(groovy music) - For more than 50 years, Toyota has been the go-to
choice for fuel economy, simplicity and reliability. When compacts from Detroit
were having problems like breaking down at random times, overheating or catching on fire, the Toyotas just work. And it's not because they had
found some secret technology or because they were
using different materials. So why? Why are Toyotas so reliable? Today, we're going to look
at three different ways that Toyota prevails over the competition, how their philosophy is different from American and European manufacturers, how their mindset produces
some of the most reliable cars on the planet, and how you
can apply it to your own life. That's right, you can be
as dependable as a Camry. Big old thank you to Skillshare
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Skillshare's premium membership. Now let's get back to it. I'm going to figure this out. I just want to start off by saying that this is not an advertisement for Toyota. They're not paying us
anything to make this video. We're just fans of them, and what they do. Toyota is successful for so many reasons, but their philosophy on
design and production are what set them apart. One of the main principles of the Toyota production system or TPS, is jidoka, which based on the
limited Japanese I've learned from watching Initial D, translates to automation
with a human touch. The way jidoka works is that
every design, every process, and every component starts off hand-built. Think about that. Toyota engineers build each
part to exacting standards until it's perfect. Then automated assembly
slowly gets incorporated, until the engineer can be
entirely phased out for that part. Then, and only then, does it become part of
the full production line. Now for other manufacturers,
the process is a bit different. Most manufacturing processes
are designed to be automated from the very beginning. This means the parts can
be designed by a computer and then assembled on the production line. Toyota's process is a slow one for sure, but it ensured that the parts work, and that they fit together, and that the engineers fully
understand each component. Toyota only does this for new
parts and assembly processes, which is why they use so
many of the same components across multiple models. That's also why Toyota doesn't
offer many optional extras. Parts bins aren't anything new, it's just that Toyota
makes super high quality, simple parts for their bin. The more customization and
stuff they have to add, the more parts they have to build. And maybe they've got to find a new way to make that part fit,
which means a new process, for getting the two pieces to match up. Jidoka can snowball really quickly. Because of this, Toyota reuses
a lot of the same parts, especially the parts that work well. Toyota's 2GRFE was a simple V6 engine that's made its way into
the Avalon, the Camry, the RAV4, the Sienna, and the Venza, and the Lexus RX 350,
and the Lotus Exige S, and the Corolla Super GT. A race car. Other companies reuse parts as well, but it's mainly a way to keep costs down. In a weird way, every
Toyota is a parts bin car, 'cause Toyota spent so
much time and energy building the parts. Do you want to see what happens
when Toyota builds a car from the ground up? Take a look at the LFA. If you want to know more
about the Lexus LFA, check out the Bumper To
Bumper episode on it. (engine revving) It may not be the most
sexy solution out there, but it's how Toyota has
built up a reputation of reliability, not just in a few models, but across the entire dang brand! The Toyota production system
and the fundamentals of jidoka have been adopted by
other companies as well. Next time you go down to Chipotle, take a look at their assembly process. That's how Toyotas are made. (funky music) Kind of. But Toyota's not going
to make you go into debt because of their guacamole. Seriously, 2.30 for guac? Come on. Principle number two is called kaizen. Kaizen is a Japanese philosophy that promotes change for the better. The idea is that it's always
worth it to change something to make it better, even if
that slows down the process. Now I know that sounds
like it flies directly in the face of what we just talked about, but here's how it works. Any employee, at any level
of the manufacturing process can stop production, if they see an improvement
that can be made or a problem that is
occurring in the assembly. The assembly stops, the
team evaluates the issue, makes the necessary changes,
and then restarts production. At Toyota, no one is going to get punished for stopping production. In fact, they promote what is called just in time production, which basically means if you
finish ahead of schedule, that's time you could have
used to make the car better. Finishing early is a bad
business practice for Toyota. But apparently not for my ex. Western manufacturers, however, are always driven by
