Monday, February 01, 2010

Defective Toyotas the fault of foreigners

From the article Drivers in Japan unfazed by Toyota's global recalls:

"The cars being recalled in China and the U.S. aren't made in Japan. They were made there. Those kind of problems definitely won't happen in Japan," he [a Toyota owner in Japan] said.

Sorta like the made in Japan Mitsubishi trucks that had wheels falling off and crushing people a few years back?

(As many of the original links have disappeared, a small archive of stories on the Mitsubishi scandal are here.)

6 comments:

  1. I could be wrong, but I think the recall has more to do with politics than safety. I wrote out my opinion here:
    http://www.anarchyjapan.com/politics-behind-toyota-recall-672

    Am I wrong?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have no doubt that politics is involved, but I'd guess this has gone as far as it has in part due to the ABC News and other media reports---especially the audio of the fatal crash in California. That plus poor handling of the issue by Toyota.

    Imagine what would be happening in Japan if it were Ford involved in the same controversy. We'd have tons of reports and articles about how dangerous foreign cars are and how Ford did not understand Japanese culture and failed to properly apologize.

    I find the whole thing to be a flip side of what would happen here and that is what makes it so interesting to me.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree with you completely that the media would have made the whole thing into a circus has the roles been reversed. That's an excellent point.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Rostra Precision Controls, a US manufacturer located in So. Carolina makes the cruise control for Toyota Camrys that may continue in acceleration mode when it does not sense the engagement of brakes. It is not a mechanical problem with either the accelerator assembly or floor mats.

    ReplyDelete
  5. So Toyota's "repair" by replacing the part in---as I recall---the accelerator linkage which was said to stick under some circumstances due to moisture, is not going to correct the problem?

    ReplyDelete
  6. I can (as of 5 March) find no information on the Rostra Precision Controls being responsible. Can you let me have a source for that?

    ReplyDelete