Tuesday, 17th of January 2012
Will BMW let a Mini crisis turn into a MAX
Another year – another car recall. This time it’s BMW. The company is recalling 235,000 of its Mini Coopers due to an electrical fault, which can cause the vehicles to burst into flames.
The move follows months of complaints from drivers both in the UK and US who claimed their cars had burst into flames, often when parked or unattended. A Mini spokesman insisted the cars remain safe to drive and said there was a ‘very low incidence’ of the fault, however owners will be issued with a recall notice in the next few weeks.
It’s great to see BMW finally getting its act together by talking to its dealers and drivers reassuring them of any fears and getting out some consistent messages – which will hopefully keep any negative publicity to a minimum.
Let’s hope Mini have learnt from the mistakes made by Toyota, who had the worst-handled auto recall in recent history in terms of the consumer anxiety that persisted and the mixed messages that were being sent at the outset.
Here at Viva we know that the key to crisis management is to act as soon as possible, communicating with your audience with honesty and transparency to avoid what could potentially be a PR fiasco.
Next step is to monitor what’s being said online and where possible respond and/or direct people to their website, where Mini should be posting regular up-dates on the recall. They could even set up an official recall page on Facebook, where they could be posting about the solutions they're coming up with. Again, they should be embracing these avenues as ways to get their message out. Come on BMW, this is an age of transparency, and you have to join it.
-Phem
