Toyota's Lexus Problem

[Tsuru]

This is really the scary part.

Nothing is directly connected to anything any more ... the accelerator pedal isn't directly connected to the throttle, the brake pedal isn't directly connected to the brakes, and the shift lever isn't directly connected to the transmission. There's a bunch of electronics interpreting the driver's supposed intentions and passing that info on to the mechanics in "optimized" form. I find that disturbing, but I suppose that's how large passenger aircraft function as well.

The difference is large pax aircraft have to prove that these electronics cannot fail or fuck themselves up, and may have as many as five independent backup computers, each one crosschecking the other four and a mechanical backup in case a lightning strike or EMP knocks everything out. It's a different case with cars altogether, as also the authorities who allow these cars on the road don't check new cars as in depth as airworthiness autorities as the JAA and FAA check new airplane types.

Honestly, I'd be reluctant to buy a car with drive-, brake- or steer-by-wire systems if they have no way to override them from the driver's seat (even a breaker box would help). My current banger doesn't even have ABS, and as it turns out it worked better and safer in the snow we've been having than mose newer cars that do. Now, if only it had an LSD or a difflock...

[Coligny]

The difference is large pax aircraft have to prove that these electronics cannot fail or fuck themselves up, and may have as many as five independent backup computers, each one crosschecking the other four and a mechanical backup in case a lightning strike or EMP knocks everything out. It's a different case with cars altogether, as also the authorities who allow these cars on the road don't check new cars as in depth as airworthiness autorities as the JAA and FAA check new airplane types.

Honestly, I'd be reluctant to buy a car with drive-, brake- or steer-by-wire systems if they have no way to override them from the driver's seat (even a breaker box would help). My current banger doesn't even have ABS, and as it turns out it worked better and safer in the snow we've been having than mose newer cars that do. Now, if only it had an LSD or a difflock...

If I remember correctly, one dunce designed the ABS/brake line on the F18 landing gear to be just behind the hooking point to tie the bird to the deck, resulting often in damages... resulting in loss of braking... and birds unable to stop after taxi ending up in the water... From experience... common sense is not tought in engineering schools...

[Taro Toporific]

GM to pay 1,000 dollars to Toyota owners to switch brands
Jan 27, 2010---General Motors said Wednesday it would give owners of Toyota cars and trucks 1,000 dollars or free financing if they buy one of the US firm's models.
A day after Toyota suspended sales of eight models in the United States due to accelerator problems, arch-rival GM raced into the breach with the offers.
The incentives are available through the end of February, said a spokesman for GM, which was overtaken as the world's largest automaker by Toyota in 2008....

[Tsuru]

If I remember correctly, one dunce designed the ABS/brake line on the F18 landing gear to be just behind the hooking point to tie the bird to the deck, resulting often in damages... resulting in loss of braking... and birds unable to stop after taxi ending up in the water... From experience... common sense is not tought in engineering schools...

Well ya know, we can do it three ways: We can do it well, quickly and cheaply. You can only pick two at a time.

[Ol Dirty Gaijin]

Mats my ass...

DETROIT – CTS Corp, supplier of accelerator pedals used on eight vehicle models recalled by Toyota Motor Corp., said it is in talks with Toyota about a remedy for the problem.

Toyota recalled 2.3 million vehicles last Thursday because of accelerator pedals sticking and slow to return once a driver released pressure.

Read more: http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100128/ANE/301279951#ixzz0dxgr89Dl

[Mulboyne]

Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010 ... all-crisis

Toyota may have earned points for acknowledging that the sheer scale of its second major vehicle recall in five months could leave a deep dent in sales this year, but the Japanese carmaker is winning few plaudits for its handling of the crisis.

If the Tokyo-based journalists who hopped onto bullet trains this morning to attend a hastily called news conference hundreds of miles away in Nagoya were expecting a public show of contrition, they – as well as customers and investors – were to be disappointed.

Toyota's president, Akio Toyoda, handpicked last year from the founding family to steer the firm out of the worst period in its history, was absent. Instead, the unenviable task of explaining the details of the recall fell to Toyota's executive in charge of quality and control, Shinichi Sasaki.

He at least acknowledged the perception that the firm had been slow to respond to the accelerator pedal problem that prompted the recall of 4.45m cars around the world.

"The size of the problem we have caused our customers is unprecedented," Sasaki, the only executive in attendance, told about 100 reporters. But there was no deep bow of apology, and not even a hint of the waterworks that have helped countless Japanese executives weather crises and scandals.

If Sasaki's concern was genuine, his timing of was questionable. Having announced the latest recall on 21 January, it took Toyota until Monday to send an executive in front of the cameras to apologise and respond to a flurry of hitherto unanswered questions.

