Sorry but I gotta post this about Toyota, it's too big to ignore

Jstas

BREAKING: FBI Raids Three Toyota Suppliers In Detroit

http://jalopnik.com/5479384/breaking-fbi-raids-three-toyota-suppliers-in-detroit

From Jalopnik:

While Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda sits answering questions on Capitol Hill, the FBI confirmed with us they raided the offices of three Toyota suppliers in Metro Detroit for documents related to antitrust violations and hiding of quality problems.

The FBI just confirmed to us they raided the offices of Yazaki North America, Denso International and Tokai Rika (TRAM). Though all are Toyota supplies they've yet to confirm if this is a part of an ongoing probe into Toyota's 1.4 million unit recall, and a larger antitrust action confirmed by Toyota to MSNBC. This comes at the same time as Toyota Motor Corp. CEO Akio Toyoda takes the stand in Washington, DC and follows a report that the SEC was looking into the embattled automakers.

The AP reports that this potentially creates

"new public relations challenges for Toyota plus the prospects - however likely or unlikely - of hefty federal fines or even indictments against executives in the U.S. and Japan. They also complicate Toyota's ability to discuss details driving its recall of 8.5 million vehicles because anything executives say could be used against the company inside a courtroom."

All of this happened yesterday evening and coincides with the announcement (below) by Toyota earlier this week that said they'd cooperate with the Securities and Exchange Comission on inquiries into whether or not it misled investors.

Toyota Statement on SEC Request
On February 19, 2010, Toyota Motor Corporation ("TMC") and Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. ("TMS"), received a voluntary request and a subpoena, respectively, from the Los Angeles office of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, seeking production of certain documents including those related to unintended acceleration of Toyota vehicles and the company's disclosure policies and practices.

TMC and TMS intend to cooperate with the investigations and are currently preparing their responses.


Send an email to Matt Hardigree, the author of this post, at matt@jalopnik.com.

Add that to the yet again expanded recalls, the accusations that Toyota is overlooking a major flaw in the electronics programming for the throttle control and the larger anti-trust investigation they are undergoing for misleading investors and possibly fixing stock prices.

There is more to this whole story than what some would have us believe.

Jstas

Oh and GM killed Hummer off because the Chinese Government balked at the deal and said that it wasn't an environmentally friendly company. Go figure.

disneyjoe7

They build a good product, no one 100%. I like to see GM walk on the same path but I doubt they will ever be on the same carpet.

disneyjoe7

double post.

shack

The Govt has to do something to sell all of those new Chevys they own...

If you can't beat them...arrest them.

Matt34

shack wrote: »

The Govt has to do something to sell all of those new Chevys they own...

If you can't beat them...arrest them.

My thoughts exactly, I'm finding this to be a huge conflict of interest on our governments part. Even if Toyota is completely in the wrong the government has shot themselves in the foot in being an impartial entity on this matter.

Jstas

Honestly, the SEC investigation has been in the works since before the bailout last year. It doesn't look all that great right now but I first started seeing news stories about it back in April of '09.

dkg999

Hasn't this scenario been repeated several times in the post-war history of Japanese manufacturing and product engineering? It's probably not been as visible or media-worthy in the past. IIRC there was a similar scenario with the Zero fighter that made it a more dangerous plane to fly than it should of been.

Polkersince85

How many Pinto's blew up or Caddy Northstar engines warped the heads? They all have problems but this is a conflict of interest/witch hunt on the Govt. end.

obieone

If I was the PM of Japan, I'd tell Toyota to pack up their shite, and come home. Then I'd show up on Timmy Geitner's doorstep, with a couple of suitcases full of T-bills, and say: "**** you, PAY ME!"

madmax

shack wrote: »

The Govt has to do something to sell all of those new Chevys they own...

If you can't beat them...arrest them.

Agreed.

Toyota should pack up their **** and go home to teach us a lesson. Lets see how much americans like that, jobs lost and some great cars gone. Worst of all, we would have to buy government motors vehicles. :eek:

At least we still have ford, which I have to give credit to even though I don't particularlly like their cars.

concealer404

Buy Amerikkan, comrade! The rest of you, we'll just fine the hell out of in an effort to recoup our losses on our new acquisition.

disneyjoe7

Ford did the right thing back then, and now I'm impressed about them.

