BROADCASTS.com

Published: Sept. 12, 2019, 7 a.m.

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Toyota - the world\\u2019s leading manufacturer of boring vehicles - is succumbing to its own bullshit in a scary parallel. Cue George Orwell, because the company no longer even calls those who buy its cars \\u2018customers\\u2019:

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\\u201cOur guests know that Toyota will look after them and the overwhelming feedback we get on a recall of any major proportion is largely a big thank you from our guests for acting so quickly on an issue.\\u201d

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Sean Hanley - Toyota behavioural apologist and sales and marketing wonk, towing the company line in respect of a recent recall

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\'Our guests\\u2019 - allow me to retort: If I buy something from you, I\\u2019m not a guest; I\\u2019m a customer. Legislation is ushered in to confirm my commercial status.

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So, I will not be downgraded to \\u2018guest\\u2019 by Toyota because of some social justice bullshit. I\\u2019ll remain here in \\u2018business class\\u2019 and be a customer,.

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Toyota spent recent years stonewalling on the issue of the DPF design fiasco in 2.8 diesel Hilux, Fortuner and Prado.

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Customers\\u2026 Sorry: \\u2018guests\\u2019 - are having their \\u2018unbreakable\\u2019 Hiluxes break all over the former convict paradise, and Toyota\\u2019s response is to re-enacting The Emperor\\u2019s New Clothes. This is how the cake of bullshit gets baked.

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Glaciers advance faster than the fix for the actual DPF issue. You are forced to return to the dealer many times, before they will install a manual DPF burn-off switch.

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Perhaps the most under-done engineering Band-Aid I have ever seen. I really don\\u2019t see how this in any way addresses the fundamental underlying hardware deficiency.

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The Big T says - it\\u2019s all fixed now. Gotta keep shifting those new Toyotas.

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\\u201cThrough all our learnings of previous-generation diesel technology, we believe that with the new vehicles and the manual burn-off switch, the communication with our customers - what DPF represents, how it works, what to look for, the support that we provide - we believe it is fixed.\\u201d - Sean Hanley

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How is this is a belief issue? \\u2018We believe it\\u2019s fixed.\\u2019 There\\u2019s no epistemic dimension to fixing a design deficiency. It\\u2019s not a matter of belief. Either it\\u2019s fixed or it\\u2019s not. It\\u2019s an entirely ontological proposition.

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This engine is also too easily \\u2018dusted\\u2019. A euphemism for the incursion of dust past the air filter, where it forces the vehicle into \\u2018limp\\u2019 mode.

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The mouthpiece says only 0.2 per cent of 170,000 vehicles have been \\u2018dusted\\u2019.

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Mr Hanley went on to explain (if that\\u2019s the right word) that this dusting business happens only in (quote-unquote) \\u201cextreme conditions\\u201d - as if this is in some way acceptable.

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Perhaps we should not forget we\\u2019re talking about filtering dust from air in a pipe.

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Dust is easy to arrange. Air filter integrity is easy to test. The fact that dust gets past 0.2 per cent of Hilux air filters is a design disgrace. The actual defect rate is of course much higher because many Hiluxes are never tested by entering extremely dusty environments.

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Toyota\\u2019s goodwill is in flames, and it seems nobody is yet reaching for an extinguisher. All they have to do is admit problems, address them fast, and be honest. It doesn\\u2019t sound that hard, but it is.

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The worst thing about Toyota\\u2019s bullshit is that they\\u2019ve apparently started to believe it internally - perhaps because it\\u2019s more compelling and palatable than the facts, which are that their engineering integrity and internal validation processes are slipping.

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If you\\u2019ve ever wondered why I don\\u2019t gush about Toyota, this is it.

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