Toyota's President Gets Called On The Capter By The Chinese

Or is he just being called on the floor mats?

Toyota's president to visit China today

Toyota President Akio Toyoda will speak today in China about his company's quality problems, seeking to boost confidence and ease consumer worries in the world's biggest auto market.

Toyoda, who testified at a U.S. Congressional hearing last week about the spate of global recalls plaguing Toyota Motor Corp., will speak to reporters at a Beijing hotel, company spokeswoman Ririko Takeuchi said.

The number of vehicles being recalled in China is small compared with the 8.5 million vehicles recalled worldwide since October for sticky gas pedals, faulty floor mats and glitches in braking software.

That China is taking the Japanese to task for automobile quality is, if not the definition of ironic, given the simply amazing quality of Chinese automobiles and other consumer goods, then you can see it from here.

Chinese Toy Manufacturers Just Don't Get It

In an effort to deal with their dangerous use of lead in children's toys, the Chinese toy manufacturers decided to responsibly replace it.

With a substance that is even more harmful.

Cadmium.

The Detroit News: U.S. warns about cadmium

Federal and state watchdogs opened a new front Monday in the campaign to keep poisons out of Chinese imports, launching inquiries into high levels of cadmium in children's jewelry while Wal-Mart pulled many suspect items from its store shelves.

A day after the Associated Press documented the contamination in an investigative report, the top U.S. consumer safety regulator warned Asian manufacturers not to substitute other toxins for lead in children's charm bracelets and pendants.

Regulators and lawmakers reacted swiftly to the AP report, which found that some Chinese manufacturers have been using cadmium, sometimes at extraordinarily high levels. Congress clamped down on lead in those products in 2008, but cadmium is even more harmful.

. . .

Cadmium, which is known to cause cancer, is a soft, whitish metal that occurs naturally in soil. It's perhaps best known as half of rechargeable nickel-cadmium batteries, but also is used in pigments, electroplating and plastic.

Cadmium is attractive to Chinese manufacturers because it is cheap and easy to work with. But, like lead, it can hinder brain development in the very young.

There's pretty clearly a reality disconnect in the manufacturing industry over there, and apparently no regard for end user safety.

Up next, what will the Chinese replace the Cadmium with - maybe Plutonium for an extra sparkle? After all it is a silvery colored metal and gives the kids a happy glow...