Danny Tse

ABC News slammed over unintended acceleration report in Toyota. From Autoguide.com

While the mainstream media continues to pour fuel on the raging fire that is Toyota these days, the embattled automaker is finding, if not allies, then at least defenders in the journalists most educated on the topics at hand: automotive journalists.

In an editorial by Autoline Detroit's own John McElroy, posted on Autoblog, this industry experts slams ABC News for its sensationalist story whereby professor Dave Gilbert, of the automotive department at the University of Southern Illinois, showed how he could cause an unintended acceleration issue with a Toyota Avalon. Neither Gilbert not ABC News clearly explained how the incident was created, something that brings to mind two similar situations. In 1987 CBS's 60 Minutes aired a story over unintended acceleration in Audis that was later proved to be absurd, while a 1993 Dateline NBC story over exploding Chevy pickups, was later retracted after a General Motors investigation proved it was rigged.

McElroy then goes on to pint out that ABC never sought Toyota's side of the story, something Toyota later pointed out in a press release, saying that it had already been in touch with Gilbert over a similar issue and had proven his tactic did not work. Toyota has since asked Gilbert to show his new example to them and has invited ABC News to come along.

In addition to what is very obviously some one-sided, if not downright biased journalism on the part of ABC, the news agency also interviewed Safety Research and Strategies founder Sean Kane, who helped pay for Gilbert's experiment. That experiment, and the Safety Research and Strategies document slamming Toyota is also now in question as testimony yesterday at the House Committee hearings showed that the company receives funding from law firms currently suing Toyota.

McElroy concludes that an electronic throttle issue may still be the problem, but that ABC's story on the issue is best to be disregarded. Wise advice indeed.

Danny Tse

Here is Toyota's press release questioning the validity of recreated unintended acceleration (with ABC News video)....

Toyota spoke with Mr. Gilbert on February 16 in an effort to understand his concerns. During this discussion, Mr. Gilbert explained that he had connected a resistor between the output wires of the two accelerator pedal sensors on a Toyota Tundra. In other words, he had artificially introduced an abnormal connection between two otherwise independent signals coming from the accelerator pedal sensors. Mr. Gilbert advised Toyota that he believed that his intentional misdirection of these signals could cause the vehicle to accelerate unexpectedly.

In response to Mr. Gilbert’s claim as communicated to Toyota, Toyota confirmed that what Mr. Gilbert described would not cause unintended acceleration to occur. In fact, under the abnormal condition described last week by Mr. Gilbert, if there is a short with low resistance between the two signals, the electronic throttle control system illuminates the “check engine” light and the vehicle enters into a fail-safe mode of engine idle operation. If there is a short with high resistance, outside the range of “check engine” light illumination, the accelerator pedal continues to be responsive to driver input and the vehicle will return to the idle condition when the foot is taken off of the accelerator pedal. Unintended acceleration would not occur.

After watching the story today on ABC News featuring Mr. Gilbert, Toyota was surprised to learn that Mr. Gilbert appears now to be making a different claim regarding the electronic throttle control system and in a vehicle other than as described to Toyota last week. Although it is difficult to tell from the footage used in the story, Mr. Gilbert appears to be introducing a different external and artificial method to manipulate the throttle. In order to set the record straight, Toyota welcomes the opportunity to evaluate the Toyota Avalon shown in today’s story and the method by which Mr. Gilbert allegedly caused the vehicle to accelerate unintentionally. We welcome the attendance of ABC News at any such evaluation of this vehicle and Mr. Gilbert’s testing.

obieone

And ABC can't figure out WHY their viewership is down, which is causing their layoffs:rolleyes:
Stupid fux

nooshinjohn

disneyjoe7 wrote: »

Ford did the right thing back then, and now I'm impressed about them.

I still don't like their product, and never have, but I have a deep respect for the company itself.

