Toyota Lowering Their "Acceptable Quality" Standards while Increasing Profits 12%

[Jessica Smith]

Toyota is now openly admitting to lowering their acceptable quality standards for parts on their vehicles, due to supply shortages to keep the production lines going. Previously rejected "scratch and dent" parts will now be used on brand-new vehicles as part of corporate policy.

“We are careful about the outside of our vehicles, the parts you can easily see. But there are plenty of places that people don’t notice unless they really take a good look,” Takefumi Shiga, Toyota’s chief project leader for vehicle development, said during a press briefing.

In short, while you won't have dented door panels or scratched dashes, you may buy your 2022 Toyota with a dented muffler or scratched up control arm.
Toyota is now using 75% of parts that previously would have been considered poor enough condition to reject.

Personally, I believe they simply know that the vehicles will sell in this market one way or another, regardless of blemishes. In spite of lower production, the high profit margins per vehicle with no need for incentives to dealers or customers has healthy profits, and Toyota has increased its profit projection for the year by 12%.

Thoughts?

Source: https://www.motorbiscuit.com/toyota-scratch-dent-parts-new-cars-save-money-amid-supply-chain-issues/

 

[Jessica Smith]

Oh, and as icing on the cake, Toyota is now charging customers to use the "remote start" feature on their keyfobs, because $*#! you, that's why.

A Toyota spokesperson confirmed to The Drive that if a 2018 or later Toyota is equipped with Toyota's Remote Connect functions, the vehicle must be enrolled in a valid subscription in order for the key fob to start the car remotely. To be clear, what we're talking about is the proximity-based RF remote start system, where you press a button on the fob to start the car while outside of it within a certain distance—say, from your front door to warm up your vehicle in the driveway on a cold morning before you get in. Your fob uses radio waves to communicate with the car, and no connection back to Toyota's servers is needed. But the function will not work without a larger Remote Connect subscription.