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看問題／豐田成長狂踩油門 品質失控
【經濟日報╱編譯 吳柏賢】
2010.01.29 04:10 am
豐田汽車在2002年立下遠大的目標，要在2010年前擁有全球15%的汽車市場，超越通用汽車，成為全球最大汽車製造商。八年後的豐田確實坐上全球最大汽車製造商寶座，但追求快速成長卻犧牲了豐田賴以稱霸市場的品質，更賠上長期累積的信譽。豐田汽車生產方式專家伍麥克（James Womack）說：「當品質代表一切時，任何瑕疵都是嚴重的事。」
豐田汽車近年來為了追求銷售成長，放棄了緩慢穩定成長時期採用的經營方式，例如決定不再向長期合作的日本供應商購買零件，而轉向全球各地的業者購買。這次暫停生產銷售的汽車踏板便是供應商在加拿大工廠的產品。
加州大學日本商業教授謝德（Ulrike Schaede）說，豐田面對與其他車廠的競價壓力，不得不擴大供應鏈網絡以降低成本，這也使豐田難控制品質。
對豐田汽車而言，停產與停售的時機正值全年市場最清淡的時候，讓豐田能趕在春天車市開始熱絡前矯正問題。
但豐田汽車未來將在美國市場面對更棘手的長期問題，即高品質與安全的信譽受損。良好的信譽使豐田的二手車價格與顧客的品牌忠誠度，始終遙遙領先其他日本與美國本土車廠，這些因素構成了良性循環，但一旦良性循環破裂，要再修復是既耗時又傷財。
這次事件最終的影響將取決於豐田汽車能否妥善因應危機，如果處理失敗，向來以高效率製造著稱的豐田汽車，未來恐怕只能慘澹經營。（綜合外電）
【2010/01/29 經濟日報】
http://tw.news.yahoo.com/article/url/d/a/100129/19/1znv2.html
法新社華盛頓28日電） 美國眾議院一個重要委員會今天說，它將於2月25日召開一項有關豐田（Toyota）汽車油門踏板問題的聽證會。日本汽車業巨頭豐田公司已因這個問題不得不在全球大規模召回汽車檢修。
眾議院能源暨商務委員會（House Energy andCommerce Committee）主席，民主黨議員華克斯曼（Henry Waxman）說：「我期待聽到更多的豐田針對汽車安全缺陷所採取的措施，也希望豐田能夠繼續和國家高速公路交通安全管理局（National Highway TrafficSafety Administration）合作，將不安全的汽車撤離馬路。」
委員會並沒有提供將列席證人的名單。
民主黨籍眾議員斯圖帕克（Bart Stupak）說：「豐田汽車配備這種會卡住的油門踏板已有十年，並且已造成非常高的死亡人數。我們完全不能接受沒有採取任何措施來阻止未來更多的人死亡或受傷。」
該委員會還說：「這次聽證會我們將要求豐田說明汽車油門瑕疵的原因，並調查豐田是否已採取足夠措施，以確保豐田汽車擁有者和所有在路上美國人的安全。」
Toyota擴大歐洲地區至180萬輛召回
The New York Times
Toyota Recall Hits 9 Million Cars Worldwide
DETROIT — Toyota said Friday that its recall of eight models in Europe could include up to 1.8 million cars, pushing the total number of vehicles affected by problems with floor mats or gas pedals to more than 9 million worldwide.
That is nearly as many vehicles as was sold by all automakers in the United States in 2009.
In a statement about the European recall, Toyota said Friday that it had identified a remedy for accelerator pedals that might stick and was working out the details for repairing the problem.
“We understand that the current situation is creating concerns, and we deeply regret it,” said Tadashi Arashima, chief executive of Toyota Motor Europe. “We would also like to reassure customers: the potential accelerator pedal issue only occurs in very rare circumstances.”
In Washington on Friday, the Congressional inquiries into Toyota’s problems with accelerator pedals on its vehicles widened, when a second House committee said it would hold hearings into whether the situation endangered public safety.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said it tentatively planned a hearing next Thursday into the question, “Toyota Gas Pedals: Is the Public At Risk?” This past week, the committee gained attention for a tense session in which the Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, was questioned about the federal banking bailout.
The oversight panel’s hearing is in addition to a session, scheduled later in February, by the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Company executives said they had zeroed in on a solution to the accelerator problem and planned to update employees about it Friday.
Toyota has stopped selling eight models involved in one of its two recalls, and plans to temporarily cease production of vehicles affected by the recalls at plants in the United States and Canada next week, although production of models not involved in the recalls will continue.
In the United States, about 2.3 million cars are affected by the accelerator pedal could wear down and become difficult to depress, slow to spring back or get stuck partly depressed. And some 5 million cars have a design flaw that could cause the gas pedal to become trapped under the floor mat.
Jake Fisher, a senior automotive engineer with Consumer Reports, said the situation was the most serious Toyota had faced in its half-century in the United States.
