Making Toyota Pay

Drop in the bucket.

Anybody ever hear if the “fix” Toyota put in actually works?

My wife drives a Sienna which, thank goodness, hasn’t had these publicized issues. But Toyota oughta be fined $2 billion for bad PR.

“$16.375 million”
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That’s like… 5% of what they spend on photocopier maintenance a year?

Almost what it could buy Chrysler for. And Fiat.

Toyota really effed up here and probably deserves much worse than what will happen to them.
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I also hope that this isn’t turned into another argument for “Buy American”. May the best company win, I say.
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Meanwhile:
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http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.6a1aa16fc5d7d024d7cb0e6a0c99e538.301&show_article=1
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Say “Buy American” now and somebody’ll laugh at you. Heck, say “Made in Japan” and somebody’ll laugh at you. Contrary to what a lot of people think (not necessarily you), there are few, if any, cars built without labor/engineering/design/parts coming from other countries. Our Toyota actually was built in Kentucky–engine from US (Japanese engineering) and tranny from Japan.

Agree with Apol about the F’ing up.
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And NFL you may be right about “Made in Japan” provoking laughter in the US right now. I sure wouldn’t buy a new Toyota for a while.
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But when I buy a blender, a washing machine, a vacuum, etc. here in Japan (often still–gasp–manufactured here) I know I’m getting lasting quality. I took to buying German-made washers or vacuums when I was stateside. Knowing that if I paid 1/2 price for a Kenmore or Hoover, durability would match the ltd. warranty. That sh!t simply wouldn’t fly here.

That much, to Toyota, amounts to a permission slip. If that’s the max fine authorized by law, the law needs fixin’.

Any bets on how many senators would vote to let that one come to the floor? We’ll never know, because there won’t be close to the required number.

Forgot about those appliances!
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There are hits and misses with ‘American’ stuff to be sure. My Kenmore front-loader’s computer board happened to die on the last day of its one-year warranty [boy were we lucky!] We refused to purchase one of those extended-warranty rip-offs too. But we had a Kenmore microwave from when we got married in ’86 to 2007. The four-year-old fridge (Fridgidaire disguised as a Kenmore) likes to freeze up and stop working every now and then.
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The best companies are those who learn from their mistakes, not hide from them.

Somebody’ll put an earmark on it.

Wonder how many workers will be shed to pay for this.

There’s an elephant in the room here. The Obama Administration (& the Press?) seem to be tip-toeing around it.

These problems with Toyota vehicles were showing up in the early part of the decade. If I remember correctly, a NHTSA staffer left the government to work for Toyota. That former staffer basically wrote the restrictively-structured regulations that kept the Toyota problems from appearing on any “alert” or recall.

The laissez-faire business attitude of Bush appointees was there with good intentions…to promote the free market. But was there a case here of the fox guarding the hen house?

The Obama Transportation Dept. may wish to defuse any politicization in this case. By not (rightfully?) blaming it on the previous administration, they’re quietly just cleaning up the mess left to them.

I’m not citing any sources here, but I do remember reading much of the above. Am I wrong? @alex altman??

Word in Motown is:
– if you’ve had a floormat issue, the fix will help, but
– there is still some question about whether an electronics issue is the root cause.
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All car makers would like to move to “x-by-wire”. Which accounts for the lack of “piling-on” Toyota’s woes.

Hey Alex, how can we really “get” your posts when we have no mug shot of you on the main page? What gives – are you on probation? Is it like health insurance – i.e. you need to put enough time in on probation before Time will spend the money on a picture? I think you should tell Time, no picture, no posts.

toyota should have registered as a bank. That way, when they completely f$$ked over their customers they would have been given millions of dollars in assistance from the government.

I wish the fine was more. Let’s see if Richard Shelby tries to have the fine lowered. He was so busy protecting Toyota and resisting the Chevy/Chrysler buyout stating that Toyota was superior. It didn’t have those nasty union benefits and was able to produce a quality car.
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I would like to be able to buy something that wasn’t made in China, either completely or components.

“…they would have been given billions of dollars in assistance from the government.”
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There–fixed it for you.

