Well, duh. Toyota to world: 'We know we need to do better' - Seattle Post Intelligenc

[toyotafan]

Well, duh. Toyota to world: 'We know we need to do better'
[SIZE=-1]Seattle Post Intelligencer (blog)
Now the pressure's on for Toyota President Akio Toyoda to talk to Congress about Toyota's safety issues during his planned US visit in March -- likely ...
Recall-embattled Toyota vows to tell owners more, but won't say what[SIZE=-1]USA Today[/SIZE]
Toyota plans to be more open in bid to fix name[SIZE=-1]msnbc.com[/SIZE]
Toyota chief 'ready to testify over recalls'[SIZE=-1]AFP[/SIZE]
Herald Sun -ABC Online -NTDTV
all 1,091 news articles »[/SIZE]


More...

 

[rickc5]

IMHO, as bad as some think Toyota may be, they are MUCH better than most all of the other car manufacturers. But, being a Japanese company, admitting problems results in a loss of face, which the Japanese don't care for.

Toyota's problems began/got worse back in the mid-1990s when they decided to de-content their vehicles to save manufacturing costs and improve profit (since prices didn't go down). They don't speak of this any more--not that they ever admitted to it. Not a bad plan, but they needed to keep the quality in the vehicles, which they forgot/neglected to do. Some quality has been added back in, but to actually get the same Toyota quality as we had in the early 90s, you now have to buy a Lexus. Oh wait, that may have been the grand plan all along. Duh!

 

[toyotafan]

You get the prize of the month for digging up an old article. I need to figure out how to fix that formatting from old news articles.

Anyhow, I agree. We're giving them a hard time because the infotainment system isn't all that flashy. But hackers were able to get into Jeep Compasses and take control of steering and braking remotely. WTH??? Jeep hackers at it again, this time taking control of steering and braking systems - The Verge ... so maybe the extra caution is worth it.

The big ticket items ... engine, transmission, transfer case, driveline, suspension, cooling system ... how well those stack up really are collectively the most important issues you need to consider first when buying any new truck.

 

[rickc5]

Having worked in high-tech my entire career, I can honestly say that testing (of ANY complex electronic/software system) should normally take 1.5-3 times the amount of time it took to write the software/build the hardware in the first place. The more complex the system, the more testing is required. To compound the testing problem, anything with a complex user interface will take even longer (users can mess up ANYTHING).

Lots of companies totally fail to include appropriate test time in their schedules and release their products prematurely. The company I worked for did this consistently and paid the price for it--no longer in business. Unfortunately, Boards of Directors don't comprehend what is being developed, and won't agree to pay for long test times. That's a failure of the engineers to educate them properly, but if that was done, then there would be too many questions. A no-win situation.

In Toyota's case, they seem content to stick with what they feel comfortable with rather than develop something totally new. To us consumers, lots of Toyota's user interfaces and offerings seem like dinosaurs compared to some others. But, at least MOST Toyota stuff doesn't fail too often, or too dramatically. I doubt things will change much in the future.