Toyota's U.S.-Japan disconnect-Americans had little power to respond to safety problems

[DainBramaged]

Toyota Motor Company has spent 20 years telling U.S. consumers how deeply it has sunk its roots into America.

But in congressional testimony last week, Toyota executives acknowledged that the home office in Japan continues to call the shots in its biggest market.

The disconnect between Toyota U.S.A. and Toyota Japan, as well as Toyota manufacturing and Toyota sales in the United States, partly accounts for the giant's current blizzard of problems, recalls, lawsuits and public scoldings, according to comments made during hours of congressional testimony last week.

Even as Toyota's U.S. manufacturing group is running print ads in Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana boasting that it is "dedicated to our community," corporate executives faced questions in Washington on how U.S. consumer concerns got lost in Japan.

Jim Lentz, president of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc. and Toyota's highest-ranking U.S. sales executive, admitted under Capitol Hill questioning last week that decisions about whether to recall U.S. products for safety issues are all made in Japan.

Asked if any of Toyota's safety personnel report to him, Lentz said they do not. And he admitted that the centralized control of product issues in Japan had made it difficult for U.S. voices to be heard.


Read more: http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100301/OEM01/303019924/1117#ixzz0gwp6dTqO

[DainBramaged]

1. Additionally

Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the oversight and investigations subcommittee of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, wasn't impressed. Stupak said congressional committee members are distressed that so much of Toyota's decision making still resides in Japan.

"They're upset that every decision on recall, safety, engineering, whether to look at electronics, is all made in Japan," Stupak complained.

"All we are is a country with a 'For Sale' sign on it."

Read more: http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100301/OEM01/303019924/1117#ixzz0gwpNUaLY

[Romulox]

2. This thread will not be popular with the Cheap Labor-o-crats. k/r nt.

[DainBramaged]

3. It goes along with what I have been saying since the beginning of the crisis

Japan pulled the strings, and they refused to face the reality that their products suck.

[Romulox]

4. I got into it with an impassioned supporter of teachers' unions recently

who informed me that she didn't feel the need to support the UAW, since she'd had a couple bad experiences with UAW made vehicles 30 some years ago. She was now the happy driver of a Toyota, and wouldn't even consider a union made vehicle.

But it was important that I support her union, she informed me, without any sense of self-awareness or shame. That's what we're up against.

[DainBramaged]

6. This place has NO LOYALTY to the UAW, Teamsters. or SEIU

If you do physical labor, you're scum. But you'd better support what the purists support or they'll get your posts deleted and your threads locked.

[damntexdem]

5. Not the way Total Quality Management is supposed to work.

And its enhancing, and allowing, quality improvements that has made Toyota.

Nothing like home-office sabotage to really hurt a company.

[madrchsod]

7. they do not trust nor respect the american worker

my daughter found out about their lack of respect....

[OhioChick]

8. What happened to your 4 rec's???

:wtf:

[DainBramaged]

9. The Toyota supporters made sure to unrec this thread

unpatriotic bastards.

[Hubert Flottz]

10. There's one more, but it probably won't take long for the non-union

nutcases to strike that one too.

[Romulox]

11. These threads make Toyota drivers feel bad. It's really as simple as that. nt

[OhioChick]

13. Quite disturbing that some would unrec a thread due to a faulty product that has cost lives. n/t

[madrchsod]

15. hell it could be those people who get paid....lol

[madrchsod]

12. i recommended at three that turned into two...

some folks just can`t stand people talking about the real world where men and women break their bodies to make a living....

we work with the tools that are given to us....understand? i doubt it.

[DainBramaged]

16. Sad, and those of us from IN the industry (various functions) KNEW this was coming

and it hit the fan, but they will not realize or accept unless a GM or Ford bashing thread shows up.

[ChromeFoundry]

14. Rec #3 n/t

[madokie]

17. You couldn't run fast enough to give me one of those pieces of shit autos

Toyota pickups either. :rofl:
All I can say if someone is planning on buying a toyota or nissan for that matter, pickup truck they should go compare them with either a Ford or Chevy. I'm not talking just about the seats either, I'm talking about the frames, the engines, the transmissions, the drivetrain and especially the front suspension, the door hinges, the quality of the work and not just that on the outer surface of the inside and outside of them. :puke: