Toyota

Company Objectives World domination with regard to car supply. Toyota seeks to achieve market leadership by delivering value to customers and providing high quality vehicles. Ill. Analysis Of Related Case Facts A. Porters Five Forces Analysis 1. Threat of New Entrants – Low New entrants can't enter the market easily as it requires huge capital investment, cutting-edge technology and the industry have already reached economics of scale. Brand loyalty among the buyers. They won't easily switched to new brand as purchasing a vehicle incurred high cost. 2.Bargaining Power of Supplier – Moderately Low Various types of suppliers in automobile industry such as cooling, electrical, fuel supply systems distributed across the globe. They own many interchangeable supplier and produced many components in the short time. Suppliers don't own the power to determine the price. 3. Bargaining Power of Buyer – High Can easily switch to other brands if they're cheaper and better spe cifications such as Hand's new Hybrid models which are more lucrative Toyota Pries. 4. Threat of Substitute – Moderately High There are a lot of substitutes in automobile industry.When the price or the specifications of the vehicle is lack of favor, the substitutes will emerge. Besides from vehicles, buyer can opt for other substitutes such as bicycle, bus, train or even walking to reach their destination with petrol price hiking. However, it depends greatly on the consumers geographical location. 5. Competitive Rivalry -? High Competition between existing players is high. There is not much differentiation between players and their products. Other automobile companies are moving aggressively with their strategy to own higher market share with Hybrid models.B. Soot Analysis Strengths Us period productivity and efficiency of Toyota Production System Toyota is the world's largest vehicle manufacturer by production and sales Global strong brand awareness Strong distribution and m arket efforts focused on high quality, sales and close involvement with customers It has initiated new technologies Weaknesses Recalls caused quite severe financial impact It is criticized as a foreign importer by Japanese local car producers In May 2009, they reported a record yearly net loss of $ 4. Billion In 2005 faced criticism because of a large scale recall and quality issues Opportunities Recovery of auto industries Positive growth trend in hybrid vehicle segment Growing demand from major emerging markets India and China Demand for fuel efficient, compact vehicles In 2009 Bank of India decreased the interests on automotive bank loans Product innovation The retreats Competition in the global automotive market Uncertainty in global economic condition Weakening demand, increasing cost Tightening emission standards C.PEST Analysis Political Factors Laws and regulations mandated by the government/state/local assembles may put in measures to ensure that safe and ethical practices are being allowed to promote fairness within the company. On the other hand, these laws, especially those foreign to Japanese customs create policies that imposes more profit loss for TM because it is a foreign car company. Economic and Social Factors The first that may impact Tm's profit is that the social status of the world economy as a whole.If the world market is suffering due to a world-wide recession. Customers may be forced to buy domestic cars due to their lower cost, rather than buying foreign cars. However, if consumers are earning a higher income, this may prove beneficial to Toyota thereby increasing many profit and accountability. Stability of the upcoming market is highly projected. Technological Factors Technological advancements may also be a factor in determining Tm's overall production. The world relies heavily on technology to plan out the details and executions of company plans and goals.It would be wise for TM to continue its research developments to improve th e company's value and reputation. IV. Relevant Strategic Management Lean Production System Lean Production System is the system designed and evolved in Toyota. It is modified form of Henry Ford's Mass Production System. In some areas its philosophy seem exactly opposite to the fundamental principles of Mass Production System. Mass Production System Mass production is a method of producing goods in large quantities at low cost per unit. This system of production is also known as Push System or Just- in-Case System .With precision equipment, large numbers of identical parts could be produced at low cost and with a small work force. Diversification At the time of establishment of Toyota Motor Company was in the business of making handloom. This can be seen as a Conglomerate Diversification as Toyota expanded its scope from Handloom Industry to Automobile Industry. Joint Venture ANNUM was established at the site Of a former GM Fremont Assembly site that had been closed two years earlier in 1982. GM and Toyota reopened the factory as a joint venture in 1 984 to manufacture vehicles to be sold under both brands.A joint venture was viewed as an approach that would lower the risk while providing help in overcoming difficult potential problems. Market Segmentation Toast's most significant business segment is its