2006 memo shows employee concerns over Toyota safety, quality

By Drew Johnson - Posted March 10th 2010

Following an earlier request, Toyota has officially handed over an internal memo penned by Toyota employees to Congress. The memo – written in 2006 – details employee concerns about Toyota skimping on quality and safety measures in order to boost production and overall profitability.
Although the memo doesn’t appear to have any direct links to Toyota’s recent unintended acceleration woes, it does indicate a history of ignoring safety problems at Toyota. “If senior Toyota officials ignored important safety concerns raised by their own employees, it calls into question Toyota’s corporate priorities and its commitment to safety,” Rep. Ed Towns said is a letter to Toyota North American head Yoshimi Inaba.

Addressed to then Toyota president Katsuaki Watanabe, the memo raises a number of employee concerns, particularly related to Toyota’s cost-cutting measures affecting the overall quality and safety of its vehicles. “We fear that under the name of competition in the marketplace Toyota may have taken lightly the process needed to produce safe vehicles,” the memo reads.

Employees also criticized Toyota’s use of temporary employees in the memo. “Temporary workers now represent 39.4 percent of the work force (12,168 workers as of 2004). It’s not an exaggeration to say that we have put amateurs in charge of the factory.”

Showing the seriousness of the concerns, employees wrote; “the future existence of the company will be threatened by this grave problem.”

References
1. ‘Memo shows Toyota…’ view