COSTA MESA, Calif.,
Dec. 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/
-- Newly established peer-to-peer safety platform Carma
Project today launched the first-ever social and
incentive-based program designed exclusively for accelerating
consumer response to automotive recalls. Carma Project's initial
foray heads to market through a unique collaboration with Toyota
Motor North America (TMNA).
Carma Project will further help address the recall of deadly
Takata airbags, which is labeled "the largest and most complex
safety recall in U.S. history" by the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration (NHTSA). The recall continues to impact
vehicles built by 19 different automakers, with a projected 70
million airbags expected to be recalled by the end of 2019. In the
face of more than a dozen deaths and hundreds of alleged injuries
industry-wide, millions of drivers and passengers continue to
be at risk.
Despite extensive efforts by manufacturers, such as recall
letters, public service announcements, and dealer interventions,
consumer response to fixing these potentially life-threatening
airbags continues to be lower than hoped, with 1 out of every 3
affected airbags still unrepaired.
"We know that friends and family can play a powerful role in
influencing how people make decisions about safety," said Toyota
Motor North America's Vice President of Product Quality and Service
Support Tom Trisdale. "Our partnership with Carma Project is
designed to motivate and incentivize people to share critical
information about the recall, including how to get the remedy for
free."
Carma Project was designed to facilitate the process of people
helping people by alerting them to life-threatening automotive
recalls. By combining the trust of word-of-mouth communication
within a game design that infuses incentives for individuals
alerting their friends and family, Carma Project hopes to connect
Toyota with hard-to-reach owners who haven't responded to the
Takata recall.
"We've built a similar solution in healthcare and have seen it
work," said Carma Project CEO Fabio
Gratton. "Companies struggle to identify participants for
clinical trials, because they are hard to find and oftentimes
ignore industry outreach. But a friend or family member has that
trust, access, and influence to ensure that those people learn
about these trials and ultimately receive those potentially
life-saving medications. We're confident that this approach will
work in the automotive world, especially when combined with our
incentive model."
In connection with Toyota's support of the Carma Project, people
can earn financial rewards by signing up for Carma Project and
sharing Takata airbag recall information with their friends and
family. A simple license plate photo or typing a VIN into a recall
lookup tool on Carma Project's website allows involved Toyota,
Lexus, and Scion owners to immediately take action and book an
appointment for a free Takata airbag fix. Referring individuals can
also earn financial rewards for every eligible Toyota, Lexus, or
Scion that is fixed.
"As more automotive manufacturers join Carma Project, more
incentives will be added, ultimately leading to our mission of
eradicating this ongoing problem," Mr. Gratton further
explained.
To learn more about the program, how it works, and to sign-up,
please visit www.CarmaProject.com.
About Carma Project
Established in 2018, Carma Project
is dedicated to improving consumer safety through its innovative
technology platform that uses peer-to-peer influence and incentives
to accelerate consumer response to automotive recalls. Carma
Project was established by SONIC Health, LLC.
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the
cultural fabric in the U.S. and North
America for 60 years, and is committed to advancing
sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus
brands. During that time, Toyota has created a tremendous value
chain as our teams have contributed to world-class design,
engineering, and assembly of more than 36 million cars and trucks
in North America, where we operate
14 manufacturing plants (10 in the U.S.) and directly employ more
than 47,000 people (more than 37,000 in the U.S.). Our 1,800
North American dealerships (nearly 1,500 in the U.S.) sold more
than 2.7 million cars and trucks (2.4 million in the U.S.) in 2017
– and about 87 percent of all Toyota vehicles sold over the past 15
years are still on the road today.
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SOURCE Carma Project