Interesting Reading

[cgarison]

Considering that I just registered for my 3rd course in quality control, root cause analysis, continuous process improvement, I thought this article is very interesting. Also noting that in the next month, I am certain that I will have an instructor bring about the example of how Toyota created Kaizen.

http://www.wheels.ca/newsFeatures/article/784130

And for those with a Toyota in the recall, this is a good article and associated video.

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/01/29/vide ... celerator/

[The Interpreter]

More interesting reading:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-t ... full.story

[cgarison]

More interesting reading:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-t ... full.story

I have been saying this for the last two weeks for these items that were not covered in this story.

A:) The pedal story does not cover the fiery Lexus of death where the loaner Lexus failed and then killed all its occupants.
B:) The pedal story does not cover the issue of the Prius that tries to kill its owners by accelerating like mad and simultaneously disabling the physical and regenerative braking systems.

The problem is that Toyota has pulled a Microsoft and written code that is not compatible with the hardware installed in the car. This is fine on a laptop where a printer that does not operate just make the owner mad, but in the case of Toyota these errors are killing people. We have known this problem has existed on the second gen Prius for about 4 years and the Lexus models have been afflicted with this for about the same length of time.

[cgarison]

Your Prius will kill you and Woz can duplicate the issue in his.

http://jalopnik.com/5461945/apple-co+fo ... -dupilcate

Sad. Sad.

[AmpedNow]

No doubt this is a very serious recall. Toyota needs to fix this problem no matter how long it takes or how many billions it costs. The families of the victims of this defect should be compensated as well.

But it's laughable to watch GM attempt to cash in on this by offering special rebates to people trading in a Toyota. As if their junk is any better...

Who could forget the exploding gas tanks back in the 70's and 80's that both Ford and GM tried to sweep under the rug? How many people were senselessly burned alive in accidents due to "shoddy workmanship"?

I don't recall neither company completely shutting down plants and halting sales until the problem was corrected.

In the end, Toyota did the right thing. And it didn't take nearly as long for them to "come around" as GM and Ford did with the gas tank issue.

[Bob Campbell]

Toyota has known about this problem for over a year, perhaps longer. Upon what basis do you say they addressed it quicker than Ford or GM? Not saying they didn't, just looking for your evidence.
Ford discontinued the Pinto after its scandal.

[The Interpreter]

See also:

http://content.usatoday.com/communities ... ety-deaf/1

[cgarison]

Who could forget the exploding gas tanks back in the 70's and 80's that both Ford and GM tried to sweep under the rug? How many people were senselessly burned alive in accidents due to "shoddy workmanship"?

I don't recall neither company completely shutting down plants and halting sales until the problem was corrected.

Exploding Jeeps, Pintos, GMC/Chevy Trucks, Crown Vics, Mustangs, etc. are a bit different than the issue with Toyota cars and trucks here. Toyota vehicles can fail and cause lots of problems as opposed to my Grand Marquis which is a perfectly safe and solid design unless I am rear ended by a vehicle traveling more than 75mph.

[The Interpreter]

Automotive News is now reporting that Toyota has been ordered by Japan's Ministry of Transportation to investigate a rash of complaints about braking problems in its Prius.

See also:

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/toyota ... beforebell

[Bob Campbell]

Transportation Sec. LaHood has just said if you own one of the effected Toyotas, stop driving it immediately. Go directly to your dealer.
Damn.

[AmpedNow]

Maybe the next shoe to drop will be spontaneous exploding gas tanks.

Then we can run them out of the country and all drive GM and Ford, like decent Americans.

[genlock]

Transportation Sec. LaHood has just said if you own one of the effected Toyotas, stop driving it immediately. Go directly to your dealer.
Damn.

If you did that, you would then have to take a cab to the dealership and report that you have abandoned your care somewhere.

[The Interpreter]

And it's not just North America nor CTS:

...However, Shinichi Sasaki, who is in charge of Toyota's quality control, said it would have become "even harder to win back the trust of customers, and the damage to the Toyota brand would have been greater" had the US government not applied such pressure to recall the faulty cars. "It was hard, but in hindsight I am grateful to Mr LaHood."...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010 ... off-course

[AmpedNow]

Transportation Sec. LaHood has just said if you own one of the effected Toyotas, stop driving it immediately. Go directly to your dealer.
Damn.