automotive operations. Toyota carries out its automotive operations as a global competitor in the relied automotive market. Toast's uses both differentiation and low cost as generic strategies to try and gain a competitive advantage over their competitors in the automotive industry. The market scope that Toyota uses is a broad one that encompasses nearly every type of customer that is in the market to purchase an automobile.Toyota is able to target such a large market because they have something for everyone. V. Alternative Courses and Action Toyota Motors Corporation, one of the largest automakers in the world. Due to growing number of recalls that it faced, s ales plummeted thereby effecting the company's position in the global automotive industry. The company recalled million of vehicles in 2009 that does not only hurt the company financially but significantly damaged the company's brand. Toyota must ensure that the cars produced are faultless and of good quality.Toyota must focus on differentiating the company by concentrating on the atmosphere and design of the vehicles . It must enhance customers service as full-service provider. Excellent customer service should be observed since it would be able to make the company boost their reputation and consistency in terms of customer satisfaction. There should be a unique offering of amenities and facilities which would give them a stand out compared to other competitors, something like a trademark item or facility in which it couldn't be copied or duplicated.Toyota has a reputation of manufacturing CEO friendly cars like the Pries based upon advanced technology developed by the organization . Toyota has also sold on its technology to other motor manufacturers. There is a big demand for CEO friendly and fuel efficient cars. Since Toyota already has a first mover advantage in making hybrid CEO friendly cars, it should capitalize n this opportunity and invest more on hybrid R and produce more environment friendly cars. VI. Analysis of Alternatives (Advantages and Disadvantages) VII.Conclusion Toyota has sources of strong competitive advantages in global automotive industry such as value chain, strong brand, wide product offering and hybrid vehicles. Major recalls, economic crisis and intense global competition have posed serious challenge for Toyota. Growing emerging markets and shifting customer demands offer Opportunities for Toyota to attain superior profitability and growth. Toyota must sustain its competitive advantages to attain its position and achieve future success. VIII. Recommendations Toyota motors are famous for their just in time manufacturing.The organizati on is doing well in this regard and competes with the world's top car manufacturing firms . However the quality of the car as compare to other car manufacturing companies is not satisfactory. They should focus on the quality and designs of the car. As compare to Honda, the intense competitor of Toyota in Asia and some other regions, they have elegant designs and quality cars. Apart from that the company should also focus on fuel efficient and hybrid cars to increase its production and to make people aware of these cars.T MAC needs to become more diverse, to allow the integration Of leadership in all sectors of leaderships to create a uniform leadership team. The way the system is set up is not going too well for the company's goal of being the number one manufacturer in the world. Also, Toyota needs to reanalyze its Research and Developmental Centers. It is through these centers that technologies are observed and tested to bring about the best possible and safe product for the consu mer to use. There needs to be a construction of the company as a whole. Toyota Company Objectives World domination with regard to car supply. Toyota seeks to achieve market leadership by delivering value to customers and providing high quality vehicles. Ill. Analysis Of Related Case Facts A. Porters Five Forces Analysis 1. Threat of New Entrants – Low New entrants can't enter the market easily as it requires huge capital investment, cutting-edge technology and the industry have already reached economics of scale. Brand loyalty among the buyers. They won't easily witched to new brand as purchasing a vehicle incurred high cost. 2.Bargaining Power of Supplier – Moderately Low Various types of suppliers in automobile industry such as cooling, electrical, fuel supply systems distributed across the globe. They own many interchangeable supplier and produced many components in the short time. Suppliers don't own the power to determine the price. 3. Bargaining Power of Buyer – High Can easily switch to other brands if they're cheaper and better spec ifications such as Hand's new Hybrid models which are more lucrative Toyota Pries. 4. Threat of Substitute – Moderately High There are a lot of substitutes in automobile industry.When the price or the specifications of the vehicle is lack of favor, the substitutes will emerge. Besides from vehicles, buyer can opt for other substitutes such as bicycle, bus, train or even walking to reach their destination with petrol price hiking. However, it depends greatly on the consumers geographical location. 