Obama and Democrat motto: If you take take ‘em over or put ‘em out of business, just steal a lot of their money!
Gotta luv these NeoCommie thugs running our govt these days, right?

Correction: If you can’t take ‘em over or put ‘em out of business, then just steal a lot of their money!

Actually it’s the folks who think they deserve the protection of the Military, The Fire Department, The Courts (To enforce all those ‘private’ contracts they enter into), the Police, The FBI and the CIA who nevertheless don’t think they should have to pay for any of it who are doing the “stealing”.

They’d better get the frequency right. I wonder if signals from other vehicles/cell towers/cell phones is interrupting the accelerator-by-wire system Toyota’s used in their Priuses (Pri-ii?)

Shelby only cared that they build Toyotas in his state. Self-preservation.

…cares, that is

Employees at US Toyota dealers carry a 2″ x 3 3/8″ plastic card that includes a mission statement. It indicates that one of Toyota’s core values is “respect for people.”

According to the National Highway Transportation & Safety (NHSTA) agency, Toyota withheld critical information about defects from the public. This behavior on the part of Toyota indicates that profits are more important than safety.

There is clearly a disconnect between the company’s mission statement and its actual behavior. To regain the trust of the consumer, top management at Toyota must start “walking the walk” as opposed to “talking the talk.”

Employees at US Toyota dealers carry a 2″ x 3 3/8″ plastic card that includes a mission statement. It indicates that one of Toyota’s core values is “respect for people.”

According to the National Highway Transportation & Safety (NHSTA) agency, Toyota withheld critical information about defects from the public. This behavior on the part of Toyota indicates that profits are more important than safety.

There is clearly a disconnect between the company’s mission statement and its actual behavior. To regain the trust of the consumer, top management at Toyota must start “walking the walk” as opposed to “talking the talk.”

Tim Mojonnier
http://www.philosophiesofbusiness.com/blog/

There are hits and misses with ‘American’ stuff to be sure.
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Yes, absolutely…but that’s not all there is to it.

Several brands that performed well in the 2010 Vehicle Dependability Study—including Cadillac, Ford, Hyundai, Lincoln, and Mercury—are still trying to shake a perceived quality stigma, even though the study results speak otherwise. All of those brands finished above the industry average.

http://www.jdpower.com/autos/articles/2010-Vehicle-Dependability-Study-Results

It should be based upon how much the company saved by hiding the information, and then multiplied by some factor (say…..10?). If you make it explicitly clear that violating safety standards to save money will cost you far, far more in the long run, companies will stop cutting corners.

Toyota hiked its global vehicle sales forecast for this fiscal year to 7.18 million units from the 7.03 million units previously expected.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/toyota-q3-profit-tops-forecast-sales-up-over-10-2010-02-04

So let me get this right….

Toyota expects to sell 177,000 more vehicles even after the onslaught by it’s main competition…the US Government( GM & Chrysler )

IMHO there is not a single consumer product that cannot be torn apart to the microscopic level and have all it’s development documantation reviewed that would survive scrutiny that Toyota has endured.

More kids were hurt jumping our of tree-forts than got hurt by stuck accelerators….. who’s fault would that be?? ask your local slip and fall lawyer.

Toyota has reacted to the crisis ethically and with honor and will be rewarded with increased sales.

For an interesting and funny story of a 17 year history of a 3-time Lexus owner, and his history with Toyota Motor Company (including gas pedal issues), you may want to read the article at: http://funks2.wordpress.com/category/toyota-recall/ Please enjoy. I wrote it.

It’s difficult to understand your post, given it’s stilted grammar.
I wonder who these people are that are demanding protection and government services and are not willing to pay for them. They sound like Obama voters to me. I know that those things you mention are fully supported by conservatives and our taxes which Obama voters can’t or won’t pay.

Complete propaganda posted by another pro Marxist thug.

I would love to be able to buy everything I need and want from a US manufacturer using US made or mined materials. The trouble is that the current Marxist government doesn’t want anyone to make a profit, own or operate a business large or small, and in order to accomplish that they tax and regulate us into oblivion (or China or Viet Nam or Mexico or wherever).
The anti-capitalist thugs are destroying this country and those idiots that are voting for Democrats continue to whine and moan, yet they are too stupid to see the connection.