Comments on: (Day 72) Toyota Trust http://trusttour.com/toyota/ Join the tour! Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:22:34 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: FYI http://trusttour.com/toyota/#comment-218 FYI Mon, 07 Jun 2010 13:11:23 +0000 http://trusttour.com/?p=2596#comment-218 No easy answer for the Toyota problem http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/15/AR2010031501693.html By Jeremy Anwyl Tuesday, March 16, 2010 The writer is chief executive of Edmunds.com, which recently announced a competition with a cash prize for anyone who can demonstrate in a verifiable manner the reason for unintended acceleration. [Included chart in W. Post hardcopy issue: (Toyota and the accelerating mystery; page A19)] Discrepancy in complaints Consumer reports of cases of unintended acceleration by manufacturer (Model years 2005 - Sept. 30, 2009) Sales (in millions) Complaints per 100,000 vehicles sold GM ........ 16.5 .......... 0.81 Toyota .. 11.0 ........... 4.81 Ford ...... 10.8 ........... 3.12 Chrysler .. 9.1 ........... 1.72 Honda ..... 7.1 ........... 1.26 Nissan ..... 4.6 ........... 1.07 SOURCE: Edmunds.com analysis of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration complaints ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Haven't found that software glitch, Toyota? Keep trying http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-oew-cummings12-2010mar12,0,2595172.story (excerpt): Because of Pathfinder's high reliability requirements and the probability of unpredictable hardware errors due to the increased radiation effects in space, we adopted a highly "defensive" programming style. This included performing extensive error checks in the software to detect the possible side effects of radiation-induced hardware glitches and certain software bugs. David M. Cummings, executive vice president of the Santa Barbara-based Kelly Technology Group, spent nine years as a consultant for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he worked on the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft. No easy answer for the Toyota problem
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/15/AR2010031501693.html
By Jeremy Anwyl Tuesday, March 16, 2010
The writer is chief executive of Edmunds.com, which recently announced a competition with a cash prize for anyone who can demonstrate in a verifiable manner the reason for unintended acceleration.
[Included chart in W. Post hardcopy issue: (Toyota and the accelerating mystery; page A19)]
Discrepancy in complaints
Consumer reports of cases of unintended acceleration by manufacturer
(Model years 2005 – Sept. 30, 2009)
Sales (in millions) Complaints per 100,000 vehicles sold
GM …….. 16.5 ………. 0.81
Toyota .. 11.0 ……….. 4.81
Ford …… 10.8 ……….. 3.12
Chrysler .. 9.1 ……….. 1.72
Honda ….. 7.1 ……….. 1.26
Nissan ….. 4.6 ……….. 1.07
SOURCE: Edmunds.com analysis of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration complaints
——————————————————————————————————-
Haven’t found that software glitch, Toyota? Keep trying
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-oew-cummings12-2010mar12,0,2595172.story

(excerpt): Because of Pathfinder’s high reliability requirements and the probability of unpredictable hardware errors due to the increased radiation effects in space, we adopted a highly “defensive” programming style. This included performing extensive error checks in the software to detect the possible side effects of radiation-induced hardware glitches and certain software bugs.

David M. Cummings, executive vice president of the Santa Barbara-based Kelly Technology Group, spent nine years as a consultant for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he worked on the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft.

