subject: Winter Park Toyota dealership announces SMART evaluation for Toyota models [print this page] Winter Park Toyota dealership announces SMART evaluation for Toyota models
Even with an 80 percent drop in customer concerns over Toyota's recalled vehicles, the company continues to take action to fix past issues and prevent future problems. Your Winter Park Toyota dealership, along with other dealers across the country, are taking part in a SMART evaluation which helps Toyota determine issues on-site.
Some of the new initiatives Toyota has launched include:
*Putting advanced safety features like Smart Stop Technology and enhanced data recorders on all new vehicles.
*Working with suppliers to ensure quality control.
*Designing new training techniques that will help raise quality, safety and reliability standards and allow better and more immediate response to the needs of the customers. Winter Park used car dealers are part of this initiative as well.
*Taking care of over five million vehicles fixes from the recalls of Toyota and Lexus models and responding the needs of their owners.
"Toyota has made significant progress in recent months to help ensure that our customers can have complete confidence in the quality, safety and reliability of their vehicles, and our latest initiatives build on those accomplishments," North American Chief Quality Officer Steve St. Angelo said.
"Toyota's continuous efforts to strengthen vehicle quality and safety, and to respond swiftly and thoroughly to our customers' concerns, are driven by our core values and will always be a fundamental part of our company. Our goal is to set new, even higher standards for quality assurance and customer responsiveness in both the factory and the market by continuing to put our customers first in everything that we do," St. Angelo added.
The SMART Process will be expanded, and it has already helped evaluate more than 4,200 vehicles. During those evaluations Toyota has not found any problems with the electronic throttle control system on the vehicles which would cause the unintended acceleration that prompted the recalls. Customers of Winter Park used cars should be reassured by this.
So far, about 80 percent of the sticking pedal modifications are finished on the 2.3 million vehicles that have been recalled, and over 86 percent of the ABS program updates have been performed on the 148,000 recalled Prius and Lexus models. Almost 58 percent of the floor mat entrapment fixes have been done on the 5.4 million recalls.
Next time you visit your Winter Park Toyota dealership for a new vehicle, remember that Toyota has not only put many safeguards in place to assure the quality of the vehicles they manufacture, but that they have promised to address any problems that might arise and proved, through past recalls, that they will stand by that promise.
Toyota also now tests its key parts more often for reliability and checks for any damage that could occur during shipping. Working more closely with suppliers, Toyota also hopes to increase quality across the board.