deadlines and units produced. That's how they evaluate
how well a project is going. Companies like Ford want to know if you can have it done on time. (buzzer) Companies like Toyota want to know if you can have it done well. (sparkle) In the mid-2000s, the Ford
pickup truck assembly line in Dearborn, Michigan would
stop an average of twice a week. At the Toyota plant in Kentucky, employees would stop the production line 2,000 times a week. At Donut, we also use
a little bit of kaizen, which is why no matter how early we finish one of these videos, we're still tweaking it the
night before it comes out. But kaizen isn't just a way
to slow down the process for the sake of it. After years and years
of practicing kaizen, Toyota has found that many
problems with assembly are caught long before
the car goes to market. When employees have the freedom
to raise concerns, they do. The team can work out the
best solution together, and as employees get more
comfortable with that, they solve problems earlier
and earlier in the process, therefore saving money
on retrofits and recalls. For most other manufacturers, if a problem with spotted
on the assembly line, they'll tack on a fix
after the car is done, but the underlying problem is still there. Have you ever heard your dad say, "Measure twice, cut once"? That's kaizen in a nutshell. Except they're measuring,
like seven times. It's a little neurotic. But, worse. Kaizen has proven to be
such an effective mentality that companies like GM and Ford are now trying to integrate it into their own production lines. Toyota have also gotten
companies like Subaru and BMW to implement kaizen into
their production lines. And that's a big part of why
we see those collaborations in the Supra and the 86. But there's another reason
that Toyota is having other companies build their sports cars. And it's something that
might change very soon. While all this management
philosophy stuff is interesting, it does result in one major drawback. Toyota has never been known for
chasing performance numbers. While their most popular sports
cars like the Hachi-Roku, the Celica and the MR2
are very fun to drive, nobody would argue they're fast. Even the great Mark 4 Supra, which is famous for being able
to hold tons of horsepower, did not have great performance stock. That's not to say that
there aren't fast Toyotas. I mean, they have a whole
racing department, TRD, and now GR, which is Gazoo Racing, that make very fast, very
successful racecars and trucks. But most of the 8.8 million
vehicles produced last year would not be considered fast. This is thanks to the idea of
practicality over performance. Function comes first. Fast comes second. Toyotas are built for
long-term cheap ownership and fuel economy. In fact, Toyota is so dedicated to this that many tuners will
know that Toyota ECUs are some of the toughest ones to tune for. On top of that, Toyota is
very slow to implement changes to their engineering. They make small changes over time, small steps to make their
already existing engines even better. And that makes sense, because
why mess with a good thing? Take the iconic 22R-E engine, for example. Toyota produced these inline
four bangers from 1981 all the way to 1997, with
barely any revisions. This engine is famously bulletproof and can be found in
vehicles like the 4Runner, the Hilux Surf, and one of
my favorites, the Celica GTS. This 2.4 liter four cylinder
was actually sharing podiums with the six cylinder BMWs in the 80s. Can you think of, like, an
American four cylinder engine from that era that can say the same? Like, there's the Iron Duke, and that wasn't famous, it was infamous. Ugh. It's not uncommon to see 22R-Es with 300, 400,000 miles on the clock. And that's thanks to a few things. One being that Toyota made
them incredibly robust. They're over-engineered,
chunky iron block boys, and they don't rev very high. The 22R-E has a rev line of 5,700 RPM, which is unusually low for
a four cylinder engine. It's possible that the ceiling was higher, but the reduced rev line means
exponentially less stress on the engine over the course of its life, increasing its lifespan. They just don't make that
much power, that's all. But that falls in line
with Toyota's philosophy of practicality over performance. And that's one of the reasons
they have such diehard fans, is this incredible longevity. I mean, some families
like Joey's, for example, only buy Toyotas. I mean, Joey has like four of them. He just bought another 4Runner. I don't know where he's keeping them. But it's entirely possible
to get power and reliability because Toyota is just that smart. The fourth gen 4Runner's
V8 option, the 2UZ-FE is a super durable iron block engine that can also be found in a
Land Cruiser, Lexus GX 470, the Tundra and the Sequoia. They made such a good engine. They're just like, screw it, let's put it in all of our cars. The most power puts out from the factory is 324 foot pounds of
