Author Topic: More Toyota troubles  (Read 7709 times)

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Chasfield

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on: March 11, 2010, 05:57:02 pm
The Toyota "smoking gun" memo highlights the blight that afflicts some organizations.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1257161/Toyota-smoking-gun-memo-staff-warned-safety-issues-FOUR-years-ago.html

That is, infection by good-for-nothing senior managers whose skills are confined to bluffing their way through selection processes and thereafter playing a poisonous game of office politics. They create their own separate tribe that parisitises the original core activity of the business - which necessarily goes down hill fast. Eventually, competent and talented staff become enemies of the new regime. By this time, the company is generally on its knees.

The carpet-baggers then move on, via some kind of mysterious old-boy/girl network, to work their magic, and fill up their CVs, in senior posts elsewhere.

 :(
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cyrusb

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Reply #1 on: March 11, 2010, 07:32:24 pm
I hear ya on that  ...Here's a good one.
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1Blackwolf1

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Reply #2 on: March 11, 2010, 08:21:55 pm
  Unfortunately all this coming about now may spell the death sentence of a company that has thousands of employees here in the U.S.  But Toyota isn't the first to face mass recalls, Ford with the car shifting into reverse from park strikes a bell.  I had a Thunderbird from that era, ended up fixing it myself by installing a $45.00 floor shift kit.

  And Ford swept that one under the carpet for a while if I remember correctly.  Just bad that companies think they can get away with these things and nothing will happen.
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GreenForce82

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Reply #3 on: March 11, 2010, 08:51:15 pm
Reminds me of The movie Fight Club...

Quote
A new car built by my company leaves somewhere traveling at 60 mph. The rear differential locks up. The car crashes and burns with everyone trapped inside. Now, should we initiate a recall? Take the number of vehicles in the field, A, multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one.

This is almost certainly what is going on...
"Counted his friends in burned-out spark plugs
and prays that he always will.

But he's the last of the blue blood greaser boys all of his mates are doing time:

Married with three kids up by the ring road
sold their souls straight down the line.


PaulF

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Reply #4 on: March 11, 2010, 09:21:19 pm
  Unfortunately all this coming about now may spell the death sentence of a company that has thousands of employees here in the U.S. 



36,000 non-unionized employes to be exact, spread over about 18 facilities. D-bags in Washington should keep that in mind when they're cruxifying Toyota and coddling GM, (Government Motors).


REpozer

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Reply #5 on: March 11, 2010, 09:41:56 pm
Thanks for clearing that up for me.
 I always thought of Toyota as a good company that reinvested its profit back into its product and employees.
 I was thinking that Government  Motors(GM) thought the same thing, couldn't compete and became envious of Toyota. I've been wrong before. Maybe its time to purchase a good clean GM car.
Is there a real smoking gun to the problem of a run away Lexus?Just wondering.
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Vince

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Reply #6 on: March 11, 2010, 10:23:46 pm
     Lest we forget, it wasn't long ago that our own Royal Enfield had a massive recall for transmission issues. While it may be probable that there was an attempt at Toyota to
 white- wash the issue, there is really no way to achieve perfection. Often problems won't surface until there are enough units out in the real world. In- house testing can't cover every possible contingency. Stuff will go wrong. A year or so ago I received a recall on my 1993 Ford F150. I think the biggest problem is the media frenzy. Certainly this is news, but perspective is never attempted in the reports. be it cars or cribs or TV's, EVERY manufacturer has recalls. The media frenzy probably exacerbated the problem by forcing Toyota to fix it NOW!!!!!!!! A more measured approach would allowed for a better repair.


The Garbone

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Reply #7 on: March 11, 2010, 10:48:52 pm
[rant]
My take on the Toyota thing is that its turned into the convenient "crisis du jour".  Part of the problem is that a lot of these folks that buy Toyautos are the same baby boomers who spend more time watching "American Idol" than they thinking about who gets their vote.

