In 2008 Toyota became the world’s largest carmaker when it successfully exceeded General Motors in sales and production. However, this leading position of Toyota had changed since the end of 2009. In the United States, Toyota’s largest marketplace, a fatal crash of a Lexus ES 350 on August 28th 2009 was highly publicized, due to the gas pedal which was stuck and the car went out of control (Los Angeles Times, Oct.25, 2009). Since then, Toyota’s vehicles have been largely exposed to a series of issues associated with unintended acceleration problems, and these have triggered Toyota’s escalating crisis and its massive recalls of approximately 9 million vehicles globally within a six months period. For Toyota, this is indeed a tragedy that is not only related to heavy financial losses due to associated repairs costs, market share lost and production suspending, but also to Toyota’s reputation for its matchless quality and management. The firm's reputation for quality…
Processes need to be constantly analyzed in order to see if they are operating at full potential. The Toyota Production System (TPS) is one of the most effective processes in the world but it was not fully integrated into foreign market plants. Following is a refined problem statement elaborating on the prior one: The TPS process is not fully in place in all plants across all markets. A fishbone diagram and a flowchart have been provided in order to get to the root of the problem and develop a process improvement plan as well as a complimenting scope. In order for Toyota to remain successful and be prevalent well into the future, the TPS rollout process must be completed smoothly and full-heartedly into all foreign markets.…
On September 29, 2009, Toyota recalled 3.8 million U.S. vehicles, and on January 16, 2010, another 2.3 million more were recalled for what was determined years after the initial complaint of a “stuck accelerator pedals.” (Greto, 2010) After Toyota’s executives were called to congress and forced to stop selling their cars, the U.S. fined Toyota with a 16.4 million dollar civil penalty. In addition, Toyota Motor Corp., in December 2012, agreed to pay $1.1 billion to settle a class-action lawsuit stemming from complaints of unintended acceleration in its vehicles that soured its reputation for quality and undermined its sales globally. (Ramsey, 2012) Three processes were identified within Toyota that will benefit from improvement: 1) Leadership, 2) Quality Management, and 3) Communication.…
Bibliography: |1. abc News (2010) Toyota Supplier Says Sticky Gas Pedals Not the Problem. Retrieved 17/2/2012 From: |…
As of January 28, 2010 9 million Toyota’s were recalled worldwide due to an issue with the pedal entrapment/floor mat problem.There were allegations about what the problem was some people said it was the floor mats that could easily get stuck on the pedal and cause unwanted acceleration. Others claimed that there was a problem with the accelerator itself. On February 8, 2011 the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in participation with NASA performed an investigation on the throttle system of the Toyota vehicles. The study lasted for 10 months and afterwards the scientist from NASA and NHTSA announced they found no defect. Sometimes mistakes like this can be crippling to a company’s reputation. In business it is important to have a plan for everything. All business should have a thorough business plan if they want to be successful, and Toyota has a very thorough business plan. As a CEO I would write out a detailed plan on how our company would overcome this obstacle and follow that plan precisely, this plan would consist of all the steps our company will take during the initial stages of rebuilding our brand. It’s important to maintain a good public image for the company. A bad public perception of a company can be fatal. The plan that I have will include the following steps: 1) Stop the production until the problem is fixed. 2) Apologize and explain what happened. 3) Explain the corrective actions we would take and what we’re doing to do to prevent this in the future. 4) Advertise/Rebuild the brand.…
There were several advantages of Toyota’s manufacturing system when compared with conventional manufacturing system. Ohno Taiichi was the person responsible in helping Toyota shift from the established method of manufacturing automobiles set by Ford. The basic philosophy was to produce everything in mass quantity to gain maximum economies of scale. The logic was to spread the fixed cost over the production line and benefit from lower cost. Another characteristic of this philosophy was to make each worker perform a single task only. This premise was supported by the fact that if one worker performs the same task over and over again then eventually he or she would get faster in doing so. Ohno Taiichi was able to identify several flaws in this philosophy. Firstly, mass production of same item meant that what was not used had to be stored in warehouses. This resulted in high storage cost. At the same time it tied up inventory in unproductive uses. Secondly, if anything goes wrong in initial machine setting, that would mean massive production of defective parts. Thirdly, if each worker is assigned to do only one task then that resulted in quality mismanagement. Fourthly, this philosophy created the problem of employing specialist at extreme ends of division of labor. There were many tasks that could have been performed by one person. Lastly, mass production system created hindrances in making customizable products.…
