(Messenger-Inquirer) Since the month of January, Toyota's been having all kinds of massive safety recall issues on their newer vehicles. It starting out with the Camrys and Corollas with the sticking gas pedal issue. The gas pedal would accelerate and the vehicle would keeping speeding. Then there were allegations of problems with the brake pedal on the Toyota Prius. Toyota motor has been supposedly working to try to correct these issues with the brake pedal and the sticking gas pedal. There are now all kinds of class-action lawsuits against Toyota due to the safety defects on the newer model vehicles. The models that have been recalled are the Corollas, Avalons, Camrys, Tacoma, Prius, Sequoias, to name a few. Toyota has recently begun recalling 8 million vehicles worldwide due to persistent complaints of unintended vehicle acceleration.
Toyota owners are claiming that massive safety recalls are causing the value of their vehicles to plummet. They have filed 89 class-action lawsuits that could cost the Japanese auto giant $3 billion dollars or more. These estimates don't include potentional payouts for wrongful death and injury lawsuits, which could reach in the tens of millions each. The sheer volume of cases involving U.S. Toyota owners claiming lost value--6 million or more--could prove far more costly, adding up to losses in the billions for the automaker. What's scary for these class-action lawsuits is there could be millions of individual car owners who could (each) be owed $1,000. That's a concern Toyota must contend with. Due to the recalls of Toyota models, as well as the wavering confidence in vehicle safety, Toyota's biggest financial fight could come in the courtroom. On March 25 a key decision could come from a hearing in San Diego. A panel of federal judges will consider whether to consolidate the mushrooming cases into a single jurisdiction. After that, a judge will decide whether all claims filed by Toyota owners nationwide can be combined in a single legal action--known as "certifying a class"--and whether the claims have enough merit to move toward trial or settlement. Toyota owners that are suing the company contend their vehicles have dropped in value because of the recalls and that Toyota was aware all along of safety problems but concealed them from buyers. The evidence that Toyota owners make reference to is Kelley Blue Book's decision this month to lower the resale value of recalled Toyotas an average of 3.5 percent, ranging from $300 less for a Corolla to $750 less for a Sequoia.
I am a believer in the capitalist system. I believe in the free market system where there's competition among industries in America. I also believe a company has a right to make a profit. A company can't survive if it doesn't make a profit. I don't have an issue with a company issuing stock on the New York Stock Exchange. I believe for the most part government shouldn't regulate business except where there's exceptional abuses or monopolies taking place. However, I'm not a believer of unbridled capitalism. Capitalism has it excesses. It can be used for the good of a country, or it could be used to satisfy the whims of a selfish few. I believe that Toyota has allowed itself to become so preoccupied with profits to the point that they just cast aside safety issues when it comes to the vehicles. Companies in this corporate world are pressured to maximize their profits in order to inflate the stock prices on Wall Street. Not only that but the goal is to produce "x" number of vehicles in a standard 24-hour day. There's nothing wrong with that in itself. There's a quality issue at Toyota that needs to be resolved. There are too many vehicles of a particular model that are leaving the lot with safety defects. Those issues must be addressed.
In order for a company to thrive and prosper, they must make a profit. They must also reduce unnecessary expenses that occur on a day-to-day basis. Corporate heads are placing more pressure now than ever before to the various plants across the country and the world to reduce costs. Unnecessary regulations required by the federal government as well as fuel and electric costs have spiked up the costs that's required to operate a corporation. There's so much emphasis today on producing "x" amount of vehicles in a standard 24-hour workday. I understand that. However, there must be balance when it comes to priority. The most important priority there is when it comes to manufacturing a product is quality. Quality is the most important ingredient when it comes to running a successful company. A corporation's first goal is to determine what is a quality product. Once they determine that, they need to put some steps in place to maintain that quality. Quality must be a consistent theme everyday when producing products. So many CEO's and plant managers place numbers above quality. It's true that mass production is the goal of a company. You must produce an "x" amount of products in order for a company to prosper as well as meet deadlines to satisfy your customers. However, the heads of these companies have allowed themselves to become so numbers and dollars driven that they will allow quality to slide or take a back seat in order to meet the day's production goals. That won't work. It's true that you must meet a daily quota to make production goals. I'm not de-emphasizing that. However, there must be an equal balance on a daily basis on both quality and quantity. If there's not a balance on both sides there will be issues. If you fail to meet production goals, it will be costly. If you produce defective parts, they will be costly. If a company doesn't immediately deal with the first defect that comes out of the factory, then it will snowball into something worse. That's why Toyota is in the shape it's in right now. They didn't deal with the quality issue when it first occurred. Instead, I believe they've been engaging in deception. Time will reveal to what extent Toyota kept all these safety defects hidden. I know the court will deal with that issue in time to come. Toyota's more concerned about their bottom line than safety issues. As a result, there's been at least nineteen people that have been killed due to negligence on safety issues.
What does Toyota need to do to solve their quality issues? First of all, they must determine what the problem is that's causing these defects. Once they find out what the problem is, then they need to implement solutions so these safety defects don't occur again. It's imperative that be done. Customers aren't going to continue purchasing Toyotas if they can't trust the factory to produce a vehicle that won't malfunction while they're driving on the road. The quality issue must be addressed and it must be resolved. There will need to be some internal changes taking place at Toyota. There may need to be some workers from the top all the way to the bottom that need to be terminated. I don't know the issues surrounding corporate Toyota. Whatever those issues may be, they need to be resolved or public confidence will further wane. Not only will Toyota sales plummet at the dealerships, but Toyota could be out paying millions of dollars to Toyota owners whose vehicles are defective. Toyota dealerships should fix all the vehicles that are under recall without charging the customer. That's the right measure to take. If Toyota doesn't resolve these recall issues soon, it's going to lead into further job losses for company employees as well it could imperil Toyota's future.
No comments:
Post a Comment