(ll゜Д゜)ヒィィィ英字新聞

Toyota must regain public trust
The foundations of the public's trust in Toyota Motor Corp., a firm that takes great pride in the quality and safety of its vehicles, are being shaken.
The automaker recently announced the recall of 2.3 million cars following reports of malfunctioning accelerator pedals involving eight models made and sold in North America, including the Camry and Corolla.
The production and sale of these eight models have been suspended for the time being. A total of 1.9 million Toyota cars will also be recalled in China and certain European countries.
It was separately discovered last summer that the accelerator pedals of some Toyota models made and sold in North America could potentially fail to return to their original position due to the pedal becoming jammed between indentations on the cars' floor mats. The total number of cars subject to recalls, including those covered in the latest announcement, will exceed 7 million--more than Toyota's annual sales last year.
Criticism and distrust of Toyota cars are increasing in the United States. The U.S. Congress is planning to pursue matters related to the recall, including having senior officials of the company come to hearings next month.
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Toyota must act quickly
Toyota needs to take urgent measures. The automaker must tackle consumers' distrust at the root by repairing all of the cars with malfunctioning gas pedals as the first step to regaining the confidence of the public.
A U.S. auto parts company is reported to have produced the accelerator pedals found to malfunction. Toyota owners have been warned that wear and condensation can affect a pivot point at the top of the accelerator pedal arm, which may prevent the pedal from returning to its original position.
Toyota has admitted that the malfunction is the result of a design flaw. The auto parts maker could be held responsible for that flaw, but Toyota needs to closely examine itself to find out if there are any weak points in its quality control system, that resulted in the design flaw being overlooked.
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Insufficient focus on safety
Malfunctioning pedals have been found in Toyota cars manufactured and sold in Europe and other parts of the world, as well, because Toyota plants in nations outside of the United States have purchased auto parts from the same company.
In principle, each factory should procure the parts needed to build its cars from local manufacturers. However, auto parts makers have recently been setting up factories in countries where automakers have started operations. As a result, it has become common to see factories of an automaker in many different countries using parts manufactured by the same company.
Auto parts are increasingly becoming standardized, with the same part used in many different models. Cost-cutting achieved by streamlining the auto parts supply chain and bulk purchasing of parts has exacerbated the problem.
It is inevitable that Toyota will be seen as having been too focused on quickly streamlining its operations and expanding its global reach to pay sufficient attention to safety, the most important point for any automaker to be watchful of.
This problem does not only affect Toyota. Similar problems may hit other automobile companies, including Japanese makers. Japanese automakers should keep in mind that quality and safety form the foundations of public trust in the Japanese way of manufacturing.