Toyota Chief Leaves Legislators With Little Resolution
By Michelle Krebs February 25, 2010Other than apologizing to a raft of House of Representatives lawmakers for accidents 
involving their constituents and pledging to improve the company's quality, communications and transparency, Akio Toyoda, president and CEO of embattled Toyota Motor Corp., didn't give Congress much to chew on after a day of exhaustive testimony in Washington, DC.
Testifying for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform along with Yoshimi Inaba, president and COO of Toyota Motor North America, Toyoda was hampered by the need to mostly speak through an interpreter and by delivering precious little in the way of definitive answers for House members desperate to produce public satisfaction.
Toyoda was direct and forceful in closing the door on one issue that's been repeated ad nauseum by the Congressional investigators, however: the potential for as-yet unknown electronic or software problems with the electronically controlled throttles used on all the Toyota vehicles alleged to have accelerated unintentionally.
"I am absolutely confident there is no problem with the design of the ETC (electronically controlled throttle) system," Toyoda insisted.
The statement was in direct opposition to evidence presented the previous day by a third-party engineering and testing company, Safety Research and Strategies Inc. The company's evaluation suggested the potential for faults in Toyota's ETC design that could indeed potentially cause unintended acceleration.
When asked about why, if the company is totally confident electronic gremlins are not a potential cause of unintended acceleration, Toyota will begin rolling out brake-override software designed to cut engine power if both brake and accelerator pedals are pressed simultaneously, Inaba said "concerns about the possibility" of electronic or software faults led Toyota to begin instituting the brake override system.
He also said the brake override, which can be retrofitted to about 72 percent of the 5 million-plus vehicles Toyota has recalled in the U.S., will enable "an added measure of customer confidence" about a situation that continues to cast doubt -- possibly sales-crushing doubt -- on Toyota's reputation for iron-clad engineering.
Inaba also said the brake override system will be adopted for all newly manufactured North American-made Toyota and Lexus models by the end of this year.
The plan was as close to providing closure for the situation that seems to become murkier the more Toyota, regulators and lawmakers contort themselves to clear it up.
Apologies Abound
Toyoda and Inaba, often struggling to understand the thrust of protracted and obfuscatory lines of questioning from various House investigators, many times apologized for injuries and deaths attributed to unintended acceleration accidents.
Inaba also admitted Toyota did not take counsel of pertinent reports and complaints from other world regions -- reports that may have led to quicker and more effective response than led to the eventual recall of as many as 8 million vehicles worldwide.
"I think we could have done a better job of sharing" with executives in Japan and the U.S. international complaints and reports of unintended acceleration, Inaba said.
He and Toyoda promised improved transparency and new, acute attention to sharing of safety-related information between the company's global regions, as well as a heightened commitment to improving quality -- an area in which, until now, nobody thought Toyota had any room for improvement.
To that end, the executives said the first meeting of Toyota's newly established committee on global quality will be March 30.
As for the damaging internal U.S. memo that gives the appearance of a Toyota gloating about actively mitigating potentially large recalls and saving $100 million in the process, Inaba said that although the documents were prepared as a presentation for him, the appearance of corporate ruthlessness is "so inconsistent with the guiding principles of Toyota."
While Toyoda and Inaba were exceedingly contrite throughout the afternoon, they were not without moments of forcefulness. Inaba, for example, said Toyota "has some concerns" about the Safety Research and Strategies testing of ETCs, saying the the engineers' methods "manipulated" the components "in a very unrealistic manner."
Little To Show
The appearance of Toyoda -- grandson of the company founder -- lit off a media scramble in the normally staid halls of the nation's capital, with some veteran Washington reporters having trouble recalling a larger media frenzy.
But when the questioning was over, House investigators were left holding a scanty bag of deliverables.
Worse for Toyota, after two days of hearings in Washington, U.S. auto buyers -- looking for guidance about whether it's "safe" to drive or buy a Toyota vehicle -- got nothing from the company that could be construed as closure.
The results of two days of inquiry in the U.S. House of Representatives: grandstanding politicos, dubious promises from the nation's top safety regulator, dueling engineering experts with questionable motives -- and numerous apologies from executives who aren't really sure they've got anything to apologize about, other than unsavory business-as-usual in the recall game.
The value of Toyota -- or somebody -- coming up with a real answer for unintended acceleration, regulatory indifference and arrogant corporate ineptitude: priceless. -- Bill Visnic, Senior Editor
Photos by Edmunds.com's David Green
1 - Toyota Motor Corp. President and CEO Akio Toyoda, grandson of the company founder, insisted electronics were not the cause of unintended acceleration cases.
2 - Toyota's top North American executive Yoshimi Inaba promised brake override systems would be installed in Toyota-made vehicles sold in the U.S.
3 - Waving a copy of The Toyota Way, the handbook on the company's culture, Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, questioned how Toyota's focus on quality squared with evidence the company had ignored thousands of sudden-acceleration complaints for years. "Where is the remorse?" she asked.
4 - Rep. John Mica, R-Florida, called a leaked confidential Toyota memo that boasted saving the automaker $100 million by limiting the floormat recall in 2007 as "one of the most embarrassing documents I've ever seen...absolutely appalling."
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Click here to comment on this entry.I'd sure be interested in knowing WHY only 72% of Toyotas with ETC can be retrofitted with the brake override. It seems it'd be a simple software update. Also, it'd be nice if someone associated with Edmunds could confirm for us what WSJ and Wards are reporting about Hyundai's plan to incorporate the feature by the end of the month. And find out why it'll take Toyota reportedly until the end of the year if so.
because not all recalled vehicles were equipped with the ETC (it's either after 2005 or 2007 that ETC was used)
According to stories I've read, it was first used in 2002, but still what you're saying makes sense.
About that internal memo... If I saved my company $100,000,000, or even $100,000, I'd be proud of it too. And company executives would support it. Anything for cost-savings, to put as at a competitive advantage and/or line the pockets of the company's leaders. Maybe even a promotion or bonus for me.
remember, they are adressing all of the recalls simultaneously, so they are referring to the sticking throttle, floormats, and brakes all at one time. i would venture a guess that Hyundai is rolling out the brake override publicly as a "hey we're not going to let what happened to Toyota happen to us. Buy our car!" strategy. they do like to flaunt their airbags and other safety features as being standard vs. everyone else's optional features.
What people don't realize is that the U.S. gov't views Toyota as a competitor to their companies GM and Chrysler. It is in their interest to publicize and tarnish Toyota. Chrysler just announced a huge recall and I am sure it will not be highly publicized.
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