What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger

Toyota has weathered its flurry of recalls and is now focusing on initiatives to
improve its vehicles and overall customer service. Toyota’s Chief Quality Office
r for North America, Steve St. Angelo recently announced several new measures to
be expected from Toyota. The news came at a briefing with former U.S. Secretary
of Transportation Rodney Slater, who is serving on Toyota’s independent North Ame
rican Quality Advisory Panel. Both the news conference and the new initiatives
are contributing to Toyota’s overall goal to improve the quality and safety or its
vehicles, and in turn the satisfaction of its customers.
The first initiative St. Angelo spoke of is the continuing and expansion of Toyo
ta’s SMART Process. This program was first developed in April as a way of getting
to the overwhelming amount of acceleration complaints in a timely fashion. Toy
ota compiled a group of 200 experts in the field, titled them the Swift Market A
nalysis Response Team, and sent them out to evaluate vehicles at customers’ homes.
The vast team allowed Toyota to respond to nearly all complaints within 24 hou
rs.
Such great customer service would be a shame to do away with now that accelerati
on complaints have decreased by 80%, so Toyota has decided to continue the progr
am by addressing all customer complaints and not just those involving a vehicles’
acceleration. Live in Wellington? – Toyota Prius acting up, you can still expect
a technician at your door within 24 hours!
Another initiative by Toyota is the promise to add Smart Stop Technology and Enh
anced Event Data Recorders to all of its vehicles in North America forthcoming.
Smart Stop Technology is a system that automatically decreases engine power in
the event that both the accelerator and the brake are in use. With this initiat
ive, Toyota will be the first large automaker in North America to offer brake ov
erride on its entire line-up.
Enhanced Event Data Recorders will also be added to all new Toyota vehicles prod
uced. This technology records information about the vehicle before, during, and
after a crash. Toyota hopes to prevent widespread recalls in the future with t
he addition of both systems to its vehicles.
With all these improvements, current Wellington Toyota Camry drivers are likely
to stay Wellington Toyota Camry drivers. The customer service Toyota now offers
is second to none and the vehicles themselves have always been industry leaders
. As Wellington Toyota Prius drivers can attest, Toyota has been concerned with
increasing fuel efficiency long before the rest of the industry found this impo
rtant. With the electric car market about to take off, it’d be a safe bet to say
Toyota will again be a frontrunner.
As the old saying goes, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. The Toyota reca
ll seemed to do just that.