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You’ve seen it thousands of times: a company faces an emergency and has to act decisively, lest they face turmoil from the inside out. From a paucity of impeccable safety standards to a corporate tax evasion, companies oftentimes have to manage crisis control in a way that ensures the brand and staff is kept intact.

There have been numerous instances of brands that have incited the ire of the general public (ahem, Home Depot and its security breaches), and perhaps even the ferocious hand of government regulators. It’s one thing for the fiery emergencies to rampage through the workplace; and it’s another when the crisis hits the consumer in the gut.

Between 2009 and 2010, Toyota announced the largest recall of vehicles in the U.S. This recall generated headlines all over the world because the company had to recall nearly four million vehicles due to floor mats trapped the accelerator pedals. Several weeks after the recall, there was a second recall, but this time it was 400,000 cars. Customers felt betrayed.

How badly did this affect the Toyota brand? Prior to the crisis, 83 percent of U.S. consumers had a positive opinion of the brand, but soon after the incident, the brand’s disposition declined by five to 10 percent.

Ostensibly, Toyota didn’t learn its lesson because later the auto manufacturer had to recall other models due to defective front propeller shafts, corrosion of spare tire carriers and brake dereliction.

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