After a spree of recent recalls from around the globe, which totaled more than 10 million vehicles returning to manufacturers or sales locations for repairs or replacements, Toyota plans to open a training facility for mechanics, complete with a test course full of realistic obstacles in an attempt to repeat its past.
The $90 million dollar Tajimi Service Center, located in central Japan, will have the capacity to train 2,600 mechanics per year in better testing procedures at its outset, hoping to eventually expand its training abilities to more than 4,800 per year, according to the Associated Press.
With more than 120,000 mechanics around the world, those numbers set to grow as new markets experience spikes in sales, practices put into motion at the facility including checking defects even a year after vehicles hit the market are primed to help their vehicles become more safe as time goes on.
While its recall problems may not be magically solved by the new center, it will allow Toyota to make faster responses to potential problems.
“When something happens next time, we will be faster with our response and then people can trust our vehicles more as safe,” said Toyota president Akio Toyoda, according to the news source.
Largest center with major crews
Toyota’s new testing center is one of the biggest any automaker has ever assembled, including its test track that’s nearly a mile long which contains 13 types of road conditions from wet to cracked. Other advantages include a four-story building meant for maintenance checkups and training classes, and Tajimi’s climate allows researchers to test all kinds of weather, from some of the hottest temperatures in Japan during the summer to snowy conditions during the winter.
Despite their recall woes, Toyota has reinforced a desire to overhaul their training, from new vehicle types like hybrids earning their own maintenance crews researching new types of service to a company-wide emphasis on service first, not allowing failures to make it into public release. The company has been taking longer in its model design periods to be careful, strengthening its quality standards.
Opening the new facility comes with news of a massive settlement regarding recalls. Toyota must spend $1.63 billion to settle with owners making claims of economic loss after recalls lowered their vehicles’ value, according to Motor Trend.
Improving testing and design specifications and quality can help Toyota recover from the recalls its been forced to enact in recent years, increasing their vehicles’ lifespans while lowering repair costs.