Toyota Officials Probed in Recall Cover-Up

At the risk of shaking up a hornets' nest, and probably against my better judgement....

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060711/UPDATE/607110420

TOKYO -- Three Toyota officials are under a criminal investigation on suspicion of professional negligence for allegedly shirking recalls for eight years and not fixing a defect that may have caused an accident, police said Tuesday.

Will this be huge news in the auto industry? I'm thinking most likely not, because the incidents occured on cars made and sold in Japan.

Inconceivable! :eek:

They should be thrown off The Cliffs of Insanity!

WHHHHAAAAT! You mean Toyota isn't led only by Beautiful and Perfect People Dedicated to Making Everyone Feel Warm and Fuzzy (and Saving The Planet?)

Mommy! Mommy! HEEEELLLLLP!

As I was saying....:o Ok...so....how much could this hurt Toyota's image? Will it become a huge story? I'm not convinced it will.

BUT CHEVY IS RELEASING ITS NEW GAS HUNGRY SUV AND TRUCK THIS YEAR WHEN GAS IS FOURMILLION DOLLARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:p

"We're not sure why one of those guys left the company"

BUT CHEVY IS RELEASING ITS NEW GAS HUNGRY SUV AND TRUCK THIS YEAR WHEN GAS IS FOURMILLION DOLLARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:p

"We're not sure why one of those guys left the company"

Toyota kills babies too:

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060710/AUTO01/607100330/1148/AUTO01

"Fixing the actual problem is too expensive, so we'll just disable the Passenger Airbag switch."

Nice.

Two thumbs up for superior Japanese engineering.

Will this be huge news in the auto industry? I'm thinking most likely not, because the incidents occured on cars made and sold in Japan.

Correct, while these allegations are certainly serious, to call 'media bias' the moment you see this missing from CNN's headlines would be dumb considering it occurred in Japan regarding Japanese made and sold vehicles and 'may' have caused 'a' (single) accident...

About all of their recall decisions comes from Japan though dont they?

Correct, while these allegations are certainly serious, to call 'media bias' the moment you see this missing from CNN's headlines would be dumb considering it occurred in Japan regarding Japanese made and sold vehicles and 'may' have caused 'a' (single) accident...

You can be tried and found guilty for plotting to kill somebody without going through with it. Likewise I don't think they should be let off the hook for covering up recalls, even if nobody was hurt. Again, assuming the allegations are true.

You can be tried and found guilty for plotting to kill somebody without going through with it. Likewise I don't think they should be let off the hook for covering up recalls, even if nobody was hurt. Again, assuming the allegations are true.

I never said anyone should be let off the hook, in fact I said this is certainly a serious matter. I just wanted to get it out of the way that yes of course this isn't going to make headline news in the US for a variety of reasons. I mean, consider how little we heard of the Chinese auto industry's version of Enron as compared to the Enron scandle itself.

Hmm, this accident happened in Japan. I wonder how it'll affect their sales over there?

I mean, consider how little we heard of the Chinese auto industry's version of Enron as compared to the Enron scandle itself.

Point taken, but I could certainly see cause for concern....after all, Toyota is a global company, and their executives doing this in Japan can have major implications for the rest of their global operations....

It's kind of like some GM exec in Detroit being indicted for covering up Chevy recalls....I think the Holden fans down under might get just a little squirmish that something of this magnitude could happen in the company that builds their cars.

From the article: "The model affected by the 2004 recall, totaling 1.2 million vehicles, was sold in 180 nations abroad including the U.S. and Europe, and a recall was carried out in September 2005, according to Toyota. Eighteen cases of problems were reported from overseas, but there were no accidents or injuries, it said."

What U.S. model was affected?

But wait, there's more... http://www.gminsidenews.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33984

PS Apologies if already posted elsewhere.

Who's the guy with the Scion here?

Does it have a sunroof?

Has it shattered?

Did Toyota blame it on the operator, as per their usual M.O. (such as: seat belts... engine sludge... child seat tethers... etc...)?


"You no sticky head through closed sunroof, sunroof no breaky-breaky!!! All your fault!!! All your fault!!! We no pay fixy-fixy Roundeyes!!!"





****

Toyota kills babies too:

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060710/AUTO01/607100330/1148/AUTO01

"Fixing the actual problem is too expensive, so we'll just disable the Passenger Airbag switch."

Nice.

Two thumbs up for superior Japanese engineering.

