German Car Forum

Sorry, I just need to post this smiley... ---->


Man designing Camry hybrid works self to death

TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- A Japanese labor bureau has ruled that one of Toyota's top car engineers died from working too many hours, the latest in a string of such findings in a nation where extraordinarily long hours for some employees has long been the norm.

The man who died was aged 45 and had been under severe pressure as the lead engineer in developing a hybrid version of Toyota's blockbuster Camry line, said Mikio Mizuno, the lawyer representing his wife. The man's identity is being withheld at the request of his family, who continue to live in Toyota City where the company is based.

In the two months up to his death, the man averaged more than 80 hours of overtime per month, according to Mizuno.

He regularly worked nights and weekends, was frequently sent abroad and was grappling with shipping a model for the pivotal North American International Auto Show in Detroit when he died of ischemic heart disease in January 2006. The man's daughter found his body at their home the day before he was to leave for the United States.

The ruling was handed down June 30 and will allow his family to collect benefits from his work insurance, Mizuno said Wednesday.

An officer at the Aichi Labor Bureau on Wednesday confirmed the ruling, but declined to comment on the record.

In a statement, Toyota Motor Corp. offered its condolences and said it would work to improve monitoring of the health of its workers.

There is an effort in Japan to cut down on deaths from overwork, known as "karoshi." Such deaths have steadily increased since the Health Ministry first recognized the phenomenon in 1987.

Last year, a court in central Japan ordered the government to pay compensation to Hiroko Uchino, the wife of a Toyota employee who collapsed at work and died at age 30 in 2002. She took the case to court after her application to the local labor bureau for compensation was rejected.


Link: Ruling finds Japanese man died from overwork - CNN.com

It is a tragedy, but I am not surprised by it. As an engineering student I can feel his pain, there were ever only 2 possible outcomes from this situation, the guy would either die from work fatigue, or survived but become a psycho, I guess he can rest in peace now.

Agreed.

This may sound cruel and disrespectful but what I found "amusing" about this was "man works himself to death designing Camry hybrid. It's like the boring design of the car killed him!

So now we can say camry or hybrid can literally kill people.

It did before - the enthusiasts! People who love cars and then are reduced to tears and shocks and nervous breakdowns after riding in a Camry!

A shame that Toyotas styling direction is so bland. I thought the Toyotas from the 1970s and 1980s and early 1990s were quite attractive looking, even the Camry from that era.

Yeah, we had an early 1990s Camry, with polished star spoke alloys and yellow fog lights, the car was in beige or gold, it looked pretty good.

The early 1990s Camry can only be described as handsome/elegant. The Camry of today is BORING (although with the Sport Package it looks decent).

So your saying he was bored to death working on the car?

Have you seen the TRD Aurion ? It is a camry with a supercharged V6, around 221kw or more, I have seen 2 or 3 of them on the road, they do look pretty decent.

Even in a thread relating to the death of an employee at Toyota, you still can't help but take a shot at Toyota..... Christian, you've reached a new low there mate! ...and FYI, it was cruel and disrespectful.

Amazes me how biased some of you are... this is a thread about a guy who has passed away, and you feel it's appropriate to write something "amusing". Pathetic really...

You're completely right, but I am not taking pot shots at Toyota. And yes, it is tragic that this man died from overwork. What I saw here that I thought was "amusing" (notice the "...") was that he was working on a Camry design, which is often considered a very boring car from a styling and driving point of view.

I might sound very anti-Toyota on the forums but I am simply not a fan of them and their overrated products.