The panel comprised Steve St. Angelo (US), Didier Leroy (Europe), Masahiro Kato, Feng Xingya, Godfrey Tsang and Tian Congming (China), Mitsuhiro Sonoda, Surapong Tinnangwatana and Vince S. Socco (Asia), Hisayuki Inoue (Middle East, Africa, and Latin America) and Katsutada Masumoto (Japan).
The meeting of these knights of the accelerator pedal was presided by Shiniichi Sasaki, featuring special guest star Akio Toyoda, the company's CEO. What did they talk about?
"We discussed several things: an especially important subject was the decision-making process for recalls and other safety matters. We agreed to build a framework to ensure that regional input receives full consideration in that process. The chief quality officers hear directly from customers in their regions, and so they will participate in recall and other safety matter decision-making at our global headquarters," Akio Toyoda summed up the meeting.
The decisions made during this first get-together include the following measures to be taken by Toyota.
- safety executives will participate in recall and other safety decision-making on a global basis
- expand the use of event data recorders (EDRs),
- third-party experts from each region to evaluate quality-improvement measures on a regional basis
- the encouragement of safer driving
- the incorporation of a brake override system (BOS) into new production models, starting in 2010
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