Even that appearance took place thousands of miles away in the US, where Jim Lentz, president of Toyota Motor Sales USA, insisted the firm had "not lost our edge on quality."

But on this side of the Pacific, Toyota's questionable – some would say arrogant – PR performance risks sparking a global consumer backlash.

Industry watchers say much of the anxiety, and extra costs that could run into billions of dollars, could have been avoided had Toyoda, the grandson of Toyota's founder, immediately gone public with words of reassurance.

Instead, he has limited his comments to an apology while attending the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, and only when pressed by Japanese TV reporters.

Analysts warned that the company's handling of the crisis could have harsher repercussions than the recall itself, particularly in the vitally important US market.

"I've never seen Toyota like this," said Koji Endo, director at Advanced Research Japan. "Until recently, they had a culture of reacting swiftly to problems. But the impression I get now is that [its PR operation] is not functioning very properly."

While an apology does not necessarily equal accountability, Japan has grown accustomed in lean economic times to the unsettling sight of middle-aged executives, eyes down, delivering apologies through streams of tears.

Only last month similar corporate theatrics were on display when Haruka Nishimatsu and other outgoing directors at Japan Airlines [JAL] bowed in unison after the firm filed for bankruptcy.

In Japan a mea culpa, delivered with feeling, can go a long way towards placating investors and loyal, but demanding, consumers. Wayward celebrities have saved careers and convicted criminals secured leniency by doing as much.

As Toyota stalls in the face of consumer disquiet, mounting legal actions in the US and a gaping hole in its sales forecast, the government urged the firm to ensure that the recall does not ruin the name of another Japanese icon so soon after the JAL fiasco.

The firm must "limit the damage" from the recall, the industry minister, Masayuki Naoshima, told reporters.

Last October, Toyoda apologised for the fatal US crash that led to the first safety recall, and for the firm's lack of preparedness for the global economic crisis. His company, he said, was "grasping for salvation." It is an appeal many believe he would do well to repeat in the coming days.

WSJ: Japanese Media See Trade Tensions in Toyota Recall

In the U.S., Toyota Motor Corp.'s massive recall and production stoppage is widely portrayed as an embarrassing stumble for a quality-proud giant. In Japan, the tone of the press coverage of the issue has been different.

Many Japanese newspapers and magazines have portrayed the issue as the resurgence of 1980s-era trade tensions, and hostility to Japanese commerce.

A headline in the Jan. 30 issue of Toyo Keizai, a weekly business magazine, says in part: "Toyota bashing is seen, as if the past auto trade friction were reignited."

While the story describes Toyota's "poor handling" of the problem and "sloppy risk management" from cost cutting, it also reviews the broader political climate in the U.S., and includes a quote from a person "familiar with the auto industry."

"After the collapse of GM, the U.S. auto industry has lost its morale," the person is quoted as saying. "Obama may also move to protect its own auto makers in order to win the midterm election in fall. One possible misstep by Toyota may lead to further 'Toyota bullying' which may be even more emotional."

The Jan. 30 edition of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Japan's leading business newspaper, ran a story reporting about spreading concerns over quality of Toyota cars among U.S. consumers. The story also mentions what it says are signs of rising anti-Japanese sentiment in the U.S.

The Nikkei noted, for example, a demonstration held Jan. 28 in front of the Japanese Embassy in Washington by United Auto Workers members who opposed the closure of Toyota's joint-venture factory with GM. They held a sign reading "Toyota is trying to hurt U.S. labor market."

The story ends by stating: "as the midterm election is coming up in fall we cannot rule out a possibility that Toyota's quality issue is going to become a political issue."

Also on Saturday, the Sankei Shimbun newspaper ran an article stating: "Toyota's recall issue has triggered an emotional repulsion against Toyota in the U.S."

[Tsuru]

Mats my ass...

Read more: http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100128/ANE/301279951#ixzz0dxgr89Dl

Anyone else find it slightly ironic the supplier of the apparently faulty accelerator assys is from Detroit?

[Bucky]

[Adhesive]

WSJ: Japanese Media See Trade Tensions in Toyota Recall

Well, I agree with the Japanese media reports. As I see it, there are three things that make this particular recall unusually bad for Toyota.

1. Toyota PR's botched handling of the situation: All manufacturers have recalls, some of which pose even greater risk of harm than sticky accelerators, but the "innacurate and misleading" statments made by Toyota, and the seemingly insincere apologies, make the situation look much worse.

2. The current US climate: Rightly or wrongly, 10%+ unemployment tends to alter the public's appetite for protectionism. Not that Japan has much to complain about given its own behavior, but more and more people are waking up to the fact that manufacturing everything overseas has its draw-backs. Toyota may produce many vehicles right here in the US, and many US makes may be assembled in Mexico, but most Americans are too ignorant to realize this, so it's a moot point.

