Are You Satisfied With Mr. Toyoda's Washington Response Regarding The Recalls?

As an ex Corolla owner I do not think he personably should be held to the fire so much. This is a major problem for Toyota but these cars where designed before he took control of Toyotat.

As soon as I found out of the recall I dumbed my Corolla and bought a Chevy Malibu.

Read this somewhere...
"He received his MBA in 1982 at Babson College in Massachusetts. He spent time in California as vice president of a joint venture between Toyota Motor Corp. and General Motors Corp., a period the Contra Costa Times described as a stint learning the family business while studying the American mind."

Now why is he using a translator?

Also, how can Toyoda take responsibility for recalls that date back to before he took his position?

just because you can speak English well, doesn't mean everyone can.
Mr. Toyoda was not burn in U.S. it is completely understandable that his English isn't as great as his Japanese. for important situation like this, it is wise to not take chances.

Its the nature of Japanese management. To take responsibility no matter what. We all know that tragic accidents cannot be automatically blamed on a carmaker. It is also obvious that the congressmen are just "grand standing" to make themselves popular to the voting public. Comparing the sincerity of Toyoda to the CEOs of the big three when they were asking for bailout, I would sympathize more with Toyoda because he admitted his company's mistakes and vowed to correct and improve his company's future products in terms of the issues troubling them today.

Lol.. He was invited to a roasting , HIS !!! There are no really intelligent anwsers to quesries like "You dont show enough remorse", as it sorta expects high theatrics.
But hey , Toyota became to big and GM detonated, so its Toyota bashing time, and they are playing it all low key.
Once the congress is back to arguing about more important things like the next name for blue cheese ( too french) Toyota will continue growing and dominating the industry .

Question: "Are You Satisfied With Mr. Toyoda's Washington Response Regarding The Recalls?"

Answer: No

204E60
present some evident instead of "his said, she said"
if the evidence is that obvious, point us to your source.

Toyoda's testimony seemed sincere. Of course any company wants to make a profit, but I don't think Toyota was trying to deliberately put out an un-safe product. He seems like a man of honor.

I do feel he may be living in a different world and surrounded by a lot of people that won't speak up. Mr. Lentz testimony seemed confusing. Are the cars fixed or not ? Toyoda didn't get into that.

Overall the problem is more technical than political. Toyota like many companies may not be thinking in terms of software defects. They seem very mechanically inclined. We here about electronics, but should say computers.

Toyota has some very complicated vehicles and should focus on making them simpler while ramping up on software engineering processes and talent.

I think a lot of things may get lost in translation also.

My god americans are stupid..I saw this liar on TV her name was Rhonda Smith giving the most fake cry's and the most bulls**t tears ever..typical american, your not fooling anyone..

I don't understand the English.

Vladyxa, how would you feel if one of your family members had died in a Toyota due to uncontrolled acceleration? Would you REALLY blame it on their driving skills?...........

I've said this before, I'll say it again. You really need to think before you post.

Technically what you are saying is called leading the witness! I would pose the opposite argument to you, If a relative of yours is blamed for making bad food and causing the death of someone else, NOT BECAUSE of any evidence or proof or investigation but because the the people blaming you own the store across the street, what would you do ?

And to which somebody else mentioned , where is the evidence ? Because if it was apparent or there, it wouldn't be a congressional hearing but a CRIMINAL one ! . The fact of the matter is Toyota is being held for a recall, with the claim that they are too slow , the media is being used to bash them with statements that are subsequently retracted. Add to that a healthy dose of FUD!
Please don't assume people dont know a lynchin when they see one. Just because its a foriegn manufactured that has beaten the domestics at their game , dosent mean that that this attitude by the Govt wont spread to other sectors or people.
Knee-jerk Protectionism will not give back us our Jobs, The UAW union has found that out as GM despite receiving 50 billion in bailouts it is continuing to press hard on the union and move manufacturing out of the country. In fact what the Govt is doing is robbing Peter to pay Paul as taxes will rise on the rest of us who have to adapt to the new economy sectors that will rise (unless u are a member of UAW) to pay for this Largess.

The fact remains. Are we really sure the car just sped up and won't stop? Again, we were in the car when it happened. We don't really know for sure. We have to keep an open mind.

Are you serious Izfuney? To date 37 people have died in the U.S. in Toyotas because of SOME kind of issue with the car. So in answer to your scenario, if one of my relatives was accused of causing the death of 37 people (not just one) YES I would begin to question what kind of restaurant/operation my relative was running. This has nothing to do with Congress trying to help/side with GM- think about it......Many Toyotas are made here, by Americans......when you buy a Toyota it helps guess who? Americans.When the dealership sells a Toyota who are some of the people that profit by it?......c'mon now genius I know you can guess this one- that's right- Americans. Specifically American jobs.... Toyota is nearly as important to American jobs at this point as GM is. But they screwed up and they have admitted this.This has nothing to do with us trying to protect GM nor is this some conspiracy by Congress to destroy Toyota- it's a serious issue and hopefully they can get it fixed so we can move on.

These are the primary factors in any accident:
1. condition of the vehicle
2. traffic situation
3. driver experience
4 driver state of mind

note that the mfgr. has full control over exactly ONE factor. and ONLY up to the point of delivery to the customer, and thru the warranty period.

they can't be held accountable for drivers too ignorant to find N. or jamming the gas hard enuff to get it stuck to begin with.

and for perspective, against the 34 fatalities in toyotas since 2004, in california alone, there are OVER 1,000 DUI deaths EVERY YEAR.

