Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A. has added two new Product Quality Field Offices in Houston, Texas and Jacksonville, Florida. The new facilities are the third and fourth PQFOs in the U.S., joining two small offices established in New York and San Francisco during 2009. A fifth Toyota office is scheduled to open in Denver, Colorado by the end of the first quarter of this year.
Toyota recalled more vehicles than any other automaker in 2010, and U.S. Congressional hearings into Toyota unintended acceleration problems revealed that the U.S. executives – solely concerned with sales – have no ability to order safety or quality recalls. That authority remains in Japan.
Based on the illegal actions of Toyota’s Japanese executives, Toyota was fined $50 million by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for its failure to promptly act on safety defects last year. (See Toyota Motor Fined Another $32.425 Million for Safety Defects)
Toyota is the only major automaker that did not post U.S. sales gains in 2010, the result according to industry analysts of what was the most challenging time in the 53-year history of Toyota’s U.S. sales arm. Toyota stopped all U.S. new vehicle sales in January 2010 to conduct reputation-damaging recalls for stuck gas pedals and unintended acceleration safety defects.
“These offices were opened as part of Toyota Motor Corporation President Akio Toyoda’s six-point action plan to improve global quality and improve communication flow throughout the company,” said Gary E Smith, Toyota Motor Sales’ quality assurance and technical support corporate manager.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