I am sort of a Toyota nuthugger, and this pisses me off big time!!!:mad: Do not F with kids safety. And fix it right. Disabling the switch as a fix?? Total BS. GM would be scorned in the press world wide if they considered such a fix. I hope Toyota gets hammered over this decision and learns a lesson. Seems like the bigger they get, the more arrogant and retarded they become. Their reliability is already suffering as they produce more and more volume.

Seems like the bigger they get, the more arrogant and retarded they become.

As soon as people figure out that this is the natural course with ALL large organizations--business OR government--the better off we'll be.

Newsflash: Toyota does not love you. Nor does any other really large company. Nor does the government. Sorry about that.

Newsflash: Toyota does not love you. Nor does any other really large company. Nor does the government. Sorry about that.

Thanks for pointing out the obvious there genius.

I dont think that was specifically meant towards you, just the American public, in general.

Toyota kills babies too:

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060710/AUTO01/607100330/1148/AUTO01

"Fixing the actual problem is too expensive, so we'll just disable the Passenger Airbag switch."

Nice.

Two thumbs up for superior Japanese engineering.

VW had a similar situation, but completely different action on the 1999 to 2002 Passat. You could bring your Passat into a VW dealer and they would retro fit "both" rear outboard seating potions with LATCH free of charge. Why can't Toyota do this for one seating position?

Wasn't it Toyota that pocketed some astronomical amount of profit this last year in the billions? :confused:

........ and yet the company that lost over 10 Billion last year has enough to invest in our childrens safety....

GM Renews 10-Year Commitment to Safe Kids Worldwide


General Motors announced on June 13 that it is committing $11.4
million over the next three years to continue and expand its child
safety programs with Safe Kids Worldwide.


The three-year agreement, which calls for nearly $3.5 million each
year, totals more than $50 million that GM has contributed to Safe
Kids since the partnership began a decade ago. In addition, GM is
donating 18 full-size Chevrolet Express vans across the three years
that will increase the fleet of mobile check-up vans to 137
nationwide.


The announcement was made at the Safe Kids Buckle Up 10-year
anniversary celebration. Nicole Nason, the new administrator of
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and Mark Rosenker,
acting chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board spoke at
the event.


"Through this new three-year commitment, we are also funding a pilot
program to expand the number of Safe Kids Buckle Up permanent car
seat inspection stations with a focus on communities that need them
most," said Roderick Gillum, GM vice president of Corporate
Responsibility and Diversity.

Looking at the Safe Kids web site, it appears GM is the only auto manufacturer to contibute over the million dollar range. Where's Toyota and the rest?

Toyota = genius

i mean seriously think about. avoid recalls for as long as possible. have as minimal amount of them as possible for as long as possible, build up a superior quality image and then do minimal recalls... again and in the mean time build up an environmentally friendly image and people will love you! WOW! I LOVE how this world works.:rolleyes:

Toyota = genius

i mean seriously think about. avoid recalls for as long as possible. have as minimal amount of them as possible for as long as possible, build up a superior quality image and then do minimal recalls... again and in the mean time build up an environmentally friendly image and people will love you! WOW! I LOVE how this world works.:rolleyes:

What you described could easily be summed up as the nature of any large corporation including GM back when they were feeling cocky and sure of themselves like nobody could dethrone them.

Toyota certain didn't get where they are today with nothing but shady marketing practices. They've built some of the best long term reliable vehicles put out on the road in the last 2-3 decades or so.

Things may very well be changing for Toyota in that regard much like they did to GM before - it's kind of the nature of economics. Or Toyota may save themselves and learn from others mistakes. We'll see...

Historically, Toyota has put out reliable and dependable vehicles.. but saying they've done so for the last 2-3 decades is overstating the fact. IMO, it's more like 15-18 years, not 20-30:

If you go back 3 decades, that puts you squarely in 1976. Toyota's couldn't hold their RUST together back in 1976. Find me a 1976 Toyota *anything* in the northern US. I'd hardly call that reliable. Honda was using 900 and 1200cc motorcycle engines coupled to 5 speed manual transmissions in their CVCC wagons. Yeah: real glory times for them. Toyota and Honda built reputations for being MORE reliable during the early eighties when the American auto manufacturers were still scrambling to down-size their large metal, build small engines, and meet new emission laws -- all within a rushed period of time. It opened the door to major problems that have dogged them since. Somewhere in that time period, the domestics SHOULD have drew a line in the sand, said "this ends today", and made whatever adjustments were necessary to correct their quality failings: even if it meant getting your *ss handed to you on wall street for a half-decade. You would've righted the ship and avoided tarnishing your reputation. As for the last decade, I'd hardly call sludging engines and grenading transmissions minor transgressions. Toyota was ridiculous in their handling of their sludging issue . Only when the threat of a public black-eye occured did they step up and half-way address the issue. They did only marginally better on this issue than GM did on their many intake-manifold issues. Now we learn of coverups and half-baked "corrections". The point remains that Toyota, upon reaching similar size (in product line depth) as GM, ends up struggling with the same issues that GM does: quality control, engineering constraints, time and money and people allocation. That's not worth a "premium price" to me..

