Toyota Tundra may be recalled (Expresses regret on forums about camshaft failures)
#1
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In a written reply to our inquiry asking for further clarification on the number of 5.7-liter engines potentially impacted by the camshaft issue, Toyota spokesperson Mike Michels tells PickupTruck.com, "The casting defect was found very early and immediately corrected. Because the heart of the Toyota production system is the continuous flow "just in time" method, there is no such thing as a "batch" of engines. In general the same holds true for suppliers, who keep very small inventories. So the advantage is that problems are quickly found, countermeasures taken rapidly and there aren't large quantities of potentially defective parts in the system.
As a result only a very few production engines were effected from the
earliest production. No, this absolutely will not impact all 30,000 5.7
liter engines sold to date. It will be a very small number. 20 units
represents less than 0.06 percent of vehicles sold. We are confident that very few customers will experience the problem but pending the on going analysis it is not possible to give a precise number."
For Tundra customers who might be impacted by a faulty camshaft, Michels added the following, "As mentioned in the story, rather than replacing the camshaft, many customers whose engines have a broken camshaft are receiving a new engine, via airfreight to the dealer. Feedback from customers indicates that this exceeds their expectations.
Two side notes:
1.) I'd like to thank Mr. Michels for his very rapid response back to us during this Memorial Day holiday.
2.) I also corrected a typo, where I mistakenly said Toyota will pay the costs to replace the entire engine of any new Tundra with a failed crankshaft. It should have said 'camshaft'. I regret the error.
- Mike
*********
The launch of the all new 2007 Tundra full size pickup continues to go anything but smoothly for Toyota. Automotive News is reporting on a string of twenty recent camshaft failures in Tundras equipped with popular i-Force 5.7-liter DOHC V8 motors. Toyota is trying to determine how many of the 30,000 engines built so far might be affected by, "...a metallurgical defect in the casting," according to Toyota spokesperson Mike Michels in the story. The company is blaming the defect on the camshaft's supplier and says it has been corrected.
A camshaft is a metal rod with lobes, or cams, that spin and push open an engine's intake and exhaust valves to let the air/fuel mixture into the engine and the exhaust out during combustion. Double overhead cam motors, like the 5.7-liter V8, use four cams - two per head - to allow for better gas flow and more power.
Toyota will pay the costs to replace the entire engine of any new Tundra with a failed camshaft.
This bad news for Toyota follows surprising and disappointing four star safety ratings in government crash tests, unexpected incentive pricing to kick start sales of regular cab Tundras, and at least $430 million in cost overruns building the Tundra's new Texas manufacturing plant.
As a result only a very few production engines were effected from the
earliest production. No, this absolutely will not impact all 30,000 5.7
liter engines sold to date. It will be a very small number. 20 units
represents less than 0.06 percent of vehicles sold. We are confident that very few customers will experience the problem but pending the on going analysis it is not possible to give a precise number."
For Tundra customers who might be impacted by a faulty camshaft, Michels added the following, "As mentioned in the story, rather than replacing the camshaft, many customers whose engines have a broken camshaft are receiving a new engine, via airfreight to the dealer. Feedback from customers indicates that this exceeds their expectations.
Two side notes:
1.) I'd like to thank Mr. Michels for his very rapid response back to us during this Memorial Day holiday.
2.) I also corrected a typo, where I mistakenly said Toyota will pay the costs to replace the entire engine of any new Tundra with a failed crankshaft. It should have said 'camshaft'. I regret the error.
- Mike
*********
The launch of the all new 2007 Tundra full size pickup continues to go anything but smoothly for Toyota. Automotive News is reporting on a string of twenty recent camshaft failures in Tundras equipped with popular i-Force 5.7-liter DOHC V8 motors. Toyota is trying to determine how many of the 30,000 engines built so far might be affected by, "...a metallurgical defect in the casting," according to Toyota spokesperson Mike Michels in the story. The company is blaming the defect on the camshaft's supplier and says it has been corrected.
A camshaft is a metal rod with lobes, or cams, that spin and push open an engine's intake and exhaust valves to let the air/fuel mixture into the engine and the exhaust out during combustion. Double overhead cam motors, like the 5.7-liter V8, use four cams - two per head - to allow for better gas flow and more power.
Toyota will pay the costs to replace the entire engine of any new Tundra with a failed camshaft.
This bad news for Toyota follows surprising and disappointing four star safety ratings in government crash tests, unexpected incentive pricing to kick start sales of regular cab Tundras, and at least $430 million in cost overruns building the Tundra's new Texas manufacturing plant.
#2
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That's the beauty of JIT. Defects are usually found and resolved a lot quicker than when building assemblies in batches.
Edit: There are some downsides to JIT, though, like holding up an entire assembly line if one part isn't supplied quickly enough for the next station, or if a certain part runs out. When it's running well, JIT is the way to go. When it's not, doing things in batches is advantageous.
