Had to laugh...

[Lloyd_E]

Here's a toyota story...

This was mentioned on TBN years ago: Toyota recall on Truck Frame Erosion. They had a recall on frames eroding I think it was between 1995 and 2000 not sure. Anyway I mention this to my buddy who had an old 1998 toyota "beater" 300 000 km on it. He calls local dealer to confirm. They said yes... bring it in. They wouldn't allow him to drive it home. Gave him a loner for about 2 weeks until his new truck came in. They were giving anywhere from $2000 to $20000 for the vehicles which in turn they would take out of the market. We figured he may get $2000 for his beater. They gave him just shy of $14 000... in a cheque... could have bought any make but guess which one he bought? Toyota! You wouldn't see any of the big 3 doing this. This happened 2 years ago - 2008. His truck was 10 years old....

 

[dmccarty]

The Wall Street Journal has had quite a few articles regarding the Toyota situation. The company has been very closed mouthed about the issue. Much more so than a US car company. In Japan companies can just sell you a defective product and there is not much you can do about it. And with a culture where one does not admit mistakes both in the country and within Toyota they have been very tight with information.

The latest I read was that both Toyota and the US car companies have "black boxes" in the newer cars. The boxes record engine RPM, speed, braking, and a bunch of other information. The black box data can be pulled from a US car very easily with a variety of tools. This is NOT true with Toyota. They have not allowed the tool readers to know there protocols. They also say that their black boxes may not contain valid information.

Really? So they admit the US car companies can handle this kind of technology but Toyota cannot? Not very believable. It surely would be helpful to have the data in the black boxes from the cars that experience uncontrollable acceleration. The speed of the car, engine RPM, and if the driver hit the brake would be kinda relevant. But Toyota does not want that data in public.

Why?

Toyota has NOT been very proactive on this problem.

Later,
Dan

 

[dave1949]

Hello Dave1949

I'd like to add to this if I may. "Times are changing. The days when"...... A ford or chevy would last 10 yrs like they should. It's funny how people WERE bettering their lives and making reliable products. Now we have throw away JUNK but pay much higher prices.

I've come to notice something lately, if your not a salesmen{person} then you'll fail............

Some say change is good,.,.,.,. is it?

Hey 20_20,
I think that's true. The country has become very image concious and folks don't always seem to care what's behind the curtain; they want to identify with an image. I may draw fire for this but - I think that originated in Hollywood, took over LA then came East Well, it's very shallow, I agree.

Change better be could, because we can't stop it We don't hold much with long social traditions here in the US of A when you think about it.

July 4th is about the least molested national holiday. The character of Independence Day celebrations seem to be fairly constant over my lifetime.

Thanksgiving would have to be split between the pre-NFL and NFL eras. We always went hunting on Thanksgiving Day morning. Now, half the country just hopes their flight leaves on time

I am stumped for an an example, but there must be something we do 'just because that's the way we do it'; that isn't subject to change.

The Unions:
You are lucky some of them 'good fellas' didn't offer to rearrange your legs That's the offer the mafia-teamsters would make to folks around Detroit in the '60's.

It is sad that unions started out as a good and just causes addressing some real evils with considerable personal bravery in many cases, and a few generations later became evil themselves. On the other hand, if companies made good faith efforts to abide by and honor the existing labor laws, and the Justice Dept. consistently enforced the laws, unions would have little attraction for the average person.

I don't see that ever being the case. There will always be a manager somewhere that will want to make their performance goals by cheating someone else. Or they want to be some sort of mini-God over their 'subjects'. Some are slimy, some are stupid. How often do those folks get fired? They typically do a lot of damage to everything and everybody before they get axed. The person who promoted or hired them would have to admit to a mistake before the axe can fall. Uh- Oh!
Dave.

 

[Sigarms]

The country has become very image concious

Over the weekend when I went out to office max to pick up some office supplies, I happen to walk by a mirror at the store and "noticed" myself.

I was wearing sweat pants cammando syle, boots that were half laced up with ratty old socks, a button shirt hanging over my sweat pants with a an old vest over the shirt (and the shirt "hanged" outside the vest at my waist line). I looked at myself thinking that some people could see me and think I lived under a bridge.

Kicker was, I didn't care about my "image". My wife tells me that her father and I are two peas in a pod

unions would have little attraction for the average person.

IMO the only reason for unions is poor management.

It is sad that unions started out as a good

Again, IMO because of poor/bad/greedy management.

My wife's company (family owned) bought out a union company some time ago. Stipulation to this buyout was that in a short time after the buyout, ALL the workers would be able to vote to go union or non union. The union lost.

 

[dave1949]

I was wearing sweat pants cammando syle, boots that were half laced up with ratty old socks, a button shirt hanging over my sweat pants with a an old vest over the shirt (and the shirt "hanged" outside the vest at my waist line). I looked at myself thinking that some people could see me and think I lived under a bridge.

This could be a carefully crafted non-image image you know.

We agree on the reasons unions exist. My theory is if you deal with people as adults in a partnership, not as adversaries, the results will be better. There will always be the odd person that doesn't get it or fit in, they would happier somewhere else.
Dave.