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TORRANCE, Calif. — Toyota is adding six Product Quality Field Offices throughout North America at various points over the next year to go along with the location in the New York region that completed a successful pilot program.

More specifically, Toyota Motor Sales, USA said the Product Quality Field Office program will open up a San Francisco this month, and then will roll out three other U.S. offices during the next year.

Furthermore, Toyota Canada revealed that Product Quality Field Offices will be opened in Toronto and Calgary.

These offices are designed to help boost the automaker's field technical presence and data gather and reporting capabilities in North America. Doing so allows Toyota to improve the way it detects, analyzes and responds to the issues related to quality or consumer concerns that it finds in the field, according to officials. 

Each of the offices is being required to tackle specific issues that have to do with regional, geographical or environmental concerns that are unique to their area. For instance, the New York office is geared toward cold-weather climate concerns — particularly stressing corrosion issues — while the San Francisco office will deal more with issues surrounding hybrids, as these are quite common in California.

As far as the other three offices, Toyota said at the moment it is "evaluating opening additional offices" in Jacksonville, Fla.; Houston and Denver, each for different purposes.

The Jacksonville office would be geared toward heating, ventilation and air conditioning, along with drivability. The purpose of the Houston office would be for trucks and chassis components, while the Denver office would be for researching high-altitude performance and SUV models.

Meanwhile, the purpose of the Toronto and Calgary locations will be for extreme seasonal temperature changes, high road salt usage and unique vehicle operating conditions.

"Everyone at Toyota is working aggressively to understand what our customers are experiencing and to respond quickly to their needs by enhancing our information gathering capabilities," stated Dino Triantafyllos, vice president of the quality division at Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing.

"The expansion of our Product Quality Field Offices initiative is one example of the significant changes we are making across our North American operations to help ensure that we are a quality-focused and responsive organization," Triantafyllos added.

Dealership personnel and regional field staff will be offered technical support by these offices, which will also give Toyota's Swift Market Analysis Response Teams "specialized response" capabilities.

The SMART teams are vital as Toyota responds to unintended acceleration reports from consumers.

"The expansion of the Product Quality Field Office program is the latest milestone in Toyota's North American efforts to implement President Akio Toyoda's six-point action plan to improve global quality," officials noted. "The action plan includes a top-to-bottom review of Toyota's quality assurance processes in all aspects of its global operations including design, manufacturing and aftermarket support."