5. Competitive Rivalry -? High Competition between existing players is high. There is not much differentiation between players and their products. Other automobile impasse are moving aggressively with their strategy to own higher market share with Hybrid models.B. Soot Analysis Strengths Superior productivity and efficiency of Toyota Production System Toyota is the world's largest vehicle manufacturer by production and sales Global strong brand awareness Strong distribution and marke t efforts focused on high quality, sales and close involvement with customers It has initiated new technologies Weaknesses Recalls caused quite severe financial impact It is criticized as a foreign importer by Japanese local car producers In May 009, they reported a record yearly net loss of $ 4. Billion In 2005 faced criticism because of a large scale recall and quality issues Opportunities Recovery of auto industries Positive growth trend in hybrid vehicle segment Growing demand from major emerging markets India and China Demand for fuel efficient, compact vehicles In 2009 Bank Of India decreased the interests on automotive bank loans Product innovation Threats Competition in the global automotive market Uncertainty in global economic condition Weakening demand, increasing cost Tightening emission standards C. PEST Analysis Political FactorsLaws and regulations mandated by the government/state/local assembles may put in measures to ensure that safe and ethical practices are being followed to promote fairness within the company. On the other hand, these laws, especially those foreign to Japanese customs create policies that imposes more profit loss for TM because it is a foreign car company. Economic and Social Factors The first that may impact Tm's profit is that the social status of the world economy as a whole. If the world market is suffering due to a world-wide recession.Customers may be forced to buy domestic cars due to their lower cost, rather than buying foreign cars. However, if consumers are earning a higher income, this may prove beneficial to Toyota thereby increasing company profit and accountability. Stability of the upcoming market is highly projected. Technological Factors Technological advancements may also be a factor in determining Tm's overall production. The world relies heavily on technology to plan out the details and executions of company plans and goals. It would be wise for T MAC to continue its research developments to improve the company's value and reputation.IV. Relevant Strategic Management Lean Production System Lean Production System is the system designed and evolved in Toyota. It is modified form of Henry Ford's Mass Production System. In some areas its philosophy seem exactly opposite to the fundamental principles of Mass Production System. Mass Production System Mass production is a method of producing goods in large quantities at low cost per unit. This system of production is also known as Push System or Just- in-Case System . With precision equipment, large numbers of identical parts could be produced at low cost and with a small work force.Diversification At the time of establishment of Toyota Motor Company was in the business of making handloom. This can be seen as a Conglomerate Diversification as Toyota expanded its scope from Handloom Industry to Automobile Industry. Joint Venture ANNUM was established at the site of a former GM Fremont Assembly site that had been closed two years earlier in 1982. GM and Toyota reopened the factory as a joint venture in 1984 to manufacture vehicles to be sold under both brands. A joint venture was viewed as an approach that would lower the risk while providing help in overcoming difficult potential problems.Market Segmentation Toast's most significant business segment is its automotive operations. Toyota carries out its automotive operations as a global competitor in the worldwide automotive market. Toast's uses both differentiation and low cost as generic strategies to try and gain a competitive advantage over their competitors in the automotive industry'. The market scope that Toyota uses is a broad one that encompasses nearly every type of customer that is in the market to purchase an automobile. Toyota is able to target such a large market because they have something for everyone.V. Alternative Courses and Action Toyota Motors Corporation, one of the largest automakers in the world. Due to growing number of recalls that it faced, s ales plummeted thereby affecting the company's position in the global automotive industry. The company recalled million of vehicles in 2009 that does not only hurt the company financially but significantly damaged the company's brand. Toyota must ensure that the cars produced are faultless and of good quality. Toyota must focus on differentiating the company by concentrating on the atmosphere and design of the vehicles .It must enhance customers service s full-service provider. Excellent customer service should be observed since it would be able to make the company boost their reputation and consistency in terms of customer satisfaction. There should be a unique offering of amenities and facilities which would give them a stand out compared to other competitors, something like a trademark item or facility in which it couldn't be copied or duplicated. Toyota has a reputation of manufacturing CEO