AI Governance and Digital Reputation Risk: A Social Media Analysis of Consumer Responses to Toyota’s Recall

The increasing integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and software-driven technologies into corporate products has introduced new governance challenges and digital reputation risks. When failures occur in software-controlled systems, their impact often extends beyond technical disruption, particularly as consumers actively share experiences and interpretations across online platforms. This study examines how technological product failures are reflected in consumer sentiment and how these reactions contribute to digital reputation dynamics. Focusing on Toyota’s digital dashboard recall, the study analyses user-generated discussions on Reddit to explore how online communities interpret and respond to technological malfunctions. A qualitative text analytics approach was employed, combining sentiment analysis and topic modelling using the Orange Text Mining platform. The findings suggest that online discussions are predominantly informational, yet accompanied by notable expressions of dissatisfaction, primarily related to service delays, communication challenges and uncertainty regarding technical resolution. Topic modelling identifies five recurring themes, including technical failure, software updates, service inefficiencies, warranty processes and reputation-related concerns. Importantly, the results indicate that reputational impact appears to be shaped less by the technical malfunction itself and more by how the organisation responds to the crisis. This study contributes to research on AI governance and digital reputation risk by providing an empirically grounded account of how technological failures are interpreted and amplified within digital environments.