BottomFeeder

obieone wrote: »

If I was the PM of Japan, I'd tell Toyota to pack up their shite, and come home. Then I'd show up on Timmy Geitner's doorstep, with a couple of suitcases full of T-bills, and say: "**** you, PAY ME!"

Toyota and, by extension, all of Japan, would be hurt if Toyota packed up and went home. Americans drop a ton of coin on their Toyotas.

nooshinjohn

dkg999 wrote: »

Hasn't this scenario been repeated several times in the post-war history of Japanese manufacturing and product engineering? It's probably not been as visible or media-worthy in the past. IIRC there was a similar scenario with the Zero fighter that made it a more dangerous plane to fly than it should of been.

The only thing dangerous about flying a Zeke was to have the Black Sheep Squadron behind you:p

When they were built, armour for the pilot and self sealing gas tanks were not needed becaus nothing could catch them or manouver with them. As the war progressed(the Japanese anticipated a quick end to hostilities, with the US giving in to a negotiated peace) American aircraft quickly outpaced anything the Japanese could have dreamed of. By the middle of the war, they were still a well built aircaft. They were also hopelessly outclassed and obsolete.

dfranks

Send Toyota, and their empire back home for a while. Maybe GM or Dodge or Ford, will seize the opportunity to make a better more reliable product.

It would be nice to see a us automaker be a world class manufacturer again.

Who knows maybe that will help the US economy more than supporting an overseas car manufacturer.

Just a thought..........

ohskigod

Gang,

Toyota has ben hell bent on becoming number one for years, any auto enthusiast that didnt see quality suffering or a train wreck on the horizen was kidding themselves. I had 2 Toyotas, I liked the cars, though I found sales staff at numerous Toyota outfits downright arrogant, like they could treat you however you wanted and they figured you would still buy the car.

I had a friend buying a truck, I helped him check his credit, it was solid A. he went to a toyota dealership and they said he would have to pay 18% and get a cosigner....and he almot did it. thankfully he called me and I told him run, dont walk, away from the deal.

as we walked out they said, "you'll be back". He drives a sweet fully loaded Chevy Silverado now. He loves it, and he should...sweet truck.

this isnt because of government motors, many more auto companies besides GM will benefit. Actully I believe Honda is benefitting the most, while Ford is second (in terms of scooping Toyota market share)

I think Toyota genuinly did bad here, they will get singed. American Auto haters / Toyota nut huggers will say it's a plot. I trust the Obama admin as far as I can push a dumptruck with a flat tire, but this is legit. get over it. Toyota took there eye off the ball, they will pay for it. not going anywhere though.

keith allen

disneyjoe7 wrote: »

They build a good product, no one 100%. I like to see GM walk on the same path but I doubt they will ever be on the same carpet.

Right on man!

shack

dfranks wrote: »

Send Toyota, and their empire back home for a while. Maybe GM or Dodge or Ford, will seize the opportunity to make a better more reliable product.

It would be nice to see a us automaker be a world class manufacturer again.

Who knows maybe that will help the US economy more than supporting an overseas car manufacturer.

Just a thought..........

Do you have any idea of how many Toyotas are built in the US?

12 US plants, Direct Employment - 33,400, Indirect Employment - 163,7001

They produce 11 vehicles including the Avalon, Camry, Corolla, Matrix, RAV4, Sienna, Sequoia, Tacoma, Tundra, Venza and the Lexus RX 350.

Toyota's total direct investment in the U.S. is about $18 billion, and annual spending on parts, goods and services from U.S. suppliers totals more than $29 billion.

Yeah...running them out of the US is a good thing....:rolleyes:

Demiurge

ohskigod wrote: »

but this is legit. get over it.

That's your opinion. Even if you wanted to look past the monumental conflict of interest of the people raking Toyota execs over the coals in front of Congress, which you can't do and call yourself honest, the treatment they are getting from the government is beyond the pale.

If Toyota is such a **** company, let them fail rather than turning this into a political witch hunt and hiding behind the skirt of safety.

Some of Toyota's vehicles have problems and they're being addressed. The rest of this **** is a goddamn circus. The only people loving this are the government, the UAW, and anyone that lets their brand bias trump principal. The number of jobs these people are destroying in this witch hunt is disgusting.