friendly cars like the Pries based upon advanced technology developed by the organization .Toyota has also sold on its technology to other motor manufacturers. There is a big demand for CEO friendly and fuel efficient cars. Since Toyota already has a first mover advantage in making hybrid CEO friendly cars, it should capitalize on this opportunity and invest more on hybrid R&D and produce more environment friendly cars. VI. Analysis of Alternatives (Advantages and Disadvantages) VI'. Conclusion Toyota has sources of strong competitive advantages in global automotive industry such as value chain, strong brand, wide product offering and hybrid vehicles.Major recalls, economic crisis and intense global competition have used serious challenge for Toyota. Growing emerging markets and shifting Customer demands offer opportunities for Toyota to attain superior profitability and growth. Toyota must sustain its competitive advantages to retain its position and achieve future success. VIII. Recommendations Toyota motors are famous for their just in time manufacturing. The organiza tion is doing well in this regard and competes with the world's top car manufacturing firms -However the quality of the car as compare to other car manufacturing companies is not satisfactory.They should focus on the quality ND designs of the car. As compare to Honda, the intense competitor of Toyota in Asia and some other regions, they have elegant designs and quality cars. Apart from that the company should also focus on fuel efficient and hybrid cars to increase its production and to make people aware of these cars. TM needs to become more diverse, to allow the integration of leadership in all sectors of leaderships to create a uniform leadership team. The way the system is set up is not going too well for the company's goal of being the number one manufacturer in the world. Toyota Toyota, one of the most renowned auto company started having a problem around in 1998 when it failed o store its new brand product Lexus’s data’s ineffectively. Though all it did not happen on purpose, but accidentally the Lexus Company could not fulfil the requirement and satisfaction of its customer in its early trail of database maintenance. Lexus the Toyotas high end luxury system had implemented a Corporate Customer information System in which there were some problems seen regarding the recording of customer information and override of wrong information of the customer data. Though the company had best tried to save that customer information in a appropriate manner but due to the system deficiency the company was having a massive data quality problem. This problem aroused because the company failed to maintain and implement a central database system where all he customer information would be stored in a central database, which when required would display the multi branches customer information. The company had 15 different databases stored in 15 different parts of the company, where the individual company would only access their local data stored by the local branch. In words of Management we can correlate this problem as lack of centralised authority to data control, storing, maintenance and update of recent transactions. The world of Information Technology as compared to the Management is quite controversial. Controversial in a sense that, in proper management Decentralization and Delegation of authority is required to achieve the best results in efficient management performances while as in terms of Information Technology, it requires the access, storage, support and maintenance of centralised database system in order to keep the up to date records of every activities performed everyday to track down the right solution to the problem. An efficient Information System demands the availability of information and resources however and whenever demanded at any point of request. The database Toyota Lexus ha designed was to store all its customer info which would help when the system was asked to provide the customer details of the owner for organizational purpose. The objective LEXUS had established to serve its customer via maintaining a customer dataset could not be fulfilled as the purpose of developing a database could no be fulfilled as it resulted to various problems in miscommunication of information all around. The ownership of the vehicles ad been transferred to the people who did not even had the ownership license, the cheques were paid to the person who were even not entitled to receive and the legitimate information were passed where there had been frequent problems of fake customer identity. The customer details failed to validate the right owners of the vehicles which as a result led to a problem of data loss. Because of the problem, Toyota would return the owners car fixed, washed filled with fuel. Cheques were made payable to the people whom it did not even belonged to. CASE EXAMPLES Example: 1 http://www. internetautoguide. om/auto-recalls/09-int/1998/lexus/gs400/index. html APR 17, 1998 | Recall ID# 50473 Hide Details |Recall Reason |SUSPENSION:AUTOMATIC STABILITY CONTROL (ASC) | |Recall Date |APR 17, 1998 | |Model Affected |GS400 | |Potential Units Affected |14855 | Recall Summary | |VEHICLE DESCRIPTION: PASSENGER VEHICLES. DUE TO A