Growing up, “Made in Japan” was shorthand for crap.
If it was flimsy or a disposable tchotchke, it had to be Japanese. The Japanese didn’t invent or innovate. They made cheap imitations.
It was a universal gag.
Somewhere between its post-war chaos and the drive to rebuild their lost industrial base — with American help — the Japanese got it right.
It started with motorcycles, then progressed to high-end consumer goods like TV’s and stereos. Eventually, the picture produced by the Sony Trinitron blew the doors off a U.S.-made RCA or Emerson.
Honda and Toyota, along with their Lexus and Acura brands, rivaled the best that the Europeans had to offer for half the price. By the mid-‘80s, “Made in Detroit” became the punch line and the joke.
It’s no accident that Toyota became the world’s largest automaker. It was a result of their relentless commitment to quality and consumer satisfaction.
Now the company founded by the legendary Kiichiro Toyoda is recalling more than 8 million of its vehicles and has stopped production on several models to investigate safety defects. With allegations of braking and steering problems in its high profile Prius and Lexus hybrids, thousands more could be tagged for mandatory repair.
The Earliest Signs
Over the prior seven years, the number of U.S. consumer complaints about unintended acceleration in Toyota cars had been steadily climbing, hitting 400 reported cases for the 2007 model year, according to an analysis of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) data. Several deaths were blamed on the defects.
Five previous investigations into Toyota, opened by the NHTSA under the Bush administration, had hit a dead end, with no action taken. Two safety probes resulted in relatively cheap floor mat recalls by Toyota in 2007 and early 2009. Neither attracted much notice.
In mid-December, U.S. auto safety officials were dispatched to Japan. In an ironic twist, American’s were reading the Japanese the riot act.
As evidence of the danger widened, Toyota shamelessly tried to shift responsibility for the defect to a U.S. manufacturer of pedal assemblies. It was like blaming the dog.
Somewhere, the Toyota went off-the-tracks. Success that had made Toyota fat apparently made it complacent.
Behind Their Success
One of the organizing principles of Toyota's industrial ideology is that you have to “genchi genbutsu” a problem. In Japanese that means you have to go to the place, to touch the thing itself. You have to meet the customer, lift the hood, and get your hands dirty. Walk, don't talk, Toyota instructs its workers.
Akio Toyoda, grandson of the company’s founder, is oft quoted as saying “Quality is Toyota’s lifeline.” In Toyota’s unique manufacturing culture, anyone can pull the cord on the assembly line if a problem is spotted. Somewhere along the line, this principle appears to have gotten lost.
Toyota is not alone. Honda just announced that it will be joining the recall parade.
Honda has recalled 437,000 vehicles on top of a recall of 514,200 vehicles last year due to a problem related to air bag inflators.
The consumer world has gone topsy-turvy. What’s next … Sony high-def TV’s that cause sterility?
There is no question these safety recalls have injured global trust in the integrity of Japanese products. It will take more than an effusive apology from the company president and an ad campaign that attempts to pluck at our heartstrings to repair the damage.
With Japan on the cusp of becoming the next Detroit, there’s a lesson to be learned. There’s also a clear opportunity for U.S. manufacturers to step into the breach now that the shoe is on the other foot.
You can bet your bottom line that Korean, Indian and especially Chinese automakers are licking their lips. Toyota’s ignominious slide won’t be lost on them.
Come on, America. The time is right to smack one into the cheap seats.
John Cohn is a senior partner in the Globe West Financial Group based in West Los Angeles. He may be contacted at www.globewestfinancial.com
