[greenhorn]

I was reading the book 'The Toyota Way' (from GTO's recommend here) , and at every step of the way, i was struk by how a company could function in the manner described in the book , and yet have such huge problems slip through?
We have bashed our local manufacturers to no end ( see here and here)

I'm not interested in what went wrong or how, but rather, why. something as sort of a case study discussion of sorts.

Toyota being the secretive company that it is, has released very little information, and some speculation in this regard may be justified!

[aargee]

Well, there's this "Toyota Way" even in Wiki here. Well most of those issues from Toyota has been happening in US right? Why not in European countries? IMO, some stories are being framed & strongly feel that Jap autos have an edge in US, especially over few years now, compared to their home grown auto companies.

[vinaydas]

Well IMO, This was a Huge Conspiracy Against Toyota By The Americans.
Toyota Overtook GM after the Recession to become the Largest Car manufacturer in the World.

Some could not digest the fact that a Jap is the market leader in America. Why don't the Toyota's as mentioned by others fail in markets apart from US.
The American company recalls were only Cover ups. This is my opinion

[Rehaan]

To be honest, i lost interest in this whole toyota thing after it started to become "sensational news".

There was too much back and forth in terms of changing stories and stupidity (eg. cosmic rays).

Personally i just wrote it off as a handful of incidents that were all brought up together since this was now "hot news".

If you look at the volume of cars produced and the number of incidents reported (%age wise), thats still such and incredibly low failure rate. And if you further compare that to the amount of publicity it got, it sounds something like .....

Originally Posted by vinaydas

Well IMO, This was a Huge Conspiracy Against Toyota ...

...or perhaps others making hay while the sun was not shining elsewhere.


As for Toyota's stance - they couldn't just brush it off, as that would be a bad PR move that would further snowball.

cya
R

PS - If i'm wrong about the numbers or something, let me know.

[Mpower]

Well success did get into their heads a little bit and they forgot their values.

Friend has a 2008 Camry and the steel wheels are badly rusted and can be seen behind the plastic caps.

Anyway they will recover for sure.

[Cesc]

Originally Posted by greenhorn

I was reading the book 'The Toyota Way' (from GTO's recommend here) , and at every step of the way, i was struk by how a company could function in the manner described in the book , and yet have such huge problems slip through?

For one people in Toyota might have stopped following the 'Toyota Way'. There are ideals and spirit behind words. Adhering to those ideals and spirit is more important that adhering to words. There is no question that a lot of good things went into building Toyota. Maybe the current crop of people running Toyota were not as particular about what got them where they are.

Originally Posted by vinaydas

Well IMO, This was a Huge Conspiracy Against Toyota By The Americans.
Toyota Overtook GM after the Recession to become the Largest Car manufacturer in the World.

Some could not digest the fact that a Jap is the market leader in America. Why don't the Toyota's as mentioned by others fail in markets apart from US.
The American company recalls were only Cover ups. This is my opinion

I find the entire conspiracy idea a bit funny. GM and Ford have been struggling for years now. Toyota did not become this big overnight. If the Americans had to hatch any kind of conspiracy they would have done that long ago.

Also a company as big as Toyota will have sufficient lobbyists in Washington to mount a similar attack on other companies or thwart an attack on its own credibility.

That is not how the American consumer laws work. In the past few months a major furnishing chain had to recall millions of roman blinds and a crib manufacturer had to recall millions of cribs because of product deficiencies. And I am not exaggerating when I say millions. Google it and you will find it. Both the above brands are household names in America.

Originally Posted by Rehaan

To be honest, i lost interest in this whole toyota thing after it started to become "sensational news".

There was too much back and forth in terms of changing stories and stupidity (eg. cosmic rays).

Personally i just wrote it off as a handful of incidents that were all brought up together since this was now "hot news".

If you look at the volume of cars produced and the number of incidents reported (%age wise), thats still such and incredibly low failure rate. And if you further compare that to the amount of publicity it got, it sounds something like .....



...or perhaps others making hay while the sun was not shining elsewhere.


As for Toyota's stance - they couldn't just brush it off, as that would be a bad PR move that would further snowball.

cya
R

PS - If i'm wrong about the numbers or something, let me know.

There are solid numbers behind all recalls. More than 60 deaths have already been attributed to Toyota's faulty gas pedal. Similarly there are good numbers associated with the truck recalls as well as brake recalls (not deaths - but number of vehicles with problems).

A company that has all the resources in the world can mount a very good legal challenge if it feels that the charges are unwarranted and unsubstantiated. There are enough big law firms in America that can get on Uncle Sam's back and slug it out for the kind of money Toyota can throw on the table.

Toyota was an icon of quality. The more clean you are - the more will any stains on you be magnified. That is exactly what happened with the company. The bottomline though remains that Toyota does have problems. And they did mess up. Now it remains to be seen how quickly they get out of this.

[srishiva]

They were being arrogant and ruthless and no one criticized them at Home. They drove lot of suppliers out of business by demanding more for less prices. They were making more money and thats what they cared most about. Of course they couldn't be wrong and didn't take safety issues seriously.