(a proportionate number undoubtedly occurred in toyotas too. will you blame toyota for THOSE as well?)

No Hara-Kiri or Seppuku?

To answer the question: NO.

Reason: Well, what would have been more interesting to hear something about, instead of hearing bla bla bla, is, since when was Toyota actually aware of the Problem?

There are theses internal papers (dated 6th of July, 2009), where they praise their good lobbywork, which saved them at the end of the day roughly 100 million Dollars. Since 2007 they had some problems with the gas pedal and were under discussion with the US authorities. The result was a recall in September 2007, with only 55.000 cars involved, because of the evil floor mats.

As of today, they have worldwide 8.5 million cars on recalls. And that is something I would have liked to hear more about. Since when did they actually know, that there is something wrong with their cars, and why the hell did it take them so long (and a dead police officer) before they took the required actions?

Before this issue is not cleard up, Toylex is off my shopping list.

By the way: The law gives a car company a period of 5 days, after realizing that there is a problem, and than the authorities have to be informed immediately.

http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/news/toyota-rueckruf-debakel-rueckruf-unterdrueckt-rueckrufe-durch-lobbyarbeit-vermieden-1756524.html

They got caught with their pants down. They wanted to be #1. SO they built and produced vehicles without doing the proper R&D. This is why it takes the Ford, GM, Chryler, BMW, AUDI, MB years to take concept to actual car and the Koreans and Japanese companies days. They put quantity over quality and now they are screwed and people died. The American public should be ashamed of themselves if they even consider purchasing one of their vehicles at this point. Hyundai just issued a recall on the NEW Sonata already and what 1 month into sales. Granted its not a life threatening issue they have. If this was an American Car Co the media would be roasting them to death. I have no sympathy for Toyota. They have made Billions off of us and are still laughing at us

Best comment of all FATANDSASSY!

You have got to be kidding me!!!!
Anyone who thinks and goes beyond that and says that Toyota should not be allowed to sell cars in the USA is an absolute idiot!!!
I'm sure to be deboosted, as always, but intellect always seems to be lacking here!!!

Lets get this straight. . . Toyota has the LEAST complaints to the NHTSA about safety issues than all but two manufacturers (MB including Smart Car, and Porsche).
And what has been found so far has yet to prove that Toyota has produced unsafe vehicles.
Does a "sticky" accelerator pedal cause a car to accelerate? NO! It causes it to slow at a rate less than it should. That means that if you're going 65mph and you release the pedal, it will stick at that possition and return to idle slower than it should, however STILL slowing down. It will NOT all of a sudden find itself going 90mph!!!
It does not take a scientist to understand that!
Now, only 13 Toyotas have been found to have a "sticky" pedal. YES only 13!!!!
As for the floor mat causing interferance to the gas pedal, that is NOT a manufacterer defect or material defect!!!

Ford is still using a cruise control switch that HAS caused spontaneous combustion. Houses have caught fire in the middle of the night and families have died! Over 14 million Fords have this switch!!!
The Cobalt has had OVER 2000 complaints to NHTSA about its steering failing COMPLETELY vs the Corollas 100 complaints that its difficult to keep it straight!!!

Are you kidding me?!?!?!?! Seriously!!!!!! Why should Mr Toyoda be appologizing for anything??? I commend him for standing in front of an idiot of a panel who had less of an understanding of english than he and Mr Inaba!

The Toy Fanboys still have no clue.

It's not the fact that Toyota screwed up- all automakers do.

IT'S THE FACT THAT THEY WAITED SO LONG TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT THAT IS A PROBLEM.

Doesn't mean I wouldn't buy a Toyota or a Lexus. Doesn't mean Toyota's a bad company. But you gotta call a spade a spade and the fanboys are drinkin' too much of the kool-aid to do it........

Actually yesterday LaHood himself stated that Toyota had responded within their timeframe to the recalls. But you don't find that reported many places. Read that on TTAC of all places, who are finally fed up with this witch hunt.

BondMI6
so when did Toyota actually know about this?
i mean... if they know the problem 10 years ago and hasn't do anything, then it is their fault. but i doubt they know what the problem is (if there is a problem at all).
if you know the source of the run away vehicle, please share.

That's exactly the point! Calling it what it is!

What do you expect them to do when the only conclusive issue has NOT been a manufactering defect?
WAITING?!?!?! Just so you know because it seems as though you don't, Toyota 'recalled' the floor mats several years ago and advised dealers and customers to NOT place more floor mats where they don't belong!
Please!!!!! Call me a fanboy all you want! I know that it's easy to see given the facts!

I don't get these retarded people claiming Toyota's should be banned in the US. Well, if you take away my neighbor's Tacoma, what the hell is he going to drive? Are YOU going to buy him another car while you ban the car he's already in? Will the so-called ANTI-Toyota retard go back to the back of the line, smoke another blunt, and come up with a viable solution.

And the award for best acting in a drama is: Akio Toyoda.

And the award for best acting that he cannot understand english: Akio Toyoda (he got his MBA from Babson College in Massachusetts)

And the award for best acting that he should not be held accountable for his companies actions: Akio Toyoda