A Toyoda Testimony to House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

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Chinese & English

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PREPARED TESTIMONY OF

证词

AKIO TOYODA

丰田章男

PRESIDENT, TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION

丰田汽车公司总裁

COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM

美国众议院监管与政府改革委员会

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

2010 年 2 月 24 号

Thank you Chairman Towns.

唐思主席，感谢您。

I am Akio Toyoda of Toyota Motor Corporation. I would first like to state that I love cars as much as anyone, and I love Toyota as much as anyone. I take the utmost pleasure in offering vehicles that our customers love, and I know that Toyota’s 200,000 team members, dealers, and suppliers across America feel the same way. However, in the past few months, our customers have started to feel uncertain about the safety of Toyota’s vehicles, and I take full responsibility for that. Today, I would like to explain to the American people, as well as our customers in the U.S. and around the world, how seriously Toyota takes the quality and safety of its vehicles. I would like to express my appreciation to Chairman Towns and Ranking Member Issa, as well as the members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, for giving me this opportunity to express my thoughts today.

我是丰田汽车公司的丰田章男。首先，我想要声明的是，我和很多人一样，都非常喜欢汽车，非常喜欢丰田。能为我们客户提供他们喜爱的汽车让我感到非常高兴，而且我知道整个美国市场的 20 万团队成员、经销商以及供应商都会感同身受。然而，在过去的几个月，我们的客户已经开始担心丰田汽车的安全问题，我对此负全部责任。今天，我要向美国人民以及在美国和全球范围的客户作出解释，丰田公司非常重视汽车的质量与安全。今天，我要就唐思主席、爱莎副主席以及众议院监管与政府改革委员会的委员们能给予我表达自己想法的机会表示衷心的感谢。

I would like to focus my comments on three topics – Toyota’s basic philosophy regarding quality control, the cause of the recalls, and how we will manage quality control going forward.

我将要发表的观点主要针对三个问题 - 丰田质量控制的基本理念，召回的起因，以及我们在未来如何进一步地管理质量控制。

First, I want to discuss the philosophy of Toyota’s quality control. I myself, as well as Toyota, am not perfect. At times, we do find defects. But in such situations, we always stop, strive to understand the problem, and make changes to improve further. In the name of the company, its long-standing tradition and pride, we never run away from our problems or pretend we don’t notice them. By making continuous improvements, we aim to continue offering even better products for society. That is the core value we have kept closest to our hearts since the founding days of the company.

首先，我要讨论丰田质量控制的基本理念。我自己，以及丰田公司，都不是完美无缺的。有时候，我们会发现自身的缺陷。但是在这种情况下，我们总会停下脚步，努力去弄清问题所在，并作出调整，不断改善。我以丰田的名义以及丰田长期坚持的传统和荣誉保证，我们从不逃避责任，或者对任何问题充耳不闻、视而不见。我们的目标是通过不断地改善，持续地为社会提供更好的产品。这是公司创建至今，我们内心一直坚持的核心价值。

At Toyota, we believe the key to making quality products is to develop quality people. Each employee thinks about what he or she should do, continuously making improvements, and by doing so, makes even better cars. We have been actively engaged in developing people who share and can execute on this core value. It has been over 50 years since we began selling in this great country, and over 25 years since we started production here. And in the process, we have been able to share this core value with the 200,000 people at Toyota operations, dealers, and suppliers in this country. That is what I am most proud of.

在丰田，我们相信培养高素质的人才是制造高质量产品的关键。每个员工都思考自己该做的事，不断提高，制造出更卓越的汽车。我们一直积极地致力于培养能够认同并践行我们这一核心价值的人才。我们在这个伟大的国家销售汽车的历史已 50 载有余，在美国制造汽车亦超过 25 载。在此期间，我们能与贵国 20 万从事丰田汽车运营、销售、以及供应的人员分享我们的核心价值，这让我感到非常骄傲。

Second, I would like to discuss what caused the recall issues we are facing now. Toyota has, for the past few years, been expanding its business rapidly. Quite frankly, I fear the pace at which we have grown may have been too quick. I would like to point out here that Toyota’s priority has traditionally been the following: First; Safety, Second; Quality, and Third; Volume. These  priorities became confused, and we were not able to stop, think, and make improvements as much as we were able to before, and our basic stance to listen to customers’ voices to make better products has weakened somewhat. We pursued growth over the speed at which we were able to develop our people and our organization, and we should sincerely be mindful of that. I regret that this has resulted in the safety issues described in the recalls we face today, and I am deeply sorry for any accidents that Toyota drivers have experienced.

其次，我想谈谈是什么原因导致现在我们面临召回问题。在过去几年里，丰田一直追求业务的快速增长。非常坦率地说，我担心我们追求的增长速度过快。我要在此指出丰田公司一直奉行的优先原则：1. 安全，2. 质量，3. 产量。但是，我们逐渐混淆了优先原则的顺序，导致我们无法停下来思考，无法像以前那样不断改善产品的安全与质量。而且，在某种程度上，我们未能始终如一地坚持倾听客户以制造出更好产品。我们追求增长的速度远远超过我们培养人才和建设组织架构的速度，我们应引以为戒。对于我们今天面临的召回事件涉及的安全问题，我深感遗憾。对于丰田车主所遭遇的事故，我深表歉意。

Especially, I would like to extend my condolences to the members of the Saylor family, for the accident in San Diego. I would like to send my prayers again, and I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a tragedy never happens again.

