vB Easy Archive - Toyota Taking Hit after Hit.

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Toyota Taking Hit after Hit.
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Posted by: crocket

Toyota Taking Hit after Hit

Posted on October 18th 2009 by Jeremy Cato / Categories:
Toyota Taking Hit after Hit

Just a couple of weeks ago, new-to-the-job Toyota Motor Corp. president Akio Toyoda admitted that his money-losing car company is "grasping for salvation."

Toyota is struggling to earn money while battling hit after hit to its hard-won reputation for selling high quality models with great resale values.

It wasn't supposed to be this way. Toyota worked hard to become the world's biggest auto maker. But since that milestone was reached, Toyoda himself admits that success led to hubris. Toyota's wild pursuit of profit and market share blinded the company to the risks and dangers that come with rapid, undisciplined growth.

Now Toyota is no longer targeting annual sales of 10 million vehicles; this year the outlook is for global sales of 7.3 million, down from 8.97 million in 2008. Losses? In its last update, Toyota projected a loss of US $4.7 billion for the full year.

As for quality, we have the high-profile, U.S. lawsuits involving rollovers and faulty steering rods, as well as the issue involving floor mats and unintended acceleration. The latter sparked a public apology from Toyoda himself.

Which brings us to the latest -- the rust problem. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the U.S. is investigating frame corrosion on 2000 and 2001 Tundra pickups. NHTSA says it has received 20 complaints -- 15 of them alleging that the underbody-mounted spare tire separated from the rear cross member. Toyota is investigating, too.

Toyota is strong, with vast resources and impressive capabilities. But no company can keep suffering repeated hits to its reputation and remain healthy and profitable.

So it is crisis time at Toyota. This gives us a chance to see just how good the company really is – or isn't.

Source: http://autos.sympatico.ca/Jeremy-Ca...g-hit-after-hit

Posted by: wingfeather

I knew their products were boring, but now they're also defective?

Posted by: huskyfan23

Wow. Frame corrosion is really bad. It's one thing to have a minor engine issue, but frame corrosion? You won't even be able to use the vehicle!

Toyota has been buying back affected vehicles at 150% Blue Book value and scrapping them.

Posted by: P5010

Toyota's North American operations have become too concerned with maximizing profit margins and mass producing outright boring cars (behaviour reinforced by strong sales for the majority of the last decade). sound familiar?

if some serious changes in direction aren't made soon toyota's fate will likely be similar to that of the recent domestics

Posted by: op487062

those who don't remember history are bound to repeat it...

Posted by: wizard8873

wow, that is pretty bad. the whole floormat thing is a joke to me. not something toyota should really be responsible for. things such as rust is a completely different story. still, don't really care as their products are bland and boring to me.

Posted by: Extraordinary

Quote:

Originally Posted by wingfeather

I knew their products were boring, but now they're also defective?

I have a friend that works for Toyota...

There are more problems then ever get made to the public...

Quote:

Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc. has settled a class-action lawsuit filed for owners of nearly 3.5 million extended oil change high quality oil. Toyota and Lexus vehicles that may have experienced damage related to oil sludge. The problems have been evident in 1997 to 2002 vehicles with 1MZ-FE 3.0L V6 engines and 5S-FE 2.2L inline four-cylinder engines

So yeah, my 2002 Highlander 4X4 V6 got a notice in the mail that I did get a warranty extention on it, but we barely drove it. Ended up selling it in 2006 with just over 20k miles on it (purchased new with like 3 miles).

Let's not forget the Toyota Sienna doors that were falling off
- A friend of mine had a 2004 Sienna with ~ 60k miles and the door fell off. Toyota wanted nearly $1500 to replace the whole thing and fix it up. He went to the paper, and now we have:

http://www.autoblog.com/2007/10/24/...-recall-mind-y/

And cant forget how crappy the Tundra was coming in off the line...

LOTS of them had faulty transmissions within the first 5k miles

ALSO internal engine parts were breaking like crankshaft or camshaft with LOW miles!

Then Tailgates are bending and falling off...

http://www.autoblog.com/2007/10/22/...quality-issues/

Could go on forever...

Toyota is good at hiding things though, don't let them fool you. The idea you are buying a reliable car is not what it's cracked up to be.

Posted by: Extraordinary

Quote:

Originally Posted by huskyfan23

Wow. Frame corrosion is really bad. It's one thing to have a minor engine issue, but frame corrosion? You won't even be able to use the vehicle!

Toyota has been buying back affected vehicles at 150% Blue Book value and scrapping them.

It's not just Toyota that is having similar problems... Hyundai too... lots of Engine cradles are rusted out badly.

But Hyundai is replacing them all if it has any rust, if not they are drilling proper holes so water drains better.

In summary: all cars (and car companies) suck .

Posted by: Skylinepilot

The rust issue is on the Tacoma too. I guess the recall/warranty only covers certain years; my co-worker has the rust issue and is bummed because he is off by a model year and the dealer won't do anything about it.

Posted by: DRC72

Makes me glad I purchased a Nissan.

Posted by: Snap315

Before the global downturn that caused ALL vehicle makers to lose money for the last year or 2, GM had been losing money for several years while Toyota had shown record profits. One years worth of losses isn't going to kill Toyota any more than almost a decade of losses finished off GM.

Toyota has become a victim of its own success. They go lazy and forgot about quality in their pursuit of profits and growth.

What goes up...