“There’s been some cracks in the armor, but I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything to this magnitude,” Mr. Fisher said. “We’ve never seen multiple production lines shut down. If you go to a Toyota dealer right now, they can’t sell you a Camry, they can’t sell you a Corolla or a Highlander.”
With the involvement of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Toyota faced the most publicized investigation in the industry since problems with Firestone tires on Ford Explorers and other vehicles early last decade.
The committee announced that it would hold a hearing on Feb. 25 to examine consumer complaints about sudden unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles.
In letters to the company and to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, the committee’s chairman, Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California, asked to see documentation from Toyota and the agency on when they first learned about potential safety defects, as well as actions they had taken to investigate and resolve them.
The committee also asked for data on the agency’s investigation of consumer complaints and Toyota’s response to the complaints. “Like many consumers, I am concerned by the seriousness and scope of Toyota’s recent recall announcements,” Mr. Waxman said in a statement.
Toyota said it welcomed the opportunity to appear before the committee and pledged its full cooperation. “Helping ensure the safety of our customers and restoring confidence in Toyota are very important to our company,” said a spokeswoman, Martha Voss.
The chairman of the committee’s panel on oversight and investigations, Bart Stupak, a Democrat of Michigan, said meetings between the committee’s staff and Toyota on Wednesday had been helpful, but he said the lawmakers continued to have questions about the Toyota recalls.
The committee said sudden unintended acceleration in all Toyota vehicles had resulted in 19 deaths in the United States over the last decade. That is nearly twice the number of deaths associated with similar events in cars built by all other automakers combined.
The company that makes the pedals, the CTS Corporation, has already started shipping replacements to Toyota plants, and Toyota said on Thursday that it was working with the manufacturer to develop and test modifications for existing vehicles.
In Europe, the models in the recall include the Aygo, iQ, Yaris, Auris, Corolla, Verso, Avensis, and RAV4. In China, the recall includes about 75,000 RAV4 sport utility vehicles made in 2009-10, the Chinese government’s product safety watchdog said on its Web site.
In addition, the Ford Motor Company said Thursday that it had stopped production of some commercial vehicles in China because they used the same accelerator pedals built by CTS, based in Elkhart, Ind., the supplier whose products led to Toyota’s recent recall.
Over the last three decades, Toyota has risen to become the world’s biggest carmaker and second-biggest in the United States, in part because of the loyalty of its buyers, who became evangelists for the automaker’s vehicles. “A lot of Toyota buyers never set foot in a competitor’s dealership,” Mr. Fisher said.
The company’s image was also helped within the business community by its management philosophy, which stressed continuous improvement and a production system that allowed workers to slow or stop the assembly line if problems arose.
Kevin L. Meyer, president of the Factory Strategies Group in Morro Bay, Calif., who has studied the company for more than 15 years, said he became concerned in 2007 when Toyota recalled its Lexus ES 350 and Toyota Camry for sudden unintended acceleration, but did not seem to follow up with other vehicles.
In this case, he said it was not clear to him and other students of Toyota whether the company’s latest efforts were in line with its operating philosophies, or simply a bid at damage control.
“I think that’s the big debate right now,” Mr. Meyer said. “Is Toyota going back to its roots and protecting consumers because it is the right thing to do? Or are they doing it because of legal considerations?”
John Paul MacDuffie, a management professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, said the public reaction to the recalls demonstrated that Toyota had to take major steps to address the problem — “the corporate equivalent of stopping the line,” he said.
“Reputations take a long time to build up and they can be damaged quickly,” he added. “Right now it’s all very chaotic, and it looks pretty bad.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100129-713284.html?mod=WSJ_World_MIDDLEHeadlinesAsia
CTS Corp. (CTS) said reports of unintended acceleration in Toyota Motor Corp. (7203.TO, TM) vehicles go back to 1999, before the components maker was even supplying the pedals that have been the focus of media reports. The incidents and resulting recall have been a public-relations nightmare for CTS and particularly Toyota, which built its reputation by focusing on bulletproof reliability. Toyota has halted sales of eight models in the U.S., including the best-selling Camry, while the companies work on a fix.
On Thursday, CTS said the problem is related to Toyota's design, not electronic sensors that are part of the accelerator assembly as some people in the industry had speculated. Toyota has also said it didn't believe the electronics were at fault.
CTS, which began supplying the pedals to Toyota in model year 2005, said Friday it believes a slow-return-pedal phenomenon may occur under "extreme environmental conditions," but shouldn't be linked with any incidents of unintended acceleration. CTS also pointed out it isn't aware of any accidents or injuries caused by the condition.
"We are disappointed that, despite these facts, CTS accelerator pedals have been frequently associated with the sudden unintended acceleration problems and incidents in various media reports," said Dennis Thornton, general manager of CTS's Automotive Products Group.
CTS shares were up 1.3% to $7.78 in recent trading. The stock has lost 8.5% of its value so far this week.
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