The head of Toyota was handed a stark warning just over three years ago of significant problems with the safety of a number of models as the result of cost-cutting and the use of temporary workers, says a media report.
Attributing to an internal memo, The Telegraph said that a union member had written a letter in 2006 to then Toyota's CEO to Katsuaki Watanabe and blasted the carmaker for putting "amateurs in charge of the factory" and for failing to act on safety information in spite of continued problems.
The report said that it was written three-and-a-half years before the current safety recall began. To date, about 8.5 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles have been recalled around the world due to problems stemming from faulty acceleration and braking systems.
The previously undisclosed document states that in July 2006, Toyota had confirmed problems with its Hilux Surf 4x4 model which at the time was only sold in Japan - "but had failed to act on eight years of recall," the daily noted.
The memo's writer, Tadao Wakatsuki of the All Toyota Union also went on to cite the fact that temporary workers at that point accounted for 39.4 per cent of the Toyota workforce, saying: "It's not an exaggeration to say that we have put amateurs in charge of the factory."
He also took aim at Toyota's cost-cutting measures, saying its plan to cut costs by 30 per cent from 2000-2003 "is both a direct result of our lost focus on quality and a cause".