Okay. Urging concern is one thing, but this is an outrageous statement for a government official to make.

Considering the government owns a commanding share of Government Motors, there may be a conflict of interest here.

Just sayin'.

To be fair, Toyota is partly a victim of circumstance. Having found itself plunged into the cultural quicksand of crisis management in a globalised economy, it had little idea of where to turn for help.

Yet that has done nothing to dispel the perception that in its pursuit of profit Toyota has lost sight of the principles on which it built its success: quality, reliability and, yes, safety.

A classic case of too much success too soon?

The subject has quickly become a topic for comedians. Jon Stewart of The Daily Show on television did an impression last week of the likely reaction of bosses at the Big Three, Chrysler, General Motors and Ford, to the Toyota recall news. "Boys, we're back in the game! All we had to do was have the leading competition become a deathtrap," he quipped.

That's about the size of it. Success by default, with no real merit, except being "American".

Problem is, there's still Honda, Hyundai, and Nissan to contend with.

And China and India soon.

If Toyota can rectify this mess soon, and get back to their "roots" with no evidence of coverups, they will bounce back in the long term.

[The Interpreter]

...U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said last week that at every crucial step from March 2007 to the present, NHTSA officials had to goad Toyota into acting, whether it was launching the first floor mat recall or expanding it last year after four people died in a California crash....

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti ... ullarticle

...If Toyota can rectify this mess soon, and get back to their "roots" with no evidence of coverups, they will bounce back in the long term.

You mean nothing like this?

...In a media blitz this week aimed at reassuring the public, Toyota executives have insisted that electronic problems are not behind the reports of sudden acceleration.

Waxman and Stupak said they wanted to see the company's documents "that substantiate this claim."

The letter also raises questions about when Toyota knew that it had a defect in its accelerator pedals. Although it has publicly said that it became aware of the problems in late October, it told the committee staff that it first learned of the issue in April or May....

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/feb/03 ... -2010feb03

Or how about this?

Toyota Motor Corp's massive safety recall comes as no surprise to Dimitrios Biller, a former company attorney fighting a lawsuit against the world's No. 1 automaker alleging Toyota has concealed evidence from courts and the U.S. government.

Biller worked at Toyota defending the company in product liability cases from April 2003 until September 2007 and alleges the company systematically hid evidence that would have led to costly trials in the United States.

"This is a company that doesn't have any respect for the laws in the United States," Biller said in a telephone interview. "This is a company that has no qualms about violating court orders, concealing or destroying evidence."

"The evidence involved would have allowed plaintiffs to take their cases to trial," he added. "This was all done in the interest of saving money."...

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6144AP20100205

Then, the Wall Street Journal asks:

One mystery surrounds Toyota Motor Corp.'s massive recall: Why did the company wait for nearly half a year to roll out a fix for sticky accelerator pedals in the U.S. after unveiling a similar solution for the same gas pedals in Europe?...

Norihiko Shirouzo in the subscriber only online edition today... Preview at:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... lenews_wsj

[Hoosier Daddy]

Must be those damn unions. Yeah, that's it. The unions. It's all their fault.

[Bob Campbell]

Must be those damn unions. Yeah, that's it. The unions. It's all their fault.

Absolutely. The unions destroy another car company.
Hey, HD, did you see where Ford made over 2 billion in profit last year DESPITE the unions?

[The Interpreter]

The only union plant Toyota has (soon to be had) in the US is at Fremont, California. Please tell us how the unions are responsible for this mess at Toyota. It might be most interesting...

[cgarison]

Mom has a friend in Ashland that had a Toyota Truck (pre-Tacoma) and ended was offered a voucher for the vehicle because the frame rusted to the point where it was unsafe to drive. When this "Doctor" threatened to sue because this was their manure/mulch truck for their gardening hobby, the voucher became a frame replacement or 1.5 times the voucher value in cash.

So the doctor with the gardening hobby took the cash and kept the truck. eventually, the patches on the frame wont hold, but considering this is mostly a farm use vehicle, it won't matter much.

Toyota quality. Yep, that is quality since the 1980s.

I think I will stick with my CAW assembled Ford with a Romeo V8.

[The Interpreter]

At the essence of Toyota's immeidate problems, in my opinion:

http://autoperspectives.com/blog/2010/0 ... or-either/

Well worth the read...