Honestly, I see this backfiring on them. Toyota comes out stronger than ever IMO.

keith allen

dfranks wrote: »

Send Toyota, and their empire back home for a while. Maybe GM or Dodge or Ford, will seize the opportunity to make a better more reliable product.

It would be nice to see a us automaker be a world class manufacturer again.

Who knows maybe that will help the US economy more than supporting an overseas car manufacturer.

Just a thought..........

Last two American made cars I owned werent even made in America,and were JUNK.My wife went down and bought her a used 89 camry,back in 1992 and it was such an awsome little car,I traded for a toyota truck a 1 1/2 later,and we havent looked at a domestic vehicle since.And all our toyota's and honda's with the exception of our s2000 all assembled in America!Matter of fact,chevy's duramax diesel engine is an isuzu

dorourke07

ohskigod wrote: »

Gang,

Toyota has ben hell bent on becoming number one for years, any auto enthusiast that didnt see quality suffering or a train wreck on the horizen was kidding themselves. I had 2 Toyotas, I liked the cars, though I found sales staff at numerous Toyota outfits downright arrogant, like they could treat you however you wanted and they figured you would still buy the car.

I had a friend buying a truck, I helped him check his credit, it was solid A. he went to a toyota dealership and they said he would have to pay 18% and get a cosigner....and he almot did it. thankfully he called me and I told him run, dont walk, away from the deal.

as we walked out they said, "you'll be back". He drives a sweet fully loaded Chevy Silverado now. He loves it, and he should...sweet truck.

this isnt because of government motors, many more auto companies besides GM will benefit. Actully I believe Honda is benefitting the most, while Ford is second (in terms of scooping Toyota market share)

I think Toyota genuinly did bad here, they will get singed. American Auto haters / Toyota nut huggers will say it's a plot. I trust the Obama admin as far as I can push a dumptruck with a flat tire, but this is legit. get over it. Toyota took there eye off the ball, they will pay for it. not going anywhere though.

+1 on this. Ford still gets abuse for the Pinto and GM the Covair decades after those debacles. Toyota wanted to be the biggest and most profitable and hit some business pitfalls. That would make them a regular business. No plots, no secrets, just people making lots of money. So they are like the UAW and bankers........making themselves money and maybe cutting a few corners.

wz2p7j

As I've posted before, when I worked in GM quality our recall guys long suspected/knew Toyota wasn't stepping up to certain issues and NHTSA held them to a different standard.

In my opinion, they're getting exactly what they deserve, a media firestorm. They covered up their $hit, people died over this. I don't feel sorry for them one bit. Plus they build ugly cars. And I'm not so certain you can any longer say, yeah, but they're high quality cars.

And the mentality of their dealership people, I'm not even going to go there. Just recommend to stay away.

Chris

TNTsTunes

What about the Ford, Chrysler and GM's that have had much worse recalls. They never talk about them.

One Chrysler recall was a frame inspection that you got a new car if it had the problem.

Ford owners rolled SUV's for years before a recall was issued.

Dodge trucks had hitches that broke sending trailers for a ride.

Now they bash **** cars to make them seem bad compared to the junk built here.

I will only buy a 1996 or older select Chrysler products, a Toyota Supra/pickup or any Honda.

Let me see an Americian tranny or engine last 250,000 mile or more with just basic maintence.

My Jeep XJ I use offroad has a Toyota AW-4 transmission with 300,000 miles on it with only fluid changes. It has also done 100's of full throttle reverse to drive shifts over the years offroad and it still works great.

My wifes old Jeep ZJ used a Chrysler built transmission that was replaced 8 times in 50,000 miles.

When American companys learn how to build a cars or trucks that aren't throw away models that last I might buy one. My 46,000 mile '06 Trail Blazer is falling apart and my old Jeeps rust out before they wear out.

If they can build a good product I would buy it.

My Honda went 390,000 miles before I sold it. It had the original engine and trans in it.

shack

Who here actually thinks an auto mfgr owned by the US Govt will build a better vehicle than Toyota...not me.

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polkatese

now that funny Shack!

TNTsTunes

That video says it all...