Toyota's growing troubles

[one...two...tree 2,762]

By Ken Bensinger, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

Toyota Motor Corp. seems poised to overtake General Motors Corp. as the world's biggest automaker, but lately the Japanese auto giant is finding the road to the top awfully bumpy.

A handful of top Toyota executives have made high-profile exits to rival manufacturers. Environmentalists complain that even as the company says it will sell 250,000 hybrid autos this year, it's still producing gas guzzlers like the Sequoia SUV and moving to oppose more stringent fuel and emission standards. And perhaps most critically, it's been beset with bad news on the quality front.

After announcing a record number of recalls in the last three years and witnessing its J.D. Power & Associates quality rankings slip significantly, Toyota was demoted by Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, on its annual reliability rankings. This month the automaker was hit with a lawsuit accusing it of covering up manufacturing defects at a California plant it shares with GM.

Critics say it's proof that Toyota is growing too much too quickly. But Toyota brass, used to glowing public receptions, say it's just a reminder that when you're on your way to being the top dog, everybody wants to bring you down.

"It's very puzzling," Toyota spokesman Bill Kwong said of the quality criticisms, rattling off a long list of indicators showing that in many cases Toyota reliability is still very high. He added that Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe recently appointed two executives to oversee quality control, announced plans to hire 8,000 more engineers to work on that issue and decided to make more prototypes of cars prior to release. "We're very concerned about quality," Kwong said.

The story of Toyota is one of expansion, to a degree that could hardly have been predicted 50 years ago when it put its first Toyota Crown on sale in the U.S. Over the years, Toyota developed a reputation for quality and reliability. The company attributes that to its corporate philosophy, known as the Toyota production system, which values the individual and works to deliver cars on an as-needed basis.

The company spends generously on research and development and, because it isn't saddled with some of the labor issues of the Big Three U.S. automakers, has enjoyed sizable profit even in highly competitive segments. Last year Toyota sold 2.54 million cars in the U.S., behind only GM and Ford Motor Co., and through the first three quarters of this year it passed Ford, grabbing 16.2% of the U.S. market. This year it briefly passed GM in worldwide sales for the first time.

"Toyota wants to be bigger than GM, and the only way to do that is to offer a full line of vehicles," said Aaron Bragman, an analyst at Global Insight, pointing out that Toyota now sells cars and trucks in nearly every class, something that few competitors, other than the Big Three, dare attempt.

To do so it has opened plants all over the world, including large ones in Texas, Kentucky and Fremont, Calif. "At what cost so much growth?" he asked.

According to a whistle-blower lawsuit filed this month, it was at that Fremont facility, where Toyota makes Tacomas, Corollas and Pontiac Vibes under a joint-operating agreement with GM, where some of the pressures of growth began to appear.

Plaintiff Katy Cameron, an auditor at the plant, alleges that managers systematically downplayed and at times changed her reports showing manufacturing defects, and that when she complained she was demoted.

"It was all about 'move, move, get the quantity out, get it out,' " said Cameron, who is on leave from the plant and is seeking $45 million in damages. She said she found problems in steering, brakes, coolant, motor mounts and seat belts, among other problems, but, starting in 2005, discovered her supervisors erasing her findings and submitting other, more favorable, results.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-toyo...=la-home-center

[Marilyn. 340]

i am going to move this to OFF -topic because I think you might have accidentally posted it in the POLLS section

[one...two...tree 2,762]

i am going to move this to OFF -topic because I think you might have accidentally posted it in the POLLS section

Ah, thanks, Marilyn. I have no sense of direction.

[Ban Hammer 14,654]

i am going to move this to OFF -topic because I think you might have accidentally posted it in the POLLS section

Ah, thanks, Marilyn. I have no sense of direction.

and you didn't ask for directions either

[Jasman0717 9]

They still make a pretty good car

[~krakatoa~ 27]

Nevertheless, I still love their cars and SUVs. My first car was a Toyota & that was...hmm.. 14 years ago? Very reliable and economical on gas. My family in Las Islas Filipinas can still drive with it for hours in amiable speed, really.

Edited November 22, 2007 by mysticbluerose

[Jasman0717 9]

Nevertheless, I still love their cars and SUVs. My first car was a Toyota & that was...hmm.. 14 years ago? Very reliable and economical on gas. My family in Las Islas Filipinas can still drive with it for hours in amiable speed, really.

I have no idea what I doing with a Dodge hemi that gets 10 mpg around town Of course Claudeth can make a bed out of her seat so that comfort factor is important