]]> By: Jamie Flinchbaugh http://trusttour.com/toyota/#comment-137 Jamie Flinchbaugh Wed, 17 Mar 2010 10:53:38 +0000 http://trusttour.com/?p=2596#comment-137 I think you are assuming too much here. For starters, your trust scale in the media must be very high. Let's just consider some similar examples just in the automotive industry. The Audi 5000 was destroyed for the exact same cause, despite the fact that the nicely shot video of the unintended acceleration was staged and no one was ever able to find cause or actual demonstrate there was a problem. Consumer Reports (which should be banned, I can't believe people still trust them) destroyed, with the help of the media, the Suzuki Sidekick by faking reports and staging tips to say it was likely to tip over, even though test drivers felt it was one of the best handling SUVs. What exactly did Toyota do wrong that destroyed trust? Did they hide something? Thousands of unintended acceleration reports come in every year and cover every single automaker. Most of them, upon inspection, are user error or even worse, fraud. Toyota certainly screwed up. They certainly have defects. They always have; just less than the other guys. They really botched the PR process, actually placing to much trust in the media to report facts. For this they will pay dearly, and probably in the billions. Here are some of my thoughts on the actual situation, which is somewhat a misnomer because since none of us actually have many facts, my first point is that we can't possibly be too quick to state what went wrong: http://jamieflinchbaugh.com/2010/02/the-fall-of-the-mighty-toyota/ Jamie F I think you are assuming too much here. For starters, your trust scale in the media must be very high. Let’s just consider some similar examples just in the automotive industry. The Audi 5000 was destroyed for the exact same cause, despite the fact that the nicely shot video of the unintended acceleration was staged and no one was ever able to find cause or actual demonstrate there was a problem. Consumer Reports (which should be banned, I can’t believe people still trust them) destroyed, with the help of the media, the Suzuki Sidekick by faking reports and staging tips to say it was likely to tip over, even though test drivers felt it was one of the best handling SUVs.

What exactly did Toyota do wrong that destroyed trust? Did they hide something? Thousands of unintended acceleration reports come in every year and cover every single automaker. Most of them, upon inspection, are user error or even worse, fraud.

Toyota certainly screwed up. They certainly have defects. They always have; just less than the other guys. They really botched the PR process, actually placing to much trust in the media to report facts. For this they will pay dearly, and probably in the billions.

Here are some of my thoughts on the actual situation, which is somewhat a misnomer because since none of us actually have many facts, my first point is that we can’t possibly be too quick to state what went wrong: http://jamieflinchbaugh.com/2010/02/the-fall-of-the-mighty-toyota/

Jamie F

]]> By: Dave http://trusttour.com/toyota/#comment-91 Dave Sun, 07 Feb 2010 18:21:49 +0000 http://trusttour.com/?p=2596#comment-91 I fear Toyota may be getting the short end of the stick suffering from a "slow news day" syndrome (similar to the over hyping of the shark attacks in Florida a few years back). The facts I've found indicate there have been 19 deaths in 10 years due to the sticking gas pedal in the 2.3 million vehicles recalled (0.00044%) I'd venture to say there are alot more "dangerous" products on the market than that... Granted, perhaps they could have been more proactive with the recall to minimize the PR catastrophe (the Tylenol recall comes to mind), but they did recall the vehicles on their own accord (as far as I know). I suppose one could ask what triggered the recall now and not 10 years ago... I own a Toyota pickup, and yes, it's just been recalled for potential "excessive corrosion in the rear cross members", so I'm no Toyota groupie these days! I just feel they have been honest in revealing shortcomings in their products and are willing to fix the issues at no cost to the customer (or at least they'd better be!). Their future sales will undoubtedly be tarnished by this overly publicized rebuke. I fear Toyota may be getting the short end of the stick suffering from a “slow news day” syndrome (similar to the over hyping of the shark attacks in Florida a few years back).

The facts I’ve found indicate there have been 19 deaths in 10 years due to the sticking gas pedal in the 2.3 million vehicles recalled (0.00044%) I’d venture to say there are alot more “dangerous” products on the market than that…

Granted, perhaps they could have been more proactive with the recall to minimize the PR catastrophe (the Tylenol recall comes to mind), but they did recall the vehicles on their own accord (as far as I know). I suppose one could ask what triggered the recall now and not 10 years ago…

I own a Toyota pickup, and yes, it’s just been recalled for potential “excessive corrosion in the rear cross members”, so I’m no Toyota groupie these days! I just feel they have been honest in revealing shortcomings in their products and are willing to fix the issues at no cost to the customer (or at least they’d better be!). Their future sales will undoubtedly be tarnished by this overly publicized rebuke.

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