so has anyone been following this closely? it's dominated US headlines for at least the last few days. it's very odd to see a japanese car exec break cover and endure ritual public humiliation.
so has this been blown out of proportion? is it schadenfreude resulting from the earlier, much more catastrophic collapse of general motors?
February 25, 2010
In Congress, Toyota Chief Takes ‘Full Responsibility’By MICHELINE MAYNARD
WASHINGTON — Making his way through a crowd of camera crews and photographers, the president of Toyota, Akio Toyoda, walked into a hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and took “full responsibility” for the problems that the carmakers has faced.
Mr. Toyoda entered the hearing room shortly after 2 p.m., accompanied by Yoshimi Inaba, the chief executive of Toyota North America, and Kay Morita, his translator, and took seats at the hearing table. He, Mr. Inaba and Ms. Morita raised their hands and were sworn in by the committee’s chairman, Edolphus Towns, a Democrat of New York.
Mr. Toyoda, wearing a gray suit and blue striped tie, delivered his remarks in calm, clear English. Mr. Inaba, who spent years in California as head of Toyota’s sales operations, also delivered his remarks in English.
In his testimony, Mr. Toyoda he tried to reassure lawmakers that the company was addressing its problems, most importantly by trying to return to the emphasis on quality on which Toyota built its reputation.
“Since last June, when I first took office,” Mr. Toyoda said, “I have personally placed the highest priority on improving quality over quantity, and I have shared that direction with our stakeholders.”
“My name is on every car,” Mr. Toyoda. “You have my personal commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to restore the trust of our customers.”
It was the second time in two days that Toyota executives testified at Congressional hearings and the latest appearance comes amid reports that Japanese regulators will start an investigation of 38 reports of unintended acceleration in the last three years.
Mr. Toyoda said he was "absolutely confident" that there was no problem with Toyota’s computer systems, but that the company had decided to install a brake override system in some models in response to customer concerns.
In his statement, Mr. Toyoda laid out the company’s plans to prevent a reoccurrence of problems that have led to the recall of more than eight million cars worldwide, six million of which are in the United States, because of sudden unintended acceleration.
He said that the carmaker would devise a system to make sure customer complaints were quickly addressed, and that Toyota would establish a “quality advisory group composed of respected outside experts from North America and around the world to ensure that we do not make a misguided decision.”
And he said the company was moving as quickly as possible to repair recalled vehicles. Mr. Inaba said Toyota was installing a new brake system that can override a surging gas pedal on almost all its new vehicles and most of those already on the road.
As the hearing began, Mr. Towns framed its purpose by saying that the committee wanted to know why Toyota’s delayed its response to complaints from customers and why the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to not vigorously pursue recalls. And most important, Mr. Towns said, whether Toyotas are safe.
“N.H.T.S.A. failed the taxpayers,” Mr. Towns said, “and Toyota failed their customers.”
In their response, the Toyota executives assured lawmakers that the cars were safe, and agreed, under questioning from Mr. Towns, to extend to drivers in all states a settlement reached earlier in the day in New York with the state attorney general Andrew M. Cuomo. In that settlement, Toyota agreed that it will pick up cars and trucks at the homes of drivers, pay for out-of-pocket transportation costs and offer drivers free rental cars during repairs.
In his testimony, the transportation secretary, Ray LaHood, assured lawmakers that the agency was responsive to complaints and he defended the agency’s actions. Regulators received some 30,000 complaints a year, he said, and review every one.
“We will work 24/7 at N.H.T.S.A. to make sure that Toyotas are safe to drive,” Mr. LaHood said. In addition, he said, the agency was adding 66 employees to the safety agency.
Of the cars involved in the Toyota recall — “These are not safe,” Mr. LaHood said during his testimony, adding that the owners needed to take the vehicles back to dealers and get them fixed. He also faulted the carmaker for not responding as quickly as needed, noting that agency officials had to go to Japan to get the attention of Toyota’s executives.
As questioning of Mr. LaHood dragged into its third hour, he grew testy when asked by Representative Jason Chaffetz, a Republican of Utah, whether Toyota was being treated in the same was as General Motors and other carmakers.
“Absolutely,” Mr. LaHood said. Asked whether the safety agency had become too close to the industry, Mr. LaHood replied in an exasperated tone, “There is not a cozy relationship. In the past three years, we’ve recalled 23 million cars.”
On Tuesday in Washington, James E. Lentz III, the president of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., came under sharp criticism from lawmakers who chastised the automaker for ignoring its customers. While Mr. Lentz told the House Energy and Commerce Committee that Toyota was rushing to repair the more than six million vehicles in the United States recalled because of sudden unintended acceleration, he also said that the prescribed repairs might “not totally” solve the problem.
This month, dealers began repairing the pedals on cars involved in one of two recalls, using a remedy that Mr. Lentz had previously said would resolve the issue.
But in response to a question Tuesday by the energy committee chairman, Representative Henry A. Waxman of California, Mr. Lentz said that Toyota was still examining the sudden acceleration problem, including the possibility that the electronics system might be at fault — something the company had previously denied was the case.
While Toyota has found no evidence of an electronics problem at this point, Mr. Lentz said, “we continue to look for potential causes.”
Like Mr. Lentz did on Tuesday, Mr. Toyoda told lawmakers that Toyota has made changes so that it responds more quickly to customer complaints. And in doing so, he will admit that the company had put growth ahead of quality.
“We pursued growth over the speed at which we were able to develop our people and our organization,” Mr. Toyoda said in his prepared testimony. “I regret that this has resulted in the safety issues described in the recalls we face today, and I am deeply sorry for any accidents that Toyota drivers have experienced.”
As Mr. Toyoda prepared to testify, Reuters reported that Japan’s transport minister, Seiji Maehara, had said that regulators would take a fresh look into acceleration issues, in part because of heightened media coverage over the carmaker’s global recall of 8.5 million vehicles.
Including other automakers, the regulator has received 134 complaints over the last three years, he said. “The number of complaints about Toyota cars is not out of proportion to its share of the overall number of vehicles registered,” Mr. Maehara said, according to Reuters. “But given the ongoing issue, we would like to investigate Toyota cars.”
Mr. Lentz’s disclosure about the uncertainty of the fix came during a day that regularly turned emotional, as when Rhonda Smith, a Lexus owner whose car was involved in a sudden acceleration incident told her story.
Mrs. Smith, who paused to wipe away tears, told of the harrowing moments of Oct. 12, 2006, when her Lexus sedan sped out of control at 100 miles an hour.
Mrs. Smith told the energy committee that she furiously pushed buttons, shifted gears, and slammed on the brakes as she tried to stop the vehicle. Six miles later, she finally brought it to a halt.
Mrs. Smith told the committee that she felt that Toyota’s response to her complaint was “a farce.” She said a company technician told her he was not able to replicate the episode and suggested that it was caused by pressing on the brakes while the tires were spinning.
“Of course we were insulted, and furious, over being called liars,” Mrs. Smith said.
Later, Mr. Lentz said he was “embarrassed about what happened” to the Smiths. “We’re going to go down and get that car and see what happened,” he said.
Asked why Toyota had moved away from a business model that prized quality and openness, Mr. Lentz offered a simple explanation: “We lost sight of our customers.”
“We outgrew our engineering resource,” he said. “We’re suffering from that today.”