Cause and Effect

How Toyota's problems effect their buyers and their company, and will it become the problem for someone else?

Over the past several weeks Toyota has been working on an acceleration problem with their new 2010 model vehicles.
Cause: Unintended acceleration, aka sticky gas pedal, aka computer failure, aka BIG problem.

But don't worry because Toyota plains to fix it, or don't they. Toyota says they have a new team in place to fix the problem. "The Swift Market Analysis Response Team, or SMART, will try to contact customers within 24 hours of receiving a complaint of unintended acceleration to arrange for an onsite vehicle analysis".(Yahoo finance, AP) Toyota has recalled more than 8 million vehicles due to gas pedals getting stuck under floor mats or in a depressing position. My pedal on my Saturn Ion gets stuck under my too big floor mat, maybe I should have a talk with the President at Saturn, get my car fixed and washed for free. Maybe I'll just get some better floor mats, hint hint.

HOLD ON!!!! Toyota does have a solution to fix the computer problem that causes the pedal to stick and the brakes to fail. What an unlikely coincidence by the way. Ah yes, the new Mazda hybrid, that's right. Mazda is going to buy the hybrid technology from Toyota,"Hybrids are spreading fast in Japan, and launching a model in the domestic market has become an urgent task", "That is one of the reasons why we decided to seek this agreement with Toyota"(Mazda VP Masaharu Yamaki). Now there's the way to get rid of the problem, give it to someone else.
"Mazda said it aimed to begin selling a vehicle that combines Toyota's hybrid system with its own next-generation gasoline engine in Japan by 2013. Key components such as battery packs, controls units, inverters and regenerative braking units will be procured from Toyota suppliers"(Reuters Update 3). Check out the "Key components," isn't that the "Key problem" with the Toyota's? And Mazda wants to buy them, good thing I got a new Saturn Ion instead.

Still think the 2010 Lexus GX 460 is cool? You ever wonder where the 460 comes from? Think maybe its because it rolls over 460 degrees? Lexus,which is a Toyota product, is now having problems with their safety roll over features, causing the vehicle suspension to alloy it to roll over, 460 degrees haha. Lexus has a solution too though, accourding to Mark Templin, Lexus Group Vice President and General Manager: “For more than 20 years, Lexus has made customer safety and satisfaction our highest priorities.
We are taking the situation with the GX 460 very seriously and are determined to identify and
correct the issue Consumer Reports identified. At this time we have asked our dealers to
temporarily suspend sales of the 2010 GX 460. For any customer who has purchased a 2010 GX 460 and is concerned about driving their
vehicle, we will provide a loaner car until a remedy is available" (Templin) .Now there's a solution, if you don't own a GX 460 don't get one, if you already own one take it back and get something else. Or Lexus could just sell that safety technology to Nissan.

Who does this effect then?
Effect: Toyota dealers, Lexus dealers, customer buyers and owners, and even innocent people involved in the accidents caused by these problems.

Pay Attention

Pay Attention to detail, never take anything for granite, this could happen to you. So this was a really crappy situation to be in, but it was totally funny. On Friday afternoon, before this great Easter weekend, I was down on the south side of La Crosse getting a few things from Auto Zone for my new car I just got. It's just a 2006 Saturn Ion, so nothing fancy here, but I got a few things to clean it up anyway.

As I'm driving there in my new car, I notice the dark clouds in the sky. This really bugged me because I had just taken it through the car wash and cleaned it up. As I was walking out of Auto Zone with my thing, it started to rain on me. The first thing I thought was, "man this really sucks", but I had a car with a roof so I was good. As I turn onto Losey Blvd. it starts to down pour, raining so hard I could barley see ten feet in front of my car. It must have been that way for everyone else as well; because, traffic was going like five miles per hour.

I get to the first set of stoplights, and low and behold, guess what pulls up beside of me? A man on a motorcycle, a sweet looking Harley Davidson to be exact. Now that sucks. This does happen to a lot of people, but I'm never there to catch it up close and in person. The guy was only wearing jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt, man was he soaked, and super ticked. He followed traffic at five miles an hour all the way down Losey Blvd. till just before Onalaska. It didn't let up even the slightest little bit all the way, man this guy was soaked, but it was so funny to watch him shake his head and curse all the way there.

So with this in mind, no matter how funny it was, and it was by the way, pay attention. Weather your on a motorcycle or on a bicycle, watch the sky and see what it looks like to you. If you see dark clouds, don't get the bike out, and don't wash your car either; because, this could happen to you.

Ted Creativity

We grow up with such natural creativity, drawing, coloring, and tinkering with things, all the process of growing up. Then we get old enough to go to school. Pre-school is fun, we got to take naps and play all day. Kindergarden, it was okay but, that's where it all started. This is where we start getting forced into learning what they think we need to learn. The way I see it, we should be able to learn what we want to learn, do what we want to do, and in college we have a little of that ability but its too late by now.

My only advice with this is, stay in touch with your creative side. Keep drawing and sketching, keep tinkering around with stuff on your off time. Don't let yourself be taught out of your creativity.