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トヨタは苦難を乗り越えられるか
トヨタ車の大規模リコール問題で報道は過熱。
「突然トヨタ車が急加速することはあり得ない」、「いや、急加速は深刻で危険な問題だ」など、さまざまな声が聞かれるが、訴訟社会の米国では真相解明は手間取りそうだ。
だが、常に改善を目指してきたトヨタはいずれ立ち直るだろうし、低迷する日本経済も「七転び八起き」するだろう。
Weathering the storm
What is going on in Japan these days? We've seen deflation, zombie banks, zombie businesses and department stores closing. American burger chain Wendy's said "so long" at the end of last year. The world-wide economic meltdown has hit Japan especially hard.
Young folks won't remember, but a few decades ago there was considerable fear in the United States that Japan would supplant it as the world's No. 1 economic juggernaut. And the lessons of Japan's success were a staple subject at business schools.
Nowadays, Japan has been reduced to an economic boogie man in economists' cautionary tales: "If we don't do (fill in the blank) we'll wind up just like Japan."
Even Toyota, the vehicle maker that taught the world about quality, is in trouble. Its corporate philosophy, the Toyota Way, was close to an industrial religion. Then came a problem with fuel pedals that supposedly caused unintended acceleration, which in turn sparked a media feeding frenzy that spiraled out of control as Toyota execs bungled every attempt at damage control.
The public and the media love nothing more than a ripping good story about how the mighty fall. Still, the facts of the case are curious. Depending on who you listen to, the problem of sudden unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles doesn't exist, is a grave danger, or is somewhere between those extremes. How can one tell what's really going on?
I'm not usually one to side with a large corporation against the little people, and there is no telling how this case will turn out in the end, but based on what I've seen I doubt an engineering fault is behind the problems.
I'm suspicious because America has "sue first and ask questions later culture." Lawyers stand to make a lot of money from this, and because of that, it will take a long time to clear up this problem.
In the 1980's, Audi had a similar sudden acceleration problems. It was eventually found these problems were caused by driver error. Others have pointed out that a disproportionate number of drivers involved in the Toyota incidents were over the age of 60.
And neither Toyota nor the U.S. National Highway Traffic Society Administration has been able to replicate an unintended acceleration in a controlled environment. Yet somehow a fix has been created for a problem that may not exist, and recalls are underway.
In spite of the hard knocks they have taken lately, I have a feeling Toyota will weather this storm because of their philosophy of constant improvement and their respect for their workers and customers. Can Japan bounce back too? Only time will tell, but there is a Japanese proverb that states: "Fall down seven times, get up eight."
- Weathering the storm
- 難局を乗り切る
- zombie banks
- 実質的に破たんしている銀行
- so long
- さようなら
- meltdown
- 崩壊
- supplant it as 〜
- 〜としてそれに取って代わる
- economic juggernaut
- 経済大国
- staple
- 主要な
- has been reduced to 〜
- 〜にレベルを下げている
- boogie man
- (子どもなどを脅すときに持ち出す)恐ろしいもの
- cautionary tales
- 教訓話
- wind up
- 終わりになる
- corporate philosophy
- 企業理念
- fuel pedals
- アクセルペダル
- supposedly
- 〜と考えられる
- unintended
- 意図しない
- acceleration
- 加速
- sparked 〜
- 〜を引き起こした
- media feeding frenzy
- マスコミをあおる大騒ぎ
- spiraled
- 悪循環に陥った
- out of control
- 抑えの利かない
- bungled 〜
- 〜で不手際を演じた
- ripping
- 素晴らしく
- the mighty
- 強大な存在
- extremes
- 両極端
- little people
- 一般の人々
- doubt
- (〜の真偽を)疑問に思う
- engineering fault
- 設計上の欠陥
- sue first and ask questions later
- まず訴訟を起こし、後で問いを投げかける
- Audi
- (独フォルクスワーゲン社の)アウディ
- disproportionate
- 異常に多い
- U.S. National Highway Traffic Society Administration
- 米道路交通安全局
- replicate
- 〜を再現する
- fix
- 解決策
- are underway
- 実施中だ
- hard knocks
- 苦難
- bounce back
- 立ち直る