TOYOTA RECEIVES RECOMMENDATIONS FROM NORTH AMERICAN QUALITY ADVISORY PANEL

TORONTO, ON - May 23, 2011 - Toyota said today that it has received the recommendations provided in a report from its independent North American Quality Advisory Panel, led by former Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater.

 

Responding to the public release of the Panel’s report, Toyota Motor Corporation President Akio Toyoda said, “We appreciate the Panel’s efforts to help us further strengthen our processes, and we thank this distinguished group for their recommendations.  Over the past year, Toyota has learned a great deal from listening to the Panel’s valuable counsel.  Their advice has been reflected in the meaningful steps we’ve taken to give our North American operations more autonomy and become an even more safety-focused and responsive company.  Now, the Panel has given us further insights into how we can best achieve our vision of exceeding customer expectations with the safest and most responsible vehicles.”   

 

Toyota’s North American Chief Quality Officer Steve St. Angelo said, “We especially appreciate the Panel's candor, and how they want us to achieve the highest possible standards for safety and quality.   Right from the outset, we told them we wanted them to be straightforward with us, because we seriously want to keep improving our processes and our transparency.  It is important to note that the Panel focused primarily on how we operate and communicate.  While I am glad they’ve recognized the positive changes we’ve already made, I also appreciate how they want us to keep at it. I’ve told them we intend to do just that.”

 

"Over the past year, the Panel has spent many hours various Toyota facilities and have seen many North American team members in action,” Mr. St. Angelo added.  “They expressed how they are impressed with our team and the way we build our vehicles - and I am pleased that our people and our production system were recognized in their report.  All of us at Toyota are proud of the vehicles we produce and committed to ensuring that our customers are absolutely confident in their safety and reliability.”

 

The Panel noted in its report that, “extensive testing and analysis by the  National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have revealed no electronic problems or software errors that could have resulted in unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles.” 

 

As noted by the Panel, Toyota has taken several steps in line with their recommendations prior to receiving their formal report.  These include:

 

 

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