“Uncontrolled acceleration” is a euphemism for the disturbing problem – jammed accelerator pedals – at risk of afflicting millions of Toyota cars and trucks that the company has recalled in recent months. By unhappy coincidence it also describes the trajectory of Toyota itself. The carmaker's breakneck growth has allowed defects to come into both its manufacturing and its communication with customers.

In the past decade Toyota has raised capacity by half to 10m units a year, overtaking General Motors as the world's largest carmaker. Some say this has been its downfall. Toyota let its much-vaunted quality slip by using more standardised parts across many models to make production leaner.

In some markets, the company has recently had to recall cars faster than it produces them. Since November, it has identified 6m vehicles in North America whose accelerator pedals can jam, more than three times the number it sold there last year. Up to 1.8m are to be recalled in Europe. As Toyota halts further sales of affected models, rivals are swooping in to snatch its customers: GM, Ford, and Hyundai have offered $1,000 rebates for traded-in Toyotas.