Toyota is not blaming customers May 24, 2010 - 12:01 am ET
STEVE ST. ANGELO, Executive Vice President, Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Erlanger, Ky. The writer is the chief quality officer for Toyota's North American quality task force.
To the Editor:
Our efforts to communicate better with our customers about their vehicles should not be viewed as an effort to blame them for incidents of sudden acceleration, as stated in your recent editorial ("Don't blame customers," May 10).
Our investigations into customer concerns about unintended acceleration through our Swift Market Analysis Response Team evaluations have given us additional hands-on insight into what customers are experiencing.
For instance, some customers required only an explanation of standard vehicle operations in which an increase in engine speed is normal, such as a slight increase in engine rpm when the air-conditioning compressor cycles on or when the vehicle accelerates to the set speed when using cruise control.
In other cases, customers were concerned about slight differences in their driving experience following an antilock-brake program update in certain 2010 Prius and Lexus models while the intelligent system relearned how the customer typically drives.
Based on findings like those, we realize that we need to improve the level and quality of the information we provide our customers about the features, operation and normal functions of their vehicles. This just is one way we are acting on President Akio Toyoda's promise to listen to Toyota owners more intently and respond to their concerns quickly and effectively.
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