2) There are a few moral issues that plays into the situation. First, Toyota did not take corrective action quick enough. The first problem with the acceleration first occurred in 2003, but it was ignored. It took nearly 6 years till finally an investigation took place. Many of the issues could have been prevented if proper precautions were taken. Toyota has a strict business culture and for that, it gives the sense that whatever they produce is a hundred percent quality. The first sign of poor quality, Toyota ignored the fact because they themselves didn’t believe it. Second, should have Toyota try to cover up the situation and blame it on the floor mats? Sure there may have been a few case where the floor mats can cause the gas pedal to stick, but a few testimonies say didn’t even have floor mats. Was it ethical to push the blame back at the consumers so the company can save face?…
Toyota one of the biggest world automakers ran into some ethical problems with the accelerator of its several types of vehicles. The issue was that several vehicles had pedal entrapment while still running the vehicles causing it impossible to stop the vehicle. According to Cole (2011), “there were several…
Toyota weathered through a lot of problems over the years from the accelerating recall to the engine oil sludge, but found their way to sustain and grow. Mr. Toyoda had to sort out what combination of structural, cultural, or strategic challenges led to the current recall crisis. Clearly, Mr. Toyoda had much to do to fix the problems of the recent past, and restore confidence in his company and the brand moving forward. More…
1. WHAT ARE THE PRIMARY CAUSES OF TOYOTA’S RECALL PROBLEM? The primary cause of Toyota’s recall was outsourcing their pedal manufacturing and assembly. To this day Toyota has recalled an estimated 2.3 million cars in the U.S. affected by the accelerator assembly problem, 4.2 million vehicles to fix the floor mat issue and out of all those vehicles 1.7 million of them were involved in both recalls (Linebaugh & Shirouzu, 2010). Amongst them are the 2008-2010 Sequoia sport utility vehicles. The main recall problem with the Sequoia’s is the accelerator pedal inside the pedal sensor. What happens over time is that the break lever rubs against the surface of the accelerator and overtime the surfaces may begin to stick. In the event that they do stick the pedals become slower to return to their original state or in some rare cases stick together leaving the throttle open and increasing the risk of a crash. The reasons for the pedals sticking vary from: materials used wear and tear and environmental conditions (Pedal Recall, 2010) According to Toyota they have identified the problem and have come up with a simple solution, they are doing everything they can to resolve the issue as quickly and convenient as possible in hopes of repairing the company image.…
Organizational dilemma is a challenge for every organization nowadays; it is all about how to match discrepancy between individual needs and aspirations on the one hand and the organizational goals on the other. Organizational dilemma may include different types of problems, which are connected with recruitment and hiring, promoting within or from outside, job satisfaction and dissatisfaction.…
This business ethics course offers an introduction into the concept of values, morality, as well as cultural beliefs and upbringing in all areas of business, from consumer rights to corporate social responsibility. Decisions made by shift managers or corporate presidents may affect thousands of individuals or entire communities. Consumers today expect and demand integrity, honesty, and transparency in all levels of their environment. Understanding those expectations is the key to communicating core values and behavior not only to employees, but society in general.…
Krisher, T, 2010, ‘Toyota expands recall over faulty gas pedals’, South Florida Sun – Sentinial, 29 January.…
Toyota’s brand image of creating reliable and efficient is damaged due to accelerator pedals getting caught on floor mats. Toyota faces tremendous competitive rivalry in the car market.It was badly hit by 2008 financial crisis and declared its first annual loss in 70 years history. Spending much money on Advertisements…
* To find out the relationship between Cubic centimeters and Car’s selling price and the level of impact.…