seat backs falling straight to the back of the cab is hardly minor. Just that ford caught it before it became a public issue. Which if you give credit to ford give them credit for taking care of the issue, not trying to cover it up.
I'm not defending toyota in anyway. I think if you backtrack this thread you'll see where i chimed in about malfeasance a while ago.
Just try not to compare ford wearing rose colored glasses. For instance what did become a public issue was the cruise control recall on everything from the ranger/explorer on down going all the way back to '93. And the lack of parts to take care of the recall, because they couldn't determine the best possible (ie, cheapest) fix. Or the massive recall on every ford earlier this century because the wiper motors could short out in the rain. (ironic, huh?) or the recall on the taurus/taurus x/sable platform (500/milan/freestar) on the rear brakes and the lack of parts to do anything about it. Or the fact the focus is the most recalled car in history.
Every company has a history of recalls. Recalls because of design or just plain stupidity. It's a matter of how the company deals with it. To me, toyota's lack of corporate responsibility in this manner smacks the same as ford's lack of corporate responsibility with the firestone issue when they sought to blame the entire issue on the tires.
Ford issuing the recalls on the cruise override without providing parts or issuing recalls on the rear brakes without providing enough parts to go around? From a corporate standpoint i could see it, but from a tech standpoint, it's hard to look at a customer who needs rear brakes, under recall and say "sorry, but they're on national back order for who knows how long."