Toyota Recall
Toyota Recall
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.
2. WERE THESE THE RESULT OF OUTSOURCING?
"The whole problem started with the outsourcing of the pedal and the pedal assembly," said Vito Polera, fleet manager at Toronto 's Northwest Toyota dealership. "When Denso couldn 't meet the demand, Toyota farmed out to CTS, which is the affected part" (Deveau, 2010). The pedals in question were manufactured by CTS Corp., a company that Toyota had to turn to when one of their primary tier one suppliers could not keep up with the demand. Yes this recall was a direct result of outsourcing, but other factors played a huge part. CTS stated that the accelerator pedals were manufacturer based on Toyota’s specific design specifications (Hannon, 2009). CTS has a
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.
2. WERE THESE THE RESULT OF OUTSOURCING?
"The whole problem started with the outsourcing of the pedal and the pedal assembly," said Vito Polera, fleet manager at Toronto 's Northwest Toyota dealership. "When Denso couldn 't meet the demand, Toyota farmed out to CTS, which is the affected part" (Deveau, 2010). The pedals in question were manufactured by CTS Corp., a company that Toyota had to turn to when one of their primary tier one suppliers could not keep up with the demand. Yes this recall was a direct result of outsourcing, but other factors played a huge part. CTS stated that the accelerator pedals were manufacturer based on Toyota’s specific design specifications (Hannon, 2009). CTS has a
References: 1. Consumer FAQ, accessed 25/03/2010, http://pressroom.toyota.com/pr/tms/customer-faqs-regarding-the-sticking-153495.aspx 2. Deveau, S., 2010, Outsourcing effort rains on Toyota 's parade, accessed 21/03/2010, http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=2490307 3. Dodge, J., 2010, Toyota claims to have remedied “pedal entrapment” problem, accessed 15/03/2010, http://www.smartplanet.com/technology/blog/thinking-tech/toyotaclaims-to-have-remedied-pedal-entrapment-problem/2902/ 4. Hannon, D., 2009, Shorter is better for Toyota 's supply chain, accessed 25/03/2010, http://hasanyorukoglu.com/blog/?tag=toyota-production 5. Healey, J.R., 2010, Toyota recall launches CTS out of obscurity, accessed 16/03/2010, http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2010-01-29-toyotacts29_CV_N.htm 6. Linebaugh, K. & Shirouzu, N., 2010, Toyota Halts Sales Over Safety Issue, accessed 20/03/2010, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704905604575027671658649384.html 7. Pedal Recall, accessed 25/03/2010, http://www.toyota.com/recall/pedal.html 8. Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Alabama, Inc. (TMMAL), accessed 22/03/2010, http://www.toyota.com/about/our_business/operations/manufacturing/tmmal/