The recall is part of a major change in Toyota. Whereas Toyota was well above GM in quality, Toyota quality had fallen significantly below what any automaker (with responsible management) should have been doing.
The recall is but an iceberg tip. Wantanabe apparently was a problem for Toyota. Toyoda took over. Observed is a perfect example of what happens when better management finally lets employees address problems and implement solutions. Why were Pintos exploding and burning passengers alive? Because the problems was identified before even the first Pinto was sold – and stifled by Henry Ford.
Fuel injection works by monitoring vacuum inside the throttle chamber. If a mechanical linkage opens the throttle plate, then an engine (fuel injectors, et al) responds by burning more fuel - suck more air to increase vacuum. This was how it was done when Germans were putting this old technology in German WWII Messerschmitts in the 1930s.
The problematic Toyota design has a new design; electronics controlling that plate.
Anyone who understands computers also understands Watchdog timers. Too many engineers who only understand software can subvert an essential electronics device. Subvert that Watchdog timer. Testing cannot detect such mistakes. Another example of ‘quality by management’ concepts taught by Deming. If management did not do their job, for example, then a critical feature required in any realtime computer system would not protect from catastrophic failures.
This watchdog timer example demonstrates many design functions that cannot be detected and averted if management failed to provide the necessary attitude and knowledge. One example of why a very few products would do something completely unacceptable. And why this problem is virtually impossible to identify in a mechanical autopsy.
That recall is a symptom of what happens when new management addresses pre-existing management failures. Same should be happening in Chrysler today. Nothing here says that has happened. Only that symptoms imply a new management in Toyota has finally let engineers look for or implement solutions.
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