3. The waning perception of superior Japanese reliability: For the last ten years or so, US and Japanese reliability have not been so drastically different. Ford and GM in particular have made huge strides and often have vehicles ranked in the top of the charts (whether or not you want to drive them is another story). But, It takes time to erase people's negative impression of a brand, and I think only in the recent year or so have people been generally willing to look at US (and Korean) makes as offering real competition for Japanese cars in terms of reliability and cost of ownership.

I have a Toyota Highlander (Kluger), built in Japan, so fortunately no sticky accelerator, but as someone who has only owned Japanese cars for the last 14 years, I have to say that I can see myself owning a few of the current US and Korean cars on the market, and it doesn't help that Toyota seems so willing to dick around its customers when serious issues exist.

[Yokohammer]

Just on the news this morning, there have apparently been 77 complaints about erratic brake behavior on Prius models here in Japan. That's 77 we know about, and on only one model, so there might actually be considerably more. This throws the idea that the faulty components were all US made into question as well. Things are looking mighty shaky for Toyota.

Kind of relieved that I just bought a Honda.

[American Oyaji]

Kind of relieved that I just bought a Honda.

I'm glad you bought a Honda too!

[Yokohammer]

I'm glad you bought a Honda too!

OK, what am I missing?
You work with/for/at Honda?

[American Oyaji]

OK, what am I missing?
You work with/for/at Honda?

Something like that.

[Bucky]

I'm glad you bought a Honda too!

Not so fast AO. . .

An international recall of 2.3 million Honda cars suspected of having a faulty electrical switch will include 6600 in New Zealand. The company announced the recall yesterday following reports a circuit board beneath the driver's side electric window switch on some Honda Jazz models could be damaged by a large amount of liquid.

Yeah I know it is an older Acura, but . . .

[Yokohammer]

Not so fast AO. . .

A little more info from that blurb is probably in order:

Honda NZ managing director Graham Seymour told NZPA a drink spilled in that area had the potential to cause melting, and in three instances had sparked fires.

He said exposure to rain would not be sufficient to cause issues and assured owners they were safe to keep using their cars normally.

The recall will involve Honda Jazz models from 2002-2003 and 2006-2008 (excluding the current model) which used the circuit board supplied by one of two Honda contractors.

Used Japanese imports were not affected.

[Mulboyne]

Kyodo: Toyota faces soul-searching as safety crisis hits home

Most Japanese remained unfazed by what they saw as an offshore crisis of Toyota Motor Corp., even as a spate of massive recalls worldwide tore away the carmaker's carefully built reputation for reliability and quality. ''It's Toyota, they'll be fine,'' a 29-year-old worker in the housing business said in Nagoya, near where Toyota's head office is located. That apathy coupled with local faith in the Japanese auto giant could soon turn to concern and even anger as dozens of complaints have surfaced over its best-selling new Prius hybrid, in what could possibly be a spillover of its safety troubles into the home market.

Experts say Toyota needs to get a grip on crisis management to fend off what is rapidly turning into a public relations disaster as criticism rains down from within and outside of Japan over what many see as the company's slow and clumsy response to the recalls. In the latest blow to its already tarnished reputation, troubles were reported in Japan and North America over the brakes of the Prius gas-electric hybrid, which was released in May and became the best-selling car in Japan last year.

Problems over the Prius came to light following a safety recall of some 5.55 million vehicles in the United States and Canada over sudden acceleration troubles caused by loose floor mats, which first emerged last September. A more recent recall in January over faulty accelerator pedals, involving the popular Camry and Corolla models, has quickly spilled over from North America to Europe, China, Latin America and other parts of the world. ''The control mechanism, including brakes, is a core technology as well as a source of competitiveness for Toyota,'' said Hironori Miyauchi, a researcher at Japan Research Institute Ltd. ''This is far more serious than other problems'' including those involving accelerator pedals.

Analysts say safety questions over the new Prius model will also erode Toyota's hard-built image as a frontrunner in green, hybrid technology, which has supported the automaker's sales even as the global financial crisis in 2008 pounded its bottom line. Toyota's response to the recalls has been slammed by U.S. regulators and media, with U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood noting that it took ''enormous effort'' to prod the Japanese automaker to take action on the faulty gas pedals. Even Japan's Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Masayuki Naoshima admitted that Toyota's handling of information and remedy measures for the pedal problems has ''taken too long.''

While Toyota Executive Vice President Shinichi Sasaki, in charge of quality and customer service operations, finally appeared before the media this week to explain the recalls, the lack of any official comments or appearance by President Akio Toyoda has been another source of frustration among jittery Toyota owners. ''In the past, Toyota used to respond quite speedily to these situations,'' said Koji Endo, managing director of Tokyo-based equity research firm Advanced Research Japan Co. ''In terms of providing an explanation when things go bad, the management, including Toyoda, did nothing'' until recently, he added.