Check out www.cars.com, click 1982 & older. Set your filter to 1976 and Toyota. Do a NATIONWIDE search: 3 used cars available. Try it for Chevrolet. LOL.

Check out www.cars.com, click 1982 & older. Set your filter to 1976 and Toyota. Do a NATIONWIDE search: 3 used cars available. Try it for Chevrolet. LOL.

I agree that 3 decades would be overstating it. I'd say 2.5 decades, which consequentially is the average of my statement of 2-3 decades.:p

In regard to your cars.com serach:

How many Toyotas and Hondas SOLD back then compared to Chevrolets? That is a significant factor affecting how many you'd still see for sale today.

Secondly, how many Toyotas and Hondas were considered 'collector' cars or any other car worth sinking money into to keep running? Look at most of the Cheverolets you see on that 1976 page... Corvettes... El Caminos, etc... most with new paint job, aftermarket wheels, hopped up engines. Fact is they've made great 'tuner' cars over the years and as a result have likely had FAR more money spent on them than they were ever worth to begin with, but that's the way cars like that go - and people don't mind.

Nobody is going to want to beef up a 1976 Corolla with a 'candy' paint job, a new 350 V8 and big wheels.:p

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060713/AUTO01/607130390/1148

:eek:

That's over a half million vehicles in the last 3 days. Ouch....

Nobody is going to want to beef up a 1976 Corolla with a 'candy' paint job, a new 350 V8 and big wheels

Wanna bet? Turn on daytime tv and watch the freaks come out on Morrie, Springer, etc (and watch them be proud for being dysfunctional enough to be on tv <- wtf?). I don't put anything past anyone. If just 1% of 1% of 1% of the US population is screwball, then there are probably 10 1976 small-block powered candy-apple-red Corolla's trotting around (personally, I'd start looking for them all in LA -> no offense intended to Californians).

You do make a valid point that Toyota wasn't selling the same volume of cars back in 1976 and that the cars Toyota were selling certainly weren't anything of collector-status-worth.. but just the same: 3 cars.. for the whole nation?!? That's a stunningly-low number considering Toyota's supposed-legendary-dependability status. I'm reluctant to argue over how long Toyota's been a dependability-benchmark, but considering the events of recent years (sludging) combined with the gems this week, I'd be more inclined to shave a few years off of both ends of your timeframe. and put Toyota's "peak" at 1982 - 2002. Regardless of it being 20 years, 25 years, or 30 years, it's something GM should be envious of.

For some reason, none of this is a surprise to me!;) No don't roon it fer em', toyota loves everyone, and is single handedly makin' great strides in savin' this beatiful planet. :rolleyes: P.S. I hope it's an anal probe by aliens!

For some reason, none of this is a surprise to me!;) No don't roon it fer em', toyota loves everyone, and is single handedly makin' great strides in savin' this beatiful planet. :rolleyes: P.S. I hope it's an anal probe by aliens!

Come on man... go back to the lounge... it's more entertaining in there - you get more publicity that way.:D;)
http://web.camaross.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3960776#post3960776

That's funny! I forgot all about that post, as I don't spend my every waking moment bangin' away at the keyboard, like some of us. I knew I'd get a rise out of threxxus! Still havin' problems satisfyin' the wife? Maybe you could switch off! :p Just a thought.:alert:

That's funny! I forgot all about that post, as I don't spend my every waking moment bangin' away at the keyboard, like some of us. I knew I'd get a rise out of threxxus! Still havin' problems satisfyin' the wife? Maybe you could switch off! :p Just a thought.:alert:

A rise? I'm not mad at all... laughing, dude... Not with you, either. At you. I wouldn't be surprised if that were a common theme in your every day life if you really act so over the top and irrationally about things in the real world, too.;)

PS - I was having a hard time keeping up with my wife. As in she was so satisfied she wanted even more and my stick just wasn't used to the pace. Yay reading comprehension! Yay for bringing the topic of a ages old thread up as your only potential defense mechanism. Yay!;)

Billiant! :bow: Your so smart, what exactly do they feed you there in Tennessee? You know I was thinking of buying some land over there close to the Dragon. Wouldn't that be grand! :)