Drivers complain that Toyota's fixes didn't work

The Washington Post ^ | March 4, 2010 | Tom Krisher and Ken Thomas

[Erik Latranyi]

Toyota’s problems:

1) They have been unable to duplicate the problem....so there has been no ‘root cause’ found.

2) The software does not appear to allow the brake to over-ride the accelerator.

3) The “black box” that is on all new vehicles does not appear to be showing anything wrong or is not designed to capture the correct information.

4) Toyota dismissed this problem numerous times, then provided very poor ‘fixes’ like the floor mats and accelerator pedals when they have clearly not found the ‘root cause’.

Finding ‘root cause’ is a core element of the Toyota Production System (Lean manufacturing). It is hard to believe that they have strayed so far away from their principles/culture that they have not worked this out yet.