MANUFACTURING DEFECT OF THE YAW RATE SENSOR FOR THE VEHICLE STABILITY | |CONTROL (VSC), THE VSC CAN OPERATE IMPROPERLY IF THE SENSOR IS AFFECTED BY CERTAIN ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES, SUCH AS FROM A | |CELLULAR PHONE. | |Consequence | |SHOULD THIS OCCUR, THE BRAKE MAY OPERATE UNEXPECTEDLY, AFFECTING STEERING AND SPEED CONTROL, INCREASING THE RISK OF A | |VEHICLE CRASH. |Remedy | |DEALERS WILL REPLACE THE YAW RATE SENSOR. | |Notes | |TOYOTA MOTOR CO. , LTD. | Example 2: http://www. justanswer. com/questions/35ik7-i-have-a-1998-lexus-es300-i-have-had-problems-with-the-gas Question I have a 1 998 Lexus ES300, I Have had problems with the gas pedals sticking on three occasions but paid no attention to it until I read about this problem on new cars. Have there been other cases reported with this model? What should I do about it? Submitted: 11 days and 23 hours ago. Category:  Lexus Value:  ? 7 Status:  CLOSED + Read  More Optional Information Year: 1998 Make: Lexus Model: ES300 Already Tried: I have a 1998 Lexus ES300, I Have had problems with the gas pedals sticking on three occasions but paid no attention to it until I read about this problem on new cars. Have there been other cases reported with this model? What should I do about it? Accepted Answer Hi, Your particular vehicle uses a mechanical, cable connection from the gas pedal to the throttle body as opposed to the electrical servo type throttles involved in the numerous recall related problems. Because of that, there would be no directly correlation between the two vehicles. That being said, there are 3 typical causes for sticking throttle in your vehicle. Least likely, but easiest to check is the infamous â€Å"floor mat obstruction†. This is typically noticeable while driving if your floor mat is interfering with the cable, but worth checking regardless. Second, is a worn out throttle cable. This is the cable that connects the gas pedal to the throttle body. Vehicles in northern states that have more issues with rust/corrosion are more likely to see a problem here. The cable is a thin metal wire sheathed in a plastic coating. As the exposed area of metal wire corrodes from environmental elements, it widens the cable making it more difficult to travel inside the cable sheath, often sticking. You can check this condition by operating the throttle body by hand an monitoring the cable to see if there is any resistance going into the sheath or if it travels smoothly. Lastly, and most common, is buildup of carbon/oil elements in the throttle body. Because of the ventilation system required by law, the throttle body is exposed to oil vapor from inside the engine via breathing hoses in the intake. Over time this builds up into a layer of hardened, baked-on oil inside the throttle body, right where the throttle plate needs to move. Due to it being softer than the metal throttle plate, the throttle plate always wins when it gets stuck, but the oil buildup does create resistance that will intermittently stick the throttle in position. Having the throttle body cleaned to prevent this should be done every 15k miles on this car for full assurance, or 30k miles at minimum for normal operation. Typical cost for cleaning is 1/2 hour labor (normal â€Å"minimum charge† at many shops), about $45 depending on the shops labor rate. pic] |Expert:   |Doug Cleland | |Pos. Feedback:   |100. 0 % | |Accepts:   |12 | |Answered:   |2/16/2010 | ASE Certified Technician Toyota Factory training and worked for a heavily Lexus trafficked Toyota store Read more: http://www. justanswer. com/questions/35ik7-i-have-a-1998-lexus-es300-i-have-had-problems-with-the-gas#ixzz0grgbynyy Example 3: http://www. motortrend. com/used_cars/07/1998/lexus/recalls/index. html Featured 1998 Recalls [pic] | |1998 Lexus LX470 | |Before you purchase a used car, make sure you check our comprehensive auto recall information to see if there are any | |problems that have been reported by the NHTSA. You can get detailed information on how and where to fix the car defect. | |Recall:   EXTERIOR LIGHTING : HEADLIGHTS | | | | | | | | | | Read more: http://www. motortrend. com/used_cars/07/1998/lexus/recalls/index. html#ixzz0grjp1yvD Take a noteworthy case in 1998. Toyota Motor Sales USA (TMS) responded to a recurring service problem with its Lexus vehicles by contacting owners, then picking up their vehicles, taking them in for repairs and leaving loaner cars as replacements. When done, the owners' cars were returned—fixed, washed and tanked up. That level of service was made possible by TMS's Corporate Customer Information System, an application used by the company's call center in Iowa to help handle warranty, roadside assistance, prepaid maintenance and other service requests. But 1998 didn't go altogether smoothly. Relying on data in that system, TMS began to mail checks to Lexus owners to replace troublesome tires. The checks, for more than $400 each, in some cases went to people who didn't even own a Lexus. One errant check even found its way to a Toyota auditor, for a vehicle he hadn't owned for a while. â€Å"You can imagine the repercussions of that,† says John Gonzales, data quality manager at TMS. â€Å"We can't afford to be giving money away to people who shouldn't be getting it. † The