Edit: There are some downsides to JIT, though, like holding up an entire assembly line if one part isn't supplied quickly enough for the next station, or if a certain part runs out. When it's running well, JIT is the way to go. When it's not, doing things in batches is advantageous.
Last edited by ff_; 05-29-07 at 10:48 AM.
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What should be noted is that the camshafts came from an outside supplier, and they had a problem with the manufacturing. 20 engines or 2000, Toyota either way is likely extremely dissapointed with that supplier. Some of you might also recall that the transmission problems in the Camry and ES350 were mainly related to several American suppliers that did not build the trannies to exact Toyota spec. What we are seeing is a pattern of flaws coming from outside suppliers because Toyota's resources are stretched so much. Certain things that Toyota *should* be doing in-house is being done by outside suppliers. Toyota hopefully has caught on to this and hopefully will slow it's growth in order to bring quality higher.
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When suppliers don't build parts to exact Toyota spec, it's probably (my guess) because the only way for them to make money producting the parts, after being beaten up on price by the automaker, is to cut corners somewhere. The "Big 3" have done this to suppliers for decades. Ask anyone that's worked for a Big 3 parts supplier (I have). It wouldn't surprise me if Toyota forces their suppliers into the same corners.
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When suppliers don't build parts to exact Toyota spec, it's probably (my guess) because the only way for them to make money producting the parts, after being beaten up on price by the automaker, is to cut corners somewhere. The "Big 3" have done this to suppliers for decades. Ask anyone that's worked for a Big 3 parts supplier (I have). It wouldn't surprise me if Toyota forces their suppliers into the same corners.
And for other posts blaming 'suppliers' it's a cheap shot because the buck still stops with Toyota who needs to do quality control on parts they get from suppliers.
Regardless, it's certainly good Toyota caught this quickly, and shouldn't be a big deal. Hopefully it's not the start of a trend. A completely new truck with a completely new engine though, not entirely surprising something will happen.
#7
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What should be noted is that the camshafts came from an outside supplier, and they had a problem with the manufacturing. 20 engines or 2000, Toyota either way is likely extremely dissapointed with that supplier. Some of you might also recall that the transmission problems in the Camry and ES350 were mainly related to several American suppliers that did not build the trannies to exact Toyota spec. What we are seeing is a pattern of flaws coming from outside suppliers because Toyota's resources are stretched so much. Certain things that Toyota *should* be doing in-house is being done by outside suppliers. Toyota hopefully has caught on to this and hopefully will slow it's growth in order to bring quality higher.
The fact is that Toyota is responsible for choosing quality parts engineers and manufacturers - whether in house or out of house, and ensuring they produce quality parts.
Most of the crappy stuff we've seen out of the domestic manufacturers could use this same blame game, but the fact is it was ultimately their own fault for pinching their manufacturers too hard.
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When suppliers don't build parts to exact Toyota spec, it's probably (my guess) because the only way for them to make money producting the parts, after being beaten up on price by the automaker, is to cut corners somewhere. The "Big 3" have done this to suppliers for decades. Ask anyone that's worked for a Big 3 parts supplier (I have). It wouldn't surprise me if Toyota forces their suppliers into the same corners.
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Very good point.
And for other posts blaming 'suppliers' it's a cheap shot because the buck still stops with Toyota who needs to do quality control on parts they get from suppliers.
Regardless, it's certainly good Toyota caught this quickly, and shouldn't be a big deal. Hopefully it's not the start of a trend. A completely new truck with a completely new engine though, not entirely surprising something will happen.
And for other posts blaming 'suppliers' it's a cheap shot because the buck still stops with Toyota who needs to do quality control on parts they get from suppliers.
Regardless, it's certainly good Toyota caught this quickly, and shouldn't be a big deal. Hopefully it's not the start of a trend. A completely new truck with a completely new engine though, not entirely surprising something will happen.
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So, so true. Walmart beats up on suppliers, probably, more than any other company in the world. Which is one reason I refuse to shop there. They have the power right now to single-handedly put every honest, hard-working small business on the planet into an early grave. In fact, I'm pretty sure that's part of their business plan (sounds a lot like Micro$oft too).
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I agree with the earlier posters about it being a good thing this was caught early and that Toyota is handling it well. I recently reviewed a 5.7L 4WD Tundra, and I thought it was a superb truck under the skin, including the engine. Too bad the skin itself was so poorly done....probably even worse than these camshafts.
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Looks like their frame may not be up to par (at least in some measures), either. Can't even come close to standing up to a 3 year older in design F150 frame.
http://www.pickuptruck.com/html/2007...ges/page3.html
http://www.pickuptruck.com/html/2007...ges/page3.html