How about failing transmissions and squeaks and rattles?

 

Simmer down Mr. Modman. I drive a Toyota and have owned several Toyota's in the past. I'll form my own opinion as to whether quality is going down or not. And as you can tell from my earliest post, I already have, and it's not a positive opinion.

 

My user id is O. l. T.

It spells it like it sounds.

I'm not concerned with your life history. Thanks anyway.

You've made it clear we are dellusioning and the OP did not indeed bold, underline, increase the font size, and highlight the point he wanted to make.

 

im open to opinion, and i do think that toyota's quailty has been slipping a bit recently
even toyota recognized that
one of their chair said they are now going back to concentrate on quality
that is why they havent brought a new corolla to NA yet
they want to fix some other major problems first

 

I made no implications of any sort so kindly stop putting words in my mouth. So what if the OP's original question was something else? That wasn't the point that I was trying to make. And why are we even arguing this in the first place? Title says "Toyota's quality slipping". I posted my opinion. Simple. Are you going to continue and nit-pick ever word that I post?

 

Thank you for saying that! By the way, I work in KY for Toyota and don't believe any of this BS....

 

Toyota has had a bunch of recalls as of late. And also I agree there quality has been slipping drastically. We bought a Camry due to everyones recommendations for reliability. Little did we know we bought a time bomb. Tranny blew at 350 miles. 2nd Replacement one at 1800 miles. Toyota was helpful and bought both of them back and we went to Acura and now have 1k of miles on the RL with no problems. Toyota really needs to work on the quality control as of late. Its not like what it use to be. I drove a Enterprise rental of a 06 Camry. It felt better built than the 07.

Edit: Also wanted to mention that I think we can all agree that Toyota is concentrating on growing to fast and hard to pass GM. They are now building two more plants in the US. That means even more quality will go down on other cars. Cost cutting measures for building more plants is the only thing I can think of.

 

Here here!

The main point is Toyota quality is slipping. Those of us who own both older and new Lexus should be able to see it easily. The interior of my 95 SC is all quality. The interior of my 06 GS is part quality and part cheap stuff.

In addition the mercedes being a catalyst to the new inferiority trend, I look at Nissan/Infiniti too. The 2003 G35 had the cheapest interior of a luxury brand we have ever seen....yet the car sold like hotcakes. That was like a starting gun message to every other auto maker that you can sell cars to us idiots without providing total quality. At least the Infiniti cars are cheaper than Lexus and Mercedes.

 

at least they recognize and are trying to fix the problems unlike most companies that deny theres any problem and 5+ years down the line theres still issues and possibly issue a multi-million vehicle recall

 

I agree, & the recalls are mostly pre-emptive, & the Camry problems are on a brand new model which shouldn't be overly surprising, but I do think Toyota's top priority should be to concentrate on continuing to build the highest quality cars rather than to build & sell as many as they can to surpass GM and be #1.
They are already making way more net profits than even the closest competitors, & that's the most important, not trying to outsell everybody.

 

I merely made it bold and underlined that particular part of the article because I thought it was very interesting and if you go to the NHTSA government website and do a little research concerning recalls/defects between say the 2006 Camry and then compare it to say a 2006 Passat, the results will be very suprising. Although most people will applaud Toyota when they issue a recall, while condemning other companies when they do the same. Such is the name Toyota has built for itself.

 

LOL, you're right. When Toyota recalls the press spins it as good news and as part of their continued committment to quality. But when say GM recalls, it's the exact opposite.

 

I have to say that after sitting in the previous gen ES and then the new ES - while I much prefer the powertrain - the interior is just nowhere near as nice as it used to be. Not that the old one was perfect, but seeing a new model take a step backward, especially from a company like Lexus that prides itself heavily on their interiors and interior quality...

I have no doubt that companies might have a difficult time transitioning production from one country to another - you have to deal with all sorts of startup issues and such.

I mean how else would you explain that the #1 quality plant in North America is Oshawa, in Ontario, Canada, which produces some Buick and Pontiac models?
The Georgetown Kentucky Toyota plant is tied in initial quality with Chrysler's primary minivan producing factory on Ontario.

 

I wanted to say this long time ago, but I kept my mouth shut because I knew I would have to put on my flame suit

 

Toyota, for 2005, recalled 10.1 percent of its vehicles. GM, for 2005, recalled 6.8 percent of its vehicles, Honda recalled 4.0 percent of its vehicles, and Chrysler recalled 2.5 percent of its vehicles.

Ford motor company is the only company with a higher percentage of vehicle recalls, at 11.7 percent for 2005. That number is looking to be lower this year - and Toyota's is looking to be higher. They very well appear to be shooting to be the recall kings this year.

Toyota has been really pushing its recall numbers up in a hurry in recent times...
210,000 vehicles in the US for 2003.
1,100,000 vehicles in the US for 2004
and
2,400,000 vehicles in the US for 2005

Guess what? 2006 is looking to be an even higher number.