glitch was symptomatic of a bigger problem. The system depended on customer data stored in â€Å"roughly 15 databases in different parts of company,† says Gonzales. Just to get to all the data about a customer, call center employees would have to navigate through four or five mainframe applications, while customers waited. The glitch resulted in a mandate from Toyota's office of the president for a centralized, single customer database. And Gonzales was tagged to make it happen. â€Å"The main goal was to service customers' calls quicker,† he says. But also, â€Å"as the volume of calls went up, we didn't want to increase the number of people in the call center. † Finding a way to pull off the consolidation turned out to be no mean feat. Gonzales and his team looked at a procession of products purportedly offering business intelligence,† but none fit the bill. Then, a solution was nearly dropped into his lap. While attending a Toyota Toyota, one of the most renowned auto company started having a problem around in 1998 when it failed o store its new brand product Lexus’s data’s ineffectively. Though all it did not happen on purpose, but accidentally the Lexus Company could not fulfil the requirement and satisfaction of its customer in its early trail of database maintenance. Lexus the Toyotas high end luxury system had implemented a Corporate Customer information System in which there were some problems seen regarding the recording of customer information and override of wrong information of the customer data. Though the company had best tried to save that customer information in a appropriate manner but due to the system deficiency the company was having a massive data quality problem. This problem aroused because the company failed to maintain and implement a central database system where all he customer information would be stored in a central database, which when required would display the multi branches customer information. The company had 15 different databases stored in 15 different parts of the company, where the individual company would only access their local data stored by the local branch. In words of Management we can correlate this problem as lack of centralised authority to data control, storing, maintenance and update of recent transactions. The world of Information Technology as compared to the Management is quite controversial. Controversial in a sense that, in proper management Decentralization and Delegation of authority is required to achieve the best results in efficient management performances while as in terms of Information Technology, it requires the access, storage, support and maintenance of centralised database system in order to keep the up to date records of every activities performed everyday to track down the right solution to the problem. An efficient Information System demands the availability of information and resources however and whenever demanded at any point of request. The database Toyota Lexus ha designed was to store all its customer info which would help when the system was asked to provide the customer details of the owner for organizational purpose. The objective LEXUS had established to serve its customer via maintaining a customer dataset could not be fulfilled as the purpose of developing a database could no be fulfilled as it resulted to various problems in miscommunication of information all around. The ownership of the vehicles ad been transferred to the people who did not even had the ownership license, the cheques were paid to the person who were even not entitled to receive and the legitimate information were passed where there had been frequent problems of fake customer identity. The customer details failed to validate the right owners of the vehicles which as a result led to a problem of data loss. Because of the problem, Toyota would return the owners car fixed, washed filled with fuel. Cheques were made payable to the people whom it did not even belonged to. CASE EXAMPLES Example: 1 http://www. internetautoguide. om/auto-recalls/09-int/1998/lexus/gs400/index. html APR 17, 1998 | Recall ID# 50473 Hide Details |Recall Reason |SUSPENSION:AUTOMATIC STABILITY CONTROL (ASC) | |Recall Date |APR 17, 1998 | |Model Affected |GS400 | |Potential Units Affected |14855 | Recall Summary | |VEHICLE DESCRIPTION: PASSENGER VEHICLES. DUE TO A MANUFACTURING DEFECT OF THE YAW RATE SENSOR FOR THE VEHICLE STABILITY | |CONTROL (VSC), THE VSC CAN OPERATE IMPROPERLY IF THE SENSOR IS AFFECTED BY CERTAIN ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES, SUCH AS FROM A | |CELLULAR PHONE. | |Consequence | |SHOULD THIS OCCUR, THE BRAKE MAY OPERATE UNEXPECTEDLY, AFFECTING STEERING AND SPEED CONTROL, INCREASING THE RISK OF A | |VEHICLE CRASH. |Remedy | |DEALERS WILL REPLACE THE YAW RATE SENSOR. | |Notes | |TOYOTA MOTOR CO. , LTD. | Example 2: http://www. justanswer. com/questions/35ik7-i-have-a-1998-lexus-es300-i-have-had-problems-with-the-gas Question I have a 1 998 Lexus ES300, I Have had problems with the gas pedals sticking on three occasions but paid no attention to it until I read about this problem on new cars. Have there been other cases reported with this model? What should I do about it? Submitted: 11 days and 23 hours ago. Category:  Lexus Value:  ? 