The question of whether a company's top executive needs to come out to address recalls is unclear in Japan. For example, when Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., now Panasonic Corp., carried out a massive recall of defective kerosene heaters following a string of carbon monoxide poisoning cases in 2005, then President Kunio Nakamura did not give a press conference on the matter. Though criticized back then as slow in response, Panasonic's decision to spend more than 10 billion yen to roll out television commercials to raise consumer awareness and other measures is now viewed by many crisis management experts as a successful case of preventing a long-term impact on earnings.

Despite its clean image, Toyota was dogged by safety problems in the past as it swiftly expanded its grip on the global auto markets and former presidents including Katsuaki Watanabe have offered public apologies in some cases. But Ryoichi Shinozaki, director of Tokyo-based Kyodo Public Relations Co. and a crisis management expert, said it may be risky for Toyoda, a member of the company's founding family, to appear until the company has a solid explanation for the safety issues. ''If the problems become bigger after Toyoda appears and he is forced to resign, that would spell trouble,'' Shinozaki said, adding that Toyoda is the company's ''trump card'' in steering the automaker out of deep losses.

The safety troubles Toyoda faces now have been inherited from past decades of rapid expansion that has taken Toyota to its current position as the world's biggest automaker, a policy which he has criticized as making the company ''too big'' and ''detached'' from its customers. Vice President Sasaki said at his first press conference on the recalls that he was given a ''free hand'' by Toyoda to deal with the safety problems without giving thought to earnings or costs. ''We have some regrets, but I do feel that we have until the very end been putting customers first,'' Sasaki said.

But Toshihiko Fujie, professor at Chiba University of Commerce and risk management expert, said Toyota has neglected technology transfers and skills training by veterans during its blind pursuit of cost saving. ''Even at the sacrifice of some efficiency, it is absolutely necessary to put priority on safety,'' Fujie said. ''That would be the main condition for Toyota to remain a global brand and grow further in the future.'' 'It is necessary for Toyota to review its safety and risk management system together with its entire supply chain,'' he added. ''It will then become a really strong Toyota.''

[Adhesive]

Anyone else find it slightly ironic the supplier of the apparently faulty accelerator assys is from Detroit?

Yes, unless it was a Toyota design defect.

[nottu]

[Adhesive]

Toyota's lesson: Software can be unsafe at any speed

One week ago, as news reports attributed Toyota's sudden acceleration problem to a sticking accelerator pedal or a floor mat issue, my mechanic rolled his eyes. "You know, those systems are all electronic," he said.
The problem, he was willing to bet, could be summed up in one word: software.
Sure enough, this week investigators are focusing in on electronics as a potential culprit behind Toyota's woes...

[Mike Oxlong]

[james]

[Greji]

[Mulboyne]

[nottu]

[Bucky]

If this goes into deep litigation it could be a translation gravy train for J to E translators.

[Greji]

They've got bigger problems - lawsuits from people in California and Mississippi filed in LA court blaming deaths on Toyota's break/acceleration problems. Could develop in to something very ugly.

This is getting interesting. The owner and CEO of GM, Barrie Obama has got his Chicago mob opening all sorts of congressional inquiries and investigations of Toyota. He may end up inadvertently helping them by putting forth data showing where the incidents and deaths caused by Toyota have been more within acceptable limits than what are being alleged.

At any rate, it is starting to be seen in Japan more and more as Japan-bashing revised. As an owner of about 10 different Toyotas over the years, I think the Japan side may have a valid point here about not getting a level playing field here.

[nottu]

[Bucky]

from the Wall Street Journal

With Japan Airlines filing for bankruptcy, a public debt-to-GDP ratio reaching 200%, troubles brewing with the U.S. alliance, and even the sumo world sullied by the controversial retirement of a Mongolian grand champion, Toyota's woes add to the staggering 2010 misery index. National self-confidence has been flagging for some time, but amidst the prolonged malaise, people could still bask in the success of national champions such as Toyota. No other company better represented manufacturing prowess than Toyota and its troubles are an unpleasant surprise.

Much is at stake for the company and the nation as Toyota tries to restore its reputation. There have been an alarming number of cases in recent years in which Japanese products have not met the high quality standards that the world and its own people expect of it. In some quarters this is seen as a barometer of a nation in decline, one that is adrift and slipping.

[Christoff]

watching the congregational hearing right now on CSPAN III, the US CEO is getting ripped a new ass hole. Representative John Dingell of MI is particularly harsh. If you get a chance to watch the replay on cspan i totally recommend it.

[Catoneinutica]

Good overview here:

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/LB23Dh01.html

Japan hates to be woken from its cognitive-dissonance reverie, but it'll be the better for it.