Toyota said yesterday it is inviting four outside experts to help beef up quality controls at the recall-battered automaker under a program that began in March to review defect measures.
Toyota Motor Corp said it was tackling a number of improvements, including analyzing each accident and consumer complaint more thoroughly and boosting communication with journalists and other outsiders to be better at ensuring quality.
The world’s top automaker has seen its once sterling image for quality plunge since October last year after recalling more than 8.5 million vehicles around the world with defective gas pedals, faulty floor mats, software glitches and other problems.
Despite vowing to improve quality, the automaker has in some cases discouraged independent scrutiny. Electronic messages obtained by reporters in the US show Toyota was frustrated with Southern Illinois University professor David Gilbert, whose research indicated that electronics might be to blame for unintended acceleration problems in Toyota cars.
The messages show Toyota not only tried to cast doubt on his findings but also made clear it was displeased. One Toyota employee questioned whether he should be employed by the university, which has long been a recipient of company donations.
In steps disclosed yesterday as under way, Toyota said it is boosting collaboration between Toyota’s quality-related divisions and its legal division, beefing up training among employees to get a better grasp of customers’ views on vehicle troubles and trying to obtain more input from third-party experts.
Toyota is adding four academic and consumer experts, who were recommended by the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers, which is not directly affiliated with Toyota. They are Hiroshi Osada, professor of management at the Tokyo Institute of Technology; Noriaki Kano, honorary professor at Tokyo University of Science; Yasuo Kusakabe, chairman of the Automobile Journalist Association of Japan and Yoshiko Miura, general manager at the Japan Consumer’s Association.
“Especially pressing is the need for establishing guidelines to steer crisis-management activity by the president and other members of senior management,” Toyota said. “Also pressing is the need for bridging the culture gap between Japan and other nations in public relations activities.”
In other industry developments, German automaker Volkswagen (VW) says it’s seeking to use more locally acquired parts in its auto production in North America.
CEO Martin Winterkorn told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily for yesterday’s edition that it’s not enough to produce cars in North America, but “we also need to get parts and components from there.” He said the company now buys 70 to 80 percent of such parts in the area.
He said VW is planning to make a Jetta developed for the US that will sell for about US$16,000, as well as a Passat station wagon for about US$20,000. VW is hiring 2,000 employees at its US$1 billion plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to begin building the new Jetta mid-sized sedan starting next year. The German automaker formally opened its training academy at the site last month. The plant will have an annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles.
Winterkorn said VW is looking to quickly replace its US chief, Stefan Jacoby, who will move on to head Volvo.
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