Transport committee  The same customer quality groups are responsible for the United States and Canada. The vehicle data in essence is merged as we move to that step. There are unique road conditions in Canada that will give rise to unique Canadian problems. So we first try to isolate those to determine whether there's something that is so unique to Canadian operating conditions that it isn't what is causing the problem.

Transport committee  Mr. Chairman, to be clear about this, the basis for action in Canada came from a field report of a problem with a vehicle. That came to our attention in late October. On that basis, we did what we do with all of the field technical situations that we cannot address in the field: we put those back to quality control in Japan for further investigation and resolution.

Transport committee  As usual, what happens is an interim process. As we get more reports from the field that seem to match the same description, those are added to the reports that are sent to Japan. Each time one of those is triggered, that data is then put back through the system to engineering.

Transport committee  I don't believe we had five complaints at the time of the meeting with Transport Canada. I can check the record regarding the sequence of notification to us. What I was saying was that at the time that we wrapped up our discussion with Transport Canada on floor mats, I was aware of one reported complaint, and we were taking action based on that reported complaint to understand if there was a problem.

Transport committee  If you take your car into the dealership for servicing, and they're not able to fix whatever you're complaining of, whatever you experienced, they will try to identify it and make adjustments to the car to take that problem away. In some cases they're not able to identify what the problem is, or even if there is a problem.

Transport committee  To be clear, although Mr. Tanguay joins us at the table and is responsible for manufacturing at plants here in Ontario, my manufacturer is Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan. I buy all of my vehicles from Toyota Motor Corporation. That is the line of technical responsibility between Toyota Canada and Toyota Motor Corporation.

Transport committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to answer the last question first by saying we have 100% confidence in the remedies we've put in place with respect to both the floor mats and the pedal assembly. Again, I'd be happy, either during the committee or later, to take members through what exactly those remedies are, just by way of demonstration.

Transport committee  No. That was an issue we were investigating and took action on as Toyota Canada.

Transport committee  Mr. Chairman, when you attempt to isolate or identify a problem you go back to the parts maker, particularly if there is patented technology involved, and you work with their engineers in attempting to isolate it. So the issue of identifying the problem and any potential engineering solution go hand in hand.

Transport committee  No. In fact as I mentioned, even in my own presentation, there was a specific Canadian issue with one floor mat that was produced for the Toyota Venza, and we initiated our own unique Canadian recall.

Transport committee  So that's what I'm saying—

Transport committee  Once we have identified a problem, we send it to Japan for review by engineering. They come back to us with their report. As soon as we have that, we trigger.

Transport committee  Yes.

Transport committee  The roadside assistance belongs to the customer, so the call to roadside assistance is what gets the car in. The decision with respect to the vehicle was, right from the outset, if the customer has concern, get them out of the vehicle and put them in a rental car until we can address the pedal.

Transport committee  No. It's typical that in any discussions with Transport Canada we're focused on the specific agenda item at the time, as opposed to going into any of the other technical issues we're investigating at that point. In retrospect, would it have been good to have a dialogue about it?