Toyota Technology: Not Just an Auto Industry Issue

On Friday, August 6, 2010 Minnesota resident Koua Fong Lee was released from prison after serving three years of an eight-year sentence for vehicular homicide.  While Lee maintained his innocence throughout the ordeal, it wasn’t until a second trial that he was set free primarily due to proof of mechanical failure in his 1996 Toyota Camry.

First, a little backstory.  In 2006, Lee’s Camry accelerated up to 90 MPH before it crashed into two other vehicles at an intersection causing the death of a man, his 10-year-old son and a 6-year-old girl. 

Flash-forward to 2010 and it’s impossible to miss the daily news feeds regarding the Toyota glitches, accidents and product recalls. To date, eight million cars have been recalled with the majority of these related to 2009 and 2010 models.  However, it’s clear that the mechanical issues go back even further -- especially in light of recent evidence that T.  Adding to Toyota’s troubles are the mounting lawsuits, including Lee’s, and further investigation into similar cases that are linked by Toyota vehicles.

From a consumer perspective, the sight of a Toyota on the road represents a very real threat.  From a business perspective, the acceleration issues and associated glitches will cost Toyota upwards of $3 billion dollars in the form of lawsuits, engineering and a diminished brand image.  Though keep in mind that many of these issues reflect the after effects of extensive and egregious mistakes in the software behind the design of the automobiles.

While Toyota is currently under the microscope, I suspect they will not be the only automotive manufacturer to suffer the impact of faulty technology in its products.  After all, since the introduction of technology into vehicles 30 years ago, the number of electronic system recalls in the U.S. has tripled.  In fact, today’s modern luxury car contains close to 100 million lines of software code.  This is easier to imagine when you think about the added features we continue to pile into a car – everything from GPS to Bluetooth to DVD players.

Yet if we’ve learned anything from the advancements of technology over the years, it’s this:

1. Rarely is one company or individual solely responsible for mechanical failures.  The information technology industry is built on collaboration, standards, and integration of different technologies.  The technology behind the building of an automobile consists of millions of lines of code -- many of which is written by software developers from all over the world who are on the payroll of technology companies, outsourcers and auto manufacturers.
2. The quality of the software code starts with the very first keystroke.  While there are established best practices to software development, the term computer science is a misnomer because it isn’t an exact science – there is plenty of room for variations in the way the code is written and makes its way into the automobile.
3. Many of the potential glitches and other software failures can often be identified and addressed before the product is assembled and put on factory floors.  This process is known in software circles as IT governance and in all likelihood should be making a comeback given the widespread issues that Toyota is facing.

I doubt that the software developers and engineers that inadvertently contributed to Toyota’s technology arsenal were fully aware of the impact of their efforts on the general population though it’s a point that management should make more clear.  And for companies outside of the auto industry, it’s easy to dismiss the Toyota problems as someone else’s. 

Though the core lesson that’s often overlooked here is that that fundamental approaches to ensuring safer, high quality products are increasingly rooted in technology and without more careful oversight of this function, the reputation of a company really can hinge on a few strokes of the keyboard.