TOKYO, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) on Tuesday said it is happy to use scratched or blemished parts from suppliers as the world's biggest car producer tries to trim costs amid a production-curbing global chip shortage and rising material costs.

https://www.reuters.com/business/aut...te-2021-12-07/

I have always thought it was a bad idea to buy a new car during Covid, quality would be slipping. I don't think Lexus is immune to accepting lower quality parts that would have otherwise be binned.

 

Two things. First, as far as a few scratched parts go, a lot of owners with kids, or who weren't meticulous about cosmetic-care probably won't notice the difference LOL.

Second, this is nothing. I can remember when auto companies embraced REAL flaws.....Corvair, Pinto, Vega, Citation/X-Body, 5.7L Diesel V8, V-8/6/4, carburetors that wouldn't run, Push-and-Pray brakes, Swiss-Cheese body-rust, undersized THM transmissions, and much more. And, recently, of course, was the VW scandal.

 

Maybe Toyota is taking a "warts and all" lesson from Tesla?
What's next, panel gaps and automatic fires?

 

Well Toyota can't direct that the flawed cars only get sold to the people who don't care.

 

Of course not.....that's not the issue. But it does make all-around visual-inspections of the vehicles more important for people who do care. Not only that, but vehicles can leave the factory spotless, then get dings and scratches on the transporter ships/trains/trucks, or from careless PDI people at the dealership. I see it all the time.

 

One step closer to becoming Tesla.

 

It’s a slippery slope. What’s after scratched parts? Out of spec electronics instead of binning them?

A rattle here and there doesn’t get fixed. Less inspections points during production.

Once management gets a taste of cost savings with a lower bar to QC, it’s not going back up again.

 

Yep. This is how it starts

 

not even close. tesla paint, panel gaps (and them falling off!) and in many cases materials are horrible. endless reports on this. that will improve though.

toyota's 'admission' is simply for parts the customer won't notice and won't affect operation/safety of course.

 

I was making a joke.

 

Much ado about nothing, in my opinion. Odd to even see a story about this.

As an engineer, I'm called out to our factory all of the time to disposition flawed parts. If the defect does not impact form, fit, or function, cannot be seen, and is not detrimental to safety, I will sign off on the installation.

 

The nut that secures an exhaust hanger has a corner gouge. The electrical harness plastic shroud is 2mm to short. For most buyers these flawed parts are likely unnoticeable.

 

Toyota doesn’t admit anything. Even with safety issues that caused deaths. They are a company with 60 plus year old directors where they can do no wrong.

For them to admit quality slippage is more than skin deep. Its a change of principle behind decades of Toyota.

 

Sign of times.