The history of the US automotive industry is littered with examples of short-term expediency costing companies big time down the track. Think Corvair or Pinto, as two examples of vehicles poorly designed in the first place -- and consequently each posing a major headache for the PR departments at GM and Ford, respectively.
In the latest case, Toyota is the company that is on the backfoot with the general public. It's well known already that the US arm of the multinational has issued multiple recalls over the last month, but it has now emerged from an internal document dating back to July of last year that the company was not only aware of 'sudden acceleration' issues, but chose to avoid the cost and complications of a recall program.
According to a report last week in the Detroit News, the briefing document for Toyota's North American chief Yoshi Inaba contains a section entitled "Wins for Toyota & Industry". Within this section, it features "favorable recall outcomes" and "secured safety rulemaking favorable to Toyota."
The document has come to light through an investigation into the safety of Toyota vehicles by the Congressional 'House Oversight and Government Reform Committee'. It's one of roughly 50,000 documents the Committee has obtained from Toyota's archives as part of the investigation.
While it's clear that the authors of the presentation document claim to have saved the company an amount in excess of US $100 million, it also seems clear that those same authors were firmly of the opinion that the cars in question were not defective. So much is apparent from the following text lifted from the document: "Negotiated 'equipment' recall on Camry/ES re SA (Sudden Acceleration); saved $100M+, w/ no defect found".
Barely a month after the document was created, a 45-year-old California Highway Patrol officer, off duty, died along with three members of his family in an accident involving a borrowed Lexus ES 350 (the 'ES' referred to in the reproduced text above). An occupant of the vehicle allegedly phoned the American emergency services operator ('911') to report that the car was out of control. It was further reported that the Lexus collided with the rear of a Ford Explorer and left the road at high speed, coming to rest in scrub and igniting a small fire.
To date, Toyota expects the combined cost of recalls for floor mats and accelerator pedals -- the two nominated 'culprits' for the recalls -- will set the company back as much as $2 billion. The Detroit News reports that the recalls affect nearly 5.4 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles sold in the US and the National Highway and Transport Safety Administration (NHTSA) has received over 2000 complaints concerning sudden and unforeseen acceleration in Toyota-built vehicles. At least 34 deaths are reported to have occurred as a result of the vehicles' alleged defects.
"There are significant questions regarding the interactions between Toyota Japan, Toyota North America and government regulators," said Kurt Bardella, a spokesman for Republican congressman Darrell Issa, the ranking member of the House Oversight panel. Was Toyota "lobbying for less rigid actions from regulators to protect their bottom-line?" he asked.
Toyota Australia has announced that 'sudden acceleration' defects being rectified in the US do not affect the company's cars sold locally. The Lexus ES 350 is not sold in Australia. Further information concerning Toyota's recalls and how they affect Australian consumers is available in the following articles:
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