a highway near San Diego until it struck another car, veered off the road entirely, crashed through a fence, hit a dirt embankment and soared more than 100 feet before crashing. The passengers, off-duty police officer Mark Saylor, 45, his wife, his 13-year-old daughter and his brother-in-law, were killed. Just before the crash, a passenger had dialed 911 and reported that the gas pedal was stuck and the car was out of control.

Toyota attributed the problem in the Lexus to a floor mat. In November, the company said in a letter to customers that “no defect exists in vehicles in which the driver’s floor mat is compatible with the vehicle and properly secured.” The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration immediately denounced Toyota’s explanation as “inaccurate and misleading,” saying the problem was “related to accelerator and floor-pan design.”

Toyota’s credibility is also on the line. The damage to Toyota’s reputation is incalculable. The damage to its brands isn’t: That’s apparent in the weak January sales figures Toyota released Tuesday.

Toyota shares were over $90 as recently as Jan. 19. They closed Tuesday at $78.18, which strikes me as a modest decline under the circumstances. If I owned shares, I’d seize the chance to get out. Toyota has a vast infrastructure and a long history of quality and innovation. But its floor-mat and gas-pedal nightmares are likely just beginning.