我特别要向在圣地亚哥遭遇事故的塞勒家庭表示深深的哀悼。我要再次为他们祈祷，我将尽我所能保证类似惨剧不再发生。

Since last June, when I first took office, I have personally placed the highest priority on improving quality over quantity, and I have shared that direction with our stakeholders. As you well know, I am the grandson of the founder, and all the Toyota vehicles bear my name. For me, when the cars are damaged, it is as though I am as well. I, more than anyone, wish for Toyota’s cars to be safe, and for our customers to feel safe when they use our vehicles. Under my leadership, I would like to reaffirm our values of placing safety and quality the highest on our list of priorities, which we have held to firmly from the time we were founded. I will also strive to devise a system in which we can surely execute what we value.

自去年 6 月上任以来，我个人始终把提升产品质量优先于追求产品数量作为工作的重中之重，而且，我已经与我们的股东分享了这一发展方向。众所周知，我是公司创始人的孙子，所有丰田汽车都印有我的姓氏。对我来说，汽车的损毁与我感同身受。我比任何人都希望丰田汽车是安全的，也比任何人更希望我们的客户在驾驶我们的汽车时能感到安全。在我的领导下，我希望重申丰田公司将安全与质量放在我们工作重中之重地位的核心价值。这也是公司自创建以来，我们始终坚持的理念。我也将不遗余力地设计出一套体制，确保我们能践行我们所倡导的价值。

Third, I would like to discuss how we plan to manage quality control as we go forward. Up to now, any decisions on conducting recalls have been made by the Customer Quality Engineering Division at Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan. This division confirms whether there are technical problems and makes a decision on the necessity of a recall. However, reflecting on the issues today, what we lacked was the customers’ perspective.

第三，我想要谈谈我们在未来如何计划管理质量控制。到目前为止，所有关于问题汽车召回的决定都是由位于日本的丰田公司客户质量工程部作出的。该部门将确认汽车是否具有技术问题，并对召回的必要性作出决定。然而，今天的问题反映出，我们并没有从消费者的角度来看问题。

To make improvements on this, we will make the following changes to the recall decisionmaking process. When recall decisions are made, a step will be added in the process to ensure that management will make a responsible decision from the perspective of “customer safety first.” To do that, we will devise a system in which customers’ voices around the world will reach our management in a timely manner, and also a system in which each region will be able to make decisions as necessary. Further, we will form a quality advisory group composed of respected outside experts from North America and around the world to ensure that we do not make a misguided decision. Finally, we will invest heavily in quality in the U.S., through the establishment of an Automotive Center of Quality Excellence, the introduction of a new position – Product Safety Executive, and the sharing of more information and responsibility within the company for product quality decisions, including defects and recalls.

为了改正这一缺点，我们将对召回决策过程作出以下调整。一旦公司作出召回决定，我们将在该程序添加一个新的环节，以确保管理层能从 “消费者安全第一”的角度来作出一个负责任的决定。为了达到这个目标，我们将设计一套体制，让全世界客户的意见都能及时传达到我们的管理层。而且通过这个体制，每个地区的分公司都能作出必要的决定。此外，我们将建立一个以来自北美和世界各地的知名专家组成的质量顾问团队，以确保我们不会作出误导性的决定。最后，我们将加大在美投资以确保汽车的质量，建立汽车质量卓越中心，增加产品安全总监一职，公司内部就产品质量决策分享更多信息和责任，其中包括产品缺陷和和召回问题。

Even more importantly, I will ensure that members of the management team actually drive the cars, and that they check for themselves where the problem lies as well as its severity. I myself am a trained test driver. As a professional, I am able to check on problems in a car, and can understand how severe the safety concern is in a car. I drove the vehicles in the accelerator pedal recall as well as the Prius, comparing the vehicles before and after the remedy in various environmental settings. I believe that only by examining the problems on-site, can one make decisions from the customer perspective. One cannot rely on reports or data in a meeting room. Through the measures I have just discussed, and with whatever results we obtain from the investigations we are conducting in cooperation with NHTSA, I intend to further improve on the quality of Toyota vehicles and fulfill our principle of putting the customer first.

更重要的是，我将确保管理层的所有成员都要亲自驾驶我们的汽车，并且由他们检测问题所在及其严重性。我自己是一个经过训练的试驾车手。作为一个经过专业训练的人士，我有能力检测汽车存在的问题，并能了解汽车安全问题的严重性。我曾驾驶包括普锐斯系列在内的因油门踏板存在故障而召回的汽车，并在不同环境下，对车辆维修前后的状况作了比较。我坚信，只有在现场亲自驾车检测问题，我们才能从客户的角度作出决定。我们不能只依靠会议室里的报告和数据。通过我刚才以上提及的措施以及根据与美国国家公路交通安全管理局 (NHTSA) 合作调查得出的结果，我将进一步改善丰田汽车的质量并践行 “客户第一” 的理念。

My name is on every car. You have my personal commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to restore the trust of our customers.

车有我名。我以我个人名义作出承诺，丰田将坚定不移，不遗余力地重塑客户的信心。

Thank you.

谢谢。

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