Tag Archives: Lexus
Toyota recalls another 2.17 million vehicles in the U.S.
Toyota Motor Corporation has announced another recall on Thursday concerning some 2.17 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles in the United States for inspection and repair of accelerator pedals that may be entrapped in the floor mats or caught in the carpeting.
The Japanese automaker added that more than half of the recalled vehicles will be added to the massive recall in 2009 that repaired gas pedals that were being trapped in floor mats.
To date, the world’s no. 1 automaker has recalled a total of 19.2 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles around the world, with more than 13.7 million vehicles recalled in the U.S. alone. These safety problems have been plaguing the auto giant since fall of 2009.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) stated earlier in the month that their 10-month review of 400,000 pages of Toyota documents, along with the investigation conducted with the support of NASA engineers revealed that electronic flaws were not to blame for the consumer complaints of sudden, unintended acceleration. Toyota has paid the U.S. government a record $48.8 million in fines for its handling of three huge recalls. This latest recall has officially closed NHTSA’s investigation of the received complaints.
One of the reported problems is that the accelerator pedal can get stuck in the plastic pad part of the driver’s floor mat if the floor carpet around the accelerator pedal is not properly replaced after service. To fix this problem, Toyota is recalling 20,000 2006 and early 2007 Lexus GS 300 and GS 350 all-wheel-drive sedans.
The other issue is that in other cars, the retention clip used to secure a piece on the vehicle’s center console may come loose if not installed properly, and may then lean toward the accelerator pedal and interfere with the accelerator pedal arm. This problem prompts the recall of 372,000 model year 2004 through early 2007 Lexus RX 330, RX 350 and RX 400h SUVs, as well as approximately 397,000 2004 through 2006 Highlander and Highlander Hybrid SUVs. Toyota also announced that RX and Highlander owners will be notified soon about how to proceed with the inspection through the dealers.
In addition, Toyota is also expanding the recall previously announced in November 2009 in which gas pedals could become trapped on extra-thick floor mats that did not originally come with the car. Dealers will reshape the cars’ gas pedals and floorboards to avoid getting stuck even when thick, all-weather floor mats are used.
The vehicles covered by the giant recall of about 1.5 million vehicles include about 603,000 Toyota 4Runner SUVs sold from the 2003 through 2009 model years; about 17,000 Lexus LX 570 SUVS sold from the 2008 through 2011 models years; and about 761,000 Toyota RAV4 vehicles sold from the 2006 through 2010 models years.
GM CEO Reveals New Customer-Focused Strategy
In the last two decades or more, the senior managers at General Motors Co. have had their focus on making products that fit the production capabilities of their plants, rather than highlighting the needs and wants of their customers. Then came the heavy debt load and ballooning costs of health care, as well as the surplus of well-paid workers—GM was in deep trouble.
But after this much talked about bankruptcy and the much needed restructuring that followed, GM was able to get rid of the many contractual and financial obligations that were weighing this automotive giant down.
Now, its new CEO Dan Akerson is initiating a major shift in focus: a customer-centric orientation.
The new direction means that GM is now free to design cars that appeal directly to customers. With its recent recovery in sales, the company can now introduce new models faster, as well as strengthen its overall advertising efforts and reinforce GM more as a marketing organization.
Joel Ewanick, GM’s first ever Global Chief Marketing Officer, claims that this shift in focus is a rare opportunity that GM is capitalizing on now that they have the momentum of having rising profits (after six years) and newly-introduced models that have become sales hits. They are hoping this momentum would drive them to build cars that people would want to buy, rather than cars that the company needs to sell. This new appointment is just one of Akerson’s strategies to reshuffle GM, which has had four CEOs in less than two years.
Ewanick has been known mostly for building Hyundai’s growing presence in the U.S., and his new task at GM is to elevate the consumer’s point of view into GM’s product planning and strategic decisions, gathering top management support along the process. Also part of this new job is to gather customer feedback through his staff and communicate these to the product team.
Some of the results of the focus group discussions initiated by Ewanick include bolder style and design improvements to grab the attention of the more modern buyers of today. Part of this will be adding more creature comforts and innovative parts throughout the car. Another is the direction to officially move Buick from the “near luxury” to being a luxury brand. Now, Buick is set to directly compete against Lexus, with an understated luxury approach.
Of course, even with all these improvements, GM still has a long way to go if they want to regain the leadership that they have held and lost.
Still, it is worth seeing what this determined automaker has in store for the next couple of years, both in terms of its revised strategies as well as its new product offerings.
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