johnr, you're absolutely right. Not to mention the fact that Toyota stakes it's reputation on quality... that's not something I made up, it's what they have been advertising for years. I can respect the uncertainty at this point because it is a complex issue, but if you make your name on quality, you better maintain that as your core value. Obviously it's a potential conflict of interest with the government bail-out and ownership of GM, but so far I don't see any extraordinary treatment negatively towards Toyota.
Regarding the Toyota lift trucks... it's no secret that they have benefited from the brand recognition of their automotive counterparts. (though I personally don't see why. Their lift trucks aren't that great and they may borrow technologies, but I think they work as completely separate entities). So, it only seems logical that they would also suffer (slightly) when the automotive brand image suffers. I don't have any numbers to support that, but I would be interested if someone did.
Overall, if the Toyota automotive group handles this swiftly, the long-term effect will not be too detrimental. It's completely up to them now, how people will look back on this in 10 years.