Google Analysis
TOYOTA: THE ACCELERATOR CRISIS
The root cause of their problems is that the company was hijacked, some years ago, by anti-family, financially oriented pirates.
Jim Press, former President & Chief Operating Officer (COO)
Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.
On February 24, 2010, Akio Toyoda, the grandson of Toyota Motor Corporation’s founder, Kiichiro Toyoda, endured a grueling question-and-answer session before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government
Reform. The committee represented just one of three Congressional panels investigating the 2009-2010 recall of Toyota vehicles related to problems of sudden acceleration and the company’s delay in responding to the crisis.
Signs of the coming recall crisis began as early as 2006 when the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened an investigation into driver reports of “surging” in Toyota’s Camry models. The NHTSA investigation was closed the next year, citing no defects. Over the next four years, Toyota, known in the industry for its quality and reliability, would quietly recall nearly nine million Toyota and Lexus models due to sudden acceleration problems.
Toyota’s leadership, widely criticized for its slow response in addressing the problems, now had to move quickly to identify a solution that would ensure the safety of its vehicles, restore consumer confidence, protect the valuable Toyota brand, and recoup a plummeting share price.
Akio Toyoda testified:
I fear the pace at which we have grown may have been too quick. I would like to point out here that Toyota’s priority has traditionally been the following: First,
Safety; Second, Quality; and Third, Volume. These priorities became confused, and we were not able to stop, think, and make improvements as much as we were able to before, and our basic stance to listen to customers’ voices to make better products has weakened somewhat. We pursued growth over the speed at which we were able to
The root cause of their problems is that the company was hijacked, some years ago, by anti-family, financially oriented pirates.
Jim Press, former President & Chief Operating Officer (COO)
Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.
On February 24, 2010, Akio Toyoda, the grandson of Toyota Motor Corporation’s founder, Kiichiro Toyoda, endured a grueling question-and-answer session before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government
Reform. The committee represented just one of three Congressional panels investigating the 2009-2010 recall of Toyota vehicles related to problems of sudden acceleration and the company’s delay in responding to the crisis.
Signs of the coming recall crisis began as early as 2006 when the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened an investigation into driver reports of “surging” in Toyota’s Camry models. The NHTSA investigation was closed the next year, citing no defects. Over the next four years, Toyota, known in the industry for its quality and reliability, would quietly recall nearly nine million Toyota and Lexus models due to sudden acceleration problems.
Toyota’s leadership, widely criticized for its slow response in addressing the problems, now had to move quickly to identify a solution that would ensure the safety of its vehicles, restore consumer confidence, protect the valuable Toyota brand, and recoup a plummeting share price.
Akio Toyoda testified:
I fear the pace at which we have grown may have been too quick. I would like to point out here that Toyota’s priority has traditionally been the following: First,
Safety; Second, Quality; and Third, Volume. These priorities became confused, and we were not able to stop, think, and make improvements as much as we were able to before, and our basic stance to listen to customers’ voices to make better products has weakened somewhat. We pursued growth over the speed at which we were able to