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JOHNSON AND WALES UNIVERSITY
How Toyota Overcomes
the Issues of Quality
Total Quality Management
Tung Lam
Toyota and TQM
Toyota Motor Corporation was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda in 1937 and headquartered in
Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It is the world’s largest automobile manufacturer that designs,
assembles, and sells passenger cars, minivans, commercial vehicles, and related parts and
accessories in Japan, North America, Europe and other Asian countries. The firm operates mainly
through Automotive and Financial Services segments. The company consists of more than
330,000 employees over the world and was ranked in one of 15 largest companies in term of
revenue with 250 billion dollars generated during the fiscal year of 2013. (Toyota Global Site,
2014)
Toyota Motor has established 12 plants in Japan and around 56 manufacturing companies
in 27 locations overseas. Its products are sold in 170 locations worldwide with United States as
the largest market. The company manufactures cars under its own name, Scion and Lexus name.
The firm also owns Daihatsu, a producer of small cars, and Hino, a truck and bus manufacturer.
In addition to its core businesses outlined above, the company also has interests in a number of
diverse areas. Its non-automotive businesses are organized into seven operational divisions:
Housing; Information and Communications; Financial Activities; Biotechnology and
Afforestation; Marine; Industrial Equipment; and its e-commerce division GAZOO. However,
those areas only contribute a small proportion toward the company’s revenue (Marketwatch,
2003).
Among various manufactured automobile, Toyota Camry was considered as the most
successful product that set the company’s reputation. Since 1982, the Camry has been sold
internationally and span multiple generations. Originally, it was introduced as a compact car, but
later grown to fit the mid-size classification. In 1992, USA Today’s list rated Camry as the
vehicle that had most impact on the US market from 1975 to 2000. Furthermore, Motor Trend
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Toyota and TQM
considered the Camry as a car that Toyota’s rivals wish they could build. It had consistently been
ranked as the bestselling car from 2002 to 2010. Toyota’s reputation was built with safe and
reliable vehicle, and the 2009 Toyota Camry should not be an exception.
When the 2009 Camry was launched, Toyota proudly claimed that this model would set a
quality benchmark for all mid-size cars to follow. “The Camry is exceptionally good in nearly
every respect, bad in almost none, and it has a steady, set-and-forget quality that many drivers
appreciate”, reviewed by the Autotrader. The car could seat five people in comfort, and it was
still compact and easy to park. It was smooth and quiet, but could accelerate with vigor. The
cabin was attractive, functional and refined. The Camry came in a wide range with the most
based one offered at $19,900. The car was well equipped with cloth upholstery, air conditioning
and pollen filter, cruise control, power windows and mirrors, manual tilt-and-telescope steering
wheel, a multi-function information display with outside temperature, a 160-watt stereo with six
speakers, single CD player and auxiliary jack for MP3 devices, a 60/40 split-folding rear seat and
16-inch steel wheels (Toyota, 2009). Overall, the 2009 model was expected to be a reliable
vehicle and have no issue related to quality and safety. However, it was not always as smooth as
the giant automobile manufacturer planned.
At the end of 2009, Toyota had to announce a wide recall for potential 3.8 million cars in the
United States, including the 2009 Toyota Camry for “unintended acceleration problem”. The
issue was described as, “ the accelerator pedal can get stuck in the wide open position due to its
being trapped by an unsecured or incompatible driver’s floor mat” (US News, 2009). In addition
to the stuck pedal, the Camry was also reported with problematic shift, false warning lamp,
malfunctioning power window switch, and inoperative brake light. All the issues could lead to
life threatening situations to people in the vehicle. Indeed, the Camry was involved in a
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Toyota and TQM
horrifying car wreck in California which killed the driver, Noriki Uno. While driving her Toyota
Camry through an intersection, Uno’s foot was wedged on the gas pedal and the car suddenly
accelerated to 100 mph before hitting a telephone pole and a tree. She stomped on the brake
multiple times with full force and pulled the emergency brake level, but the car still moved full
speed forward (Hirsch, 2013). There were 16 deaths and 243 injuries attributed to the sudden
acceleration of Toyota and Lexus vehicles. After various investigations, the real factors that led
to unintended acceleration was the car’s electronic throttle control system, known as ETCS-i.
Originally, this system had a safety feature that could put the engine into idle mode in case of
unintended acceleration. However, the feature was never included in the Camry or failed to
perform its task. During 2009 and 2010, Toyota had received more than 700 complaints about its
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