7 Status:  CLOSED + Read  More Optional Information Year: 1998 Make: Lexus Model: ES300 Already Tried: I have a 1998 Lexus ES300, I Have had problems with the gas pedals sticking on three occasions but paid no attention to it until I read about this problem on new cars. Have there been other cases reported with this model? What should I do about it? Accepted Answer Hi, Your particular vehicle uses a mechanical, cable connection from the gas pedal to the throttle body as opposed to the electrical servo type throttles involved in the numerous recall related problems. Because of that, there would be no directly correlation between the two vehicles. That being said, there are 3 typical causes for sticking throttle in your vehicle. Least likely, but easiest to check is the infamous â€Å"floor mat obstruction†. This is typically noticeable while driving if your floor mat is interfering with the cable, but worth checking regardless. Second, is a worn out throttle cable. This is the cable that connects the gas pedal to the throttle body. Vehicles in northern states that have more issues with rust/corrosion are more likely to see a problem here. The cable is a thin metal wire sheathed in a plastic coating. As the exposed area of metal wire corrodes from environmental elements, it widens the cable making it more difficult to travel inside the cable sheath, often sticking. You can check this condition by operating the throttle body by hand an monitoring the cable to see if there is any resistance going into the sheath or if it travels smoothly. Lastly, and most common, is buildup of carbon/oil elements in the throttle body. Because of the ventilation system required by law, the throttle body is exposed to oil vapor from inside the engine via breathing hoses in the intake. Over time this builds up into a layer of hardened, baked-on oil inside the throttle body, right where the throttle plate needs to move. Due to it being softer than the metal throttle plate, the throttle plate always wins when it gets stuck, but the oil buildup does create resistance that will intermittently stick the throttle in position. Having the throttle body cleaned to prevent this should be done every 15k miles on this car for full assurance, or 30k miles at minimum for normal operation. Typical cost for cleaning is 1/2 hour labor (normal â€Å"minimum charge† at many shops), about $45 depending on the shops labor rate. pic] |Expert:   |Doug Cleland | |Pos. Feedback:   |100. 0 % | |Accepts:   |12 | |Answered:   |2/16/2010 | ASE Certified Technician Toyota Factory training and worked for a heavily Lexus trafficked Toyota store Read more: http://www. justanswer. com/questions/35ik7-i-have-a-1998-lexus-es300-i-have-had-problems-with-the-gas#ixzz0grgbynyy Example 3: http://www. motortrend. com/used_cars/07/1998/lexus/recalls/index. html Featured 1998 Recalls [pic] | |1998 Lexus LX470 | |Before you purchase a used car, make sure you check our comprehensive auto recall information to see if there are any | |problems that have been reported by the NHTSA. You can get detailed information on how and where to fix the car defect. | |Recall:   EXTERIOR LIGHTING : HEADLIGHTS | | | | | | | | | | Read more: http://www. motortrend. com/used_cars/07/1998/lexus/recalls/index. html#ixzz0grjp1yvD Take a noteworthy case in 1998. Toyota Motor Sales USA (TMS) responded to a recurring service problem with its Lexus vehicles by contacting owners, then picking up their vehicles, taking them in for repairs and leaving loaner cars as replacements. When done, the owners' cars were returned—fixed, washed and tanked up. That level of service was made possible by TMS's Corporate Customer Information System, an application used by the company's call center in Iowa to help handle warranty, roadside assistance, prepaid maintenance and other service requests. But 1998 didn't go altogether smoothly. Relying on data in that system, TMS began to mail checks to Lexus owners to replace troublesome tires. The checks, for more than $400 each, in some cases went to people who didn't even own a Lexus. One errant check even found its way to a Toyota auditor, for a vehicle he hadn't owned for a while. â€Å"You can imagine the repercussions of that,† says John Gonzales, data quality manager at TMS. â€Å"We can't afford to be giving money away to people who shouldn't be getting it. † The glitch was symptomatic of a bigger problem. The system depended on customer data stored in â€Å"roughly 15 databases in different parts of company,† says Gonzales. Just to get to all the data about a customer, call center employees would have to navigate through four or five mainframe applications, while customers waited. The glitch resulted in a mandate from Toyota's office of the president for a centralized, single customer database. And Gonzales was tagged to make it happen. â€Å"The main goal was to service customers' calls quicker,† he says. But also, â€Å"as the volume of calls went up, we didn't want to increase the number of people in the call center. † Finding a way to pull off the consolidation turned out to be no mean feat. Gonzales and his team looked at a procession of products purportedly offering business intelligence,† but none fit the bill. Then, a solution was nearly dropped into his lap. While attending a