torque, and 282 horsepower. That's enough to get
you over rough terrain, but they're not exactly bragging numbers. But you want to know what is brag-worthy? Taking your business beyond cars. In January of this year, Toyota announced they'd
be taking their principles of jidoka and kaizen to the next level, and build not just cars,
but an entire city. Now I've, look, I've mentioned this thing
before on past episodes, but now I have an excuse
to actually get into it. They're calling it the Woven City, and it will sit at the base
of the tranquil Mount Fuji, the coolest mountain to
be named after an apple. There aren't a lot of
details at this point, but the idea is to have an entire city powered by next generation tech, to see how those technologies
hold up in the real world. The Woven City isn't some giant lab, where if it doesn't work,
that people can go home. It's going to be an actual
city where real people live. And they'll have to contend with any flaws in the infrastructure. It sounds daunting, but how else are you going
to see if hydrogen fuel cells are an actually viable renewable resource? How are you going to
fine-tune autonomous vehicles to make roads safer? How else can you make sure
that AI-driven smart homes aren't a totally terrible idea that will only escalate the
world's surveillance state and drive us down the
inevitable path of dystopia? These are the questions
that need answering. I truly wish the Woven City the best. It'll be interesting to see how the tenets of jidoka and kaizen
hold up to city planning. Life is not a product, so I'm not sure how tools
meant for production will affect the quality of living. But if the infrastructure is
as reliable as their cars, then Toyota will probably pull it off. All right, so autonomous
cars and hydrogen fuel cells aren't super sexy, but don't think for a second that Toyota is going to be content with being seen as humdrum. You had another think coming, pal. The new boss over at Toyota got onstage at the Detroit Auto Show and said, "No more boring cars." At first, we all just thought he meant the Camry would get side skirts
and a spoiler, which it did. But then we started to
see some other stuff, some cooler stuff. Toyota built a sporty hot
hatch from the ground up. They call it the GR Yaris. This car is not practicality
over performance. It's got the highest specific
output of any Toyota ever. Specific output refers
to horsepower per liter of engine displacement. So the GR Yaris with 1.6 liter engine and a specific output of 167.5 horsepower means that it makes 268 horsepower. The engine is powerful and brand new. The all-wheel drive
system is also brand-new. And if the principles of jidoka and kaizen have been applied to
this little hatchback, it'll last long enough for
me to eventually import one, 'cause it's not coming to America. But I heard they might put
the drive train in a Corolla, so there's some, there's some hope. So here's my theory, okay? Toyota has spent so much
making their cars reliable, that it's become ingrained in their engineering and practices. And now, now that they've got that down, they're starting to chase performance. A decade ago, they made
boring economy cars for people who just needed to get from A to B. Heck, they made the Prius. But in the last few years,
they've won Le Mans twice, and won the WRC. And yes, you've got to
be fast to win trophies. But you've got to be reliable too. If you don't already know, we have a podcast called Past Gas that's available everywhere
you get your podcasts, as well as YouTube. We also have a membership program called the Donut Underground,
you get behind-the-scenes videos, you get access to a
really cool Discord channel. The community is super nice, and we pop in there every now and then. We're not putting any
videos behind a paywall. Just, this is just for
like the hardcore fans. Check it out, follow Donut on all social
media if you haven't already. Follow me at Nolan J Sykes. Be kind, see you next time.
Give us the diesel Toyota hilux and I will be happy.
I feel like modern Toyotas are not as good. When we sold my boyfriend’s small Toyota pickup it was over 400,000 miles. It still ran and we see it around town every now and then. My mom drove her 90s Toyota Camry across the country almost every year she had it in heat and over mountains. The motor went out at over 200,000 but could have been repaired if my parents had not decided to get a new car. She cried when they sold that car.
The mid 2000s Carolla she has is not terrible but it has had issue and I don’t see it going strong at over 200,000 miles. It’s also been driven much more gently that the other 2 were.
The old tundra was a lengthened Tacoma frame with Hilux running gear.
Three Toyotas are excellent cars that last forever. Every other car they make is junk. I've worked on them. I've seen the insides.