Toyota Blames Failure On Success

by Edward Niedermeyer

March 13th, 2008 11:50 AM

Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe has once again acknowledged ToMoCo's recent quality issues. The AP reports that Watanabe attributes the company's product-related failures to its rapid rise to global dominance. The growth has taken its toll in various areas, ranging from development and design to production, suppliers and maintenance. Watanabe says time pressures and the shortage of experts has exacerbated their quality control problems. What's more Watanabe admitted that Toyota is suffering from some of the symptoms of "big company disease:" arrogance born from success. Putting the pro in proactive, Toyota's CEO said some unspecified products are being delayed to ensure the "total quality" on which Toyota's reputation depends. The automaker is going over every problem, "tracking root causes, analyzing and coming up with ways to prevent a recurrence."

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Johnson on Mar 13, 2008
Pch101: How would you possibly have any data to establish that? I doubt that such survey data exists (the car just came out, and the JD Power survey won’t be released for quite some time). And in any case, most owners would not be in a position to make qualitative comparisons between the fit and finish of the models. What "data"? It's called observation. Some owners of the new Corolla, who were also owners of the previous gen Corolla say fit and finish has improved. You want objective data? Toyota is using a new laser-guided system for exterior and interior panels that aligns and positions panels exactly where they need to be, ensuring good fit and finish. The Corolla is the first Toyota model to use this new system, and all future Toyota models from now are supposed to use it. windswords: Based on your logic, Chrysler has even less emphasis on “giant trucks and SUV’s”. They have one full size truck, and no full size SUV’s. The Commander is just a stretched Grand Chrerokee which is a mid size, and the Durango is bigger now than a mid size but still not as big as a Yukahoe/Escalade/Suburban, Expedition, Sequoia, or Armada. Everything else they have is smaller. I guess you ignored the fact that Chrysler's top seller is a truck. Like I said, Toyota's top seller is a car. In fact, Toyota's top two sellers are cars. You cannot say the same about any of the American automakers.

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Pch101 on Mar 13, 2008
What “data”? It’s called observation. Right. You just made it up, as I suspected. You should avoid making statements such as "most owners of the new Corolla are saying fit and finish is improved over the old one" when you have absolutely no facts, of any kind, to support that statement. The fact is that you have no idea what owners are thinking, or whether they even have an opinion about the relative fit-and-finish of various Corolla models. You made that statement because you thought it would make you sound credible to have the public on your side, but it was ultimately untrue. If you want to say that you like the Corolla, that's fine, you are entitled to your opinion. But if you want to make assertions about public opinion, then this is another matter entirely, and you will be challenged for making fallacious claims that you cannot back up.

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50merc on Mar 14, 2008

"Toyota has *always* acted like this. Toyota often admits faults and problems and is willing to learn from their mistakes." Case in point: when Toyota first entered the US market, it offered a car that didn't pass muster. Soon it was clear to Toyota (as it had been to American drivers) they weren't ready to play on this side of the pond. They openly admitted their mistake, they shut down their American operations, and waited until they had developed better products before resuming selling in the US.

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Johnson on Mar 15, 2008
Pch101: The fact is that you have no idea what owners are thinking, or whether they even have an opinion about the relative fit-and-finish of various Corolla models. You made that statement because you thought it would make you sound credible to have the public on your side, but it was ultimately untrue. If you want to say that you like the Corolla, that’s fine, you are entitled to your opinion. But if you want to make assertions about public opinion, then this is another matter entirely, and you will be challenged for making fallacious claims that you cannot back up. No, the fact is you are are wildly misinterpreting my comments and jumping to conclusions. I have not assumed anything with regards to what Corolla owners are thinking. It's awfully ignorant of you to think so. The comments made about the new Corolla have been on some enthusiast car forums. You may doubt their claims, but please do not attack me for simply stating their opinions. I made nothing up. It seems you also conveniently ignored the comments I made about Toyota using a new system for exterior and interior panel fit-and-finish. That is no opinion, it is a fact. You can go take a tour of Toyota's Cambridge plant in Canada to see for yourself.

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