Did the Camry Kill a Toyota Engineer?

By Marty Padgett July 9th, 2008

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A Toyota engineer who died in 2006 was killed by too much work, a labor organization in Japan has ruled.

The Associated Press reports that in 2006, an Toyota vehicle engineer died of ischemic heart disease. (The engineer's name was not reported at the family's request.) The disease, his family argued, was brought on by excessive work--as much as 80 hours of overtime a month at the worker's office in Toyota City.

The news agency reports the engineer worked nights and weekends to get a vital car ready for the 2006 North American International Auto Show in Detroit--the same show that saw the world debut of the latest Toyota Camry as well as the new Lexus LS sedan. The 45-year-old had been working on developing the Camry Hybrid for the show, but died before the car made its way to Cobo Hall.

The ruling allows the man's family to collect work benefits.

READ MORE: AP Wire Stories

Posted in : Industry News, Toyota |

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9 Responses to “Did the Camry Kill a Toyota Engineer?”

Didn’t the US pass Japan early in the decade in terms of hour worked per year by white collar employees?

Don’t know - any sources?

its a japanese thing its cultural like feudal man

Trust me, it is not just a Japanese thing. Many employees in high-tech Silicon Valley put in much overtime without extra pay to get a software in the market.

From my own experience, working in a bank’s appraisal department, I and other employees had put worked from 8:30 am to 10:00 pm to get the work done due to severe understaffing and to earned a (forced upon) bonus system. Some of my former employees even had their wives come into the bank’s office to type reports in the evenings and weekends. And this is about 10 to 12 years ago here in the USA.

Similar case of employee abuse in third world countries. Aside from working long hours in an unsafe work area, they are not also properly compensated.

Actually my source was a recent Edition of Trivial Pursuit. So, not the most airtight of sources.

What I don’t understand is why kill yourself or such a boring car.

Only 80 hours a month? Do that as a norm, think that most people do. That’s only 20 hours a week. Maybe the stress of his job was great, reguardless of the amount of OT worked?

Life’s too short. It’s OK to occasionally work long hours. But if you have to do it on a regular basis and are not compensated for it, you better find another job or face the fate of the Japanese Toyota Engineer.