Toyota opens 2 more product quality offices in US

The offices located in Houston and Jacksonville, Fla., will put more Toyota researchers in the field, helping the Japanese auto giant detect and address quality problems, the company said. It said the offices’ proximity to customers and dealers will help Toyota catch problems early. Toyota already opened offices in San Francisco and New York. A […]

The offices located in Houston and Jacksonville, Fla., will put more Toyota researchers in the field, helping the Japanese auto giant detect and address quality problems, the company said. It said the offices’ proximity to customers and dealers will help Toyota catch problems early.

Toyota already opened offices in San Francisco and New York. A fifth office is set to open in Denver by the end of March, Toyota said.

Toyota said the offices’ proximity to customers and dealers will help it catch potential problems early.

Each office is staffed with three to five engineers working on a specific set of issues.

The field offices are part of a six-part plan Toyota laid out in February to address concerns raised by the recalls. The company pledged to improve quality inspections, collect better data from customers, create regional research centers, consult more outside experts; and make its regional subsidiaries more autonomous.

Toyota has had to settle almost $50 million from the previous recall and its latest settlement.

Meanwhile in the UK Toyota is recalling nearly 19,000 cars due to potential problems with their fuel systems, it has been announced. According to Toyota, there have been no accidents suspected of being related to the defects, but it is the latest in a series of quality control woes for the Japanese carmaker. The cars highly affected are Avensis and the Lexus I250. World wide, nearly 1.7 million Toyota-made vehicles are being recalled because of the defects.

Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc., based in Torrance, Calif., is Toyota’s U.S. subsidiary.

Culled from www.bloomberg.com