Lets face it,  some of these folks in their Prius's to  "Save the world" are the band wagon riding,  slogan following, lazy turds that got us into the financial mess we are in now...  A lot of em are probably happy to jump on the "recall or refund" bandwagon since their $10k battery pack in their "eco" car is nearing the end of its service life and the still have 3 years of payments left on a car that in reality is no better than a Escort as their balloon mortgage is coming due and they face layoffs due to the economic downturn....

I'm sure Toyota will survive this as long as the looters up there in Congress keep their hands out of it..  I am kinda tired of the hand ringing... 

[/rant]
Gary
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* all actions described in this post are fictional *


Vince

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Reply #8 on: March 11, 2010, 10:55:51 pm
     Come on, Gary. Tell us how you really feel.
     You are right of course. It is the "crisis du jour". The government will waste time and money on an investigation when the money could be better spent on a fix.


REpozer

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Reply #9 on: March 11, 2010, 11:06:21 pm
I like the way pompous  lawyer/politicians act as if they understand anything more complicated then a folded table napkin,let alone real machinery.
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t120rbullet

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Reply #10 on: March 11, 2010, 11:31:11 pm
I think the biggest problem is the media frenzy.

And when the same folks that control the regulatory agency's, the press and the company that stands to show a profit from all this...... it should make one wonder!

After driving Fords and Dodges all my life I got sick of taking it in the butt and on Dec. 7 2001 I bought a V8 Toyota Tundra pickup.
Best fricken vehicle I have ever owned. If it ever gets too old to drive I wouldn't think twice about getting another one even though I don't like the way they up-sized it.
Yes, I live in Detroit and got some flack for doing so but felt even better because I got to stick it to the UAW too.
And no, I've never seen American Idol.
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PaulF

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Reply #11 on: March 11, 2010, 11:56:35 pm
20 years ago when I was broke, I bought a worn 79 Toyota Celica GT Liftback with about 125,000 on the odo. I don't think I ever changed the oil in the roughly 19 months that I had it, (or did any other maintenance). Total neglect. I sold the car still running like a champ.

Few years later, back in the black, I purchased a brandy new Mustang GT 5.0, which promptly dropped a valve with 500 miles on it.

So, I'm pro Jap in this discussion and would have no problem buying my wife the RAV 4 V6 that she likes or a Tundra for myself.



Ice

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Reply #12 on: March 12, 2010, 05:52:41 am
12 years ago we sold our well used 1974 Dodge Dart Sport with 354,000 miles on it.
(225 cu in slant six engine)

Last summer I saw it driving down the road.


No one builds cars like that anymore.
No matter where you go, there, you are.


1Blackwolf1

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Reply #13 on: March 12, 2010, 08:04:58 am
     Lest we forget, it wasn't long ago that our own Royal Enfield had a massive recall for transmission issues. While it may be probable that there was an attempt at Toyota to
 white- wash the issue, there is really no way to achieve perfection. Often problems won't surface until there are enough units out in the real world. In- house testing can't cover every possible contingency. Stuff will go wrong. A year or so ago I received a recall on my 1993 Ford F150. I think the biggest problem is the media frenzy. Certainly this is news, but perspective is never attempted in the reports. be it cars or cribs or TV's, EVERY manufacturer has recalls. The media frenzy probably exacerbated the problem by forcing Toyota to fix it NOW!!!!!!!! A more measured approach would allowed for a better repair.

  But Enfield beat it to the punchline and did the recall as soon as they knew the problems existed.  Not really the same on the long end as hoping the problem would go away.  But yes I agree sooner or later everything is subject to a recall.
Will Morrison
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dogbone

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Reply #14 on: March 12, 2010, 10:06:34 am
Audi  had the first sudden acceleration issues ,it almost ruined the company, I think the problem ended up as a faulty ics ,(idle control solenoid).  They made a comeback so will Toyota.
My son in law is a service writer at a Toyota dealership, he dreads going to work !
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