Seatbelt and Exhaust System Defect - Essay Example

Fujio Cho, Chairman and Representative Director February 8, 2009 Seatbelt and exhaust system defect Introduction: Seatbelt and/or exhaust system defects were found in three car models: Vitz (or Yaris as it is called in the US market), Belta and Ractis. Complaints from japan have been reported, one of then indicated that the defect on the seatbelt had been assumed to have caused a fire. No accidents were reported in Japan about the exhaust-gas recirculation (ERG) pipe though. Finding defects on auto parts after release is inevitable but since the cars concerned were made from 2005 to 2007, the delay of the discovery indicates a big problem. Problem Statement: The memo is dedicated to address the following: 1) Find a better procedure of finding defects on sold cars. 2) Fix defective auto parts from sold cars. The company should recall these cars to be fixed, if not replaced, in order to ensure the customer's safety. 3) Ensure the market that such problems are inevitable and are easily dealt with. Approach and Analysis: The first step into solving this problem is to reacquire the previously sold cars and repair the defects. The owners must be contacted, informed about the problem and be requested for a recall. This process entails sacrifices for both parties which mean that a just compensation must be provided to get the customers' full cooperation. The whole repair will, after all, be done in forty minutes. Even with an estimate of 1.35 Million cars to be recalled, the process could not be that troublesome. After acquiring the cars, experts should be present to asses the defects. See if it is uniform among the cars or are there differences. Data should be gathered differentiating the defects and damages acquired across the models, logistics, etc. Then the data should then be analyzed by economists, medical experts and the board along with the car experts. A decision should then be made whether to continue production alter the design or revamp the design all in all. Though this process, better techniques on both manufacturing and detecting defects on sold cars must be made. The market should then be wooed so as not to loose trust for the company. This is very important since the world is undergoing financial crisis. Many companies has already downsized or closed up, Toyota should not be one of them. Results: Recalls are still yet to be done but as of the moment some cars had been gathered and upon inspection of the acquired cars, the said defects had been confirmed. The seatbelt indeed can cause fire. When the tensioner is activated upon collision, the sound insulator may melt thus causing a fire, just as mentioned earlier. The exhaust pipe on the other hand, is prone to damage and will probably crack. This might cause substandard emissions to leak out which will endanger the environment. So far, no other defects were found. Discussion: The industry knows that releasing cars with defects are inevitable. This though must be detected immediately, preferably before the product even leaves the show room. The mistake seen on this situation is the delay of detection. This might possibly be seen earlier if the cheapest model in the market was not overlooked. An equal attention between cars should have been given. The recall of the cars will further the understanding of the company about the defects on the car parts and how testing should be done. There must also be enough cars to be reverse engineered to see a better picture. Most cars will be going to the dealer and get the desired repair but it must also be seen that some cars are to be acquired to be further tested. The mistake of just fixing and not doing in depth investigation must be avoided. The gathered data should be used to develop better techniques. This includes all aspects from manufacturing to sales to maintenance. This will ultimately benefit the company. Ethical and Economic Discussion: Recalls may be bothersome for both the owner and the company but it should be looked as a beneficial process, although some might disagree. The request for the recall and tune-up of the products should be done in a very ethical manner. A customer who doesn't want to cooperate must be convinced to do so. The benefits of getting the car fixed should be explained. More so with the dangers of driving a potentially defective car should be understood. And though the recall process is only minor, the media might sensationalize it. This will affect the company economically. The market should be wooed and convinced that such recall only involves maintenance. Conclusion: After assessing the available information it is concluded that the seat belts and the exhaust pipes are indeed damaged. It is of top most importance that the sold cars with the said parts are to be recalled and be fixed so as to avoid future problems. The team of experts should devise a plan using the data to be gathered from inspection. This will decide the future of the production of the said models. The team should also device improvements on the techniques being used on manufacturing and problem detection. Recommendation: Some cars should be taken apart; crash tested and reverse engineered. This will provide in depth perspective of the situation. But this, although very helpful, will cost the company a lot. This means that the previous car should be replaced with a new one or be refunded. This should be done for a few cars, with the approval of the owners so as to get the balance between economy and good service. There won't be definite suggestions on future steps until the recall and investigations are finished. But the results of such investigation should be immediately interpreted into a plan. It is recommended that such plan is to be under taken and the techniques to be developed be put into practice. This goes especially to the early detection of defects on cars so as to avoid another recall. Summary: There had been reports on defects on the seat belts and/or exhaust of three car models. The defects had already been confirmed and are potentially dangerous to the car owner. Because of this, it has been decided that the sold cars of such models be recalled to be subjected to inspection. The information of such inspection will then be put into use for future improvement of the manufacture and design of products and techniques on early defect detection. Figures: N/A References: Toyota to recall over 1 million cars worldwide, MSNBC.com news, January 28, 2009. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28891251/ Toyota to recall some Yaris cars, RTE news, January 29, 2009. http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0129/toyota.html Stevenson, W. (1996). Quality Management, Production/Operations Management, 5th Edition. Pages 94-95. Articles Used: Toyota to recall some Yaris cars Toyota Ireland is to recall some models of its Yaris car due to a problem with the centre pillar housing the front seat belts. The recall affects models manufactured between June 2005 and April 2007. Owners of the vehicles involved will be notified by post in early February of the details of the recall. Toyota dealers will remove both pillar pads from the centre pillar at no cost to owners and the refit should take no longer than 40 minutes. The problem is related to the front seat belt retractor's pyrotechnic pretensioner sound insulator. Toyota says there is a possibility that the sound insulator may become damaged by the high temperature gas generated from the seat belt pretensioner when it is activated in the event of a crash. When a car is involved in a crash the front seat belts are quickly drawn back by the pretensioners but Toyota has found the problem has arisen because of the improper position of the centre pillar sound insulator. Toyota says there is no fault with the seatbelt. The total number of vehicles affected worldwide is 1,279,693 with 9,841 vehicles in Ireland. According to Toyota there have only been two cases reported worldwide, none in Europe. Toyota to recall over 1 million cars worldwide TOKYO - Toyota Motor Corp said Wednesday it would recall more than 1.35 million Vitz and two other models globally to fix a defect in the seatbelt, a component in the exhaust system or both. Subject to the recall in Japan are 525,898 Vitz, Belta and Ractis cars built from January 2005 to April 2008, Toyota said in a filing with the transport ministry. Toyota also said it will recall a combined 830,000 units of the Vitz subcompact and Belta - called Yaris in many markets, including the United States - exported to Europe, North America and other countries. One case of fire was reported in Japan due to the faulty seatbelt design, which could cause a noise-absorber device to melt when the seatbelt tensioner is activated in a collision, Toyota said. No accident was reported in Japan from the defective exhaust-gas recirculation (EGR) pipe, which could crack in the worst-case scenario and cause exhaust gases that fail to clear emissions standards to leak. Toyota declined to disclose the estimated cost of the recalls. Last week, Toyota overtook General Motors in global vehicle sales for the first time, bringing to an end GM's 77-year run as the world's largest automaker. GM, now struggling to restructure under a $13.4 billion U.S. government bailout, had held the title as the global auto industry leader for over seven decades and used the line in its marketing. But for 2008, Detroit-based GM said its sales decreased to 8.35 million vehicles, pressured by tightening credit and a slowdown that began in the United States and spread to emerging markets where GM has been stronger. Earlier in the week, Toyota said its global sales for 2008 had slipped 4 percent to 8.97 million vehicles as it also battled a costly slowdown in key markets. Read More