Kent Rice, vice president of Toyota Motor Co.’s group quality division, will retire from the automaker effective Jan. 2, 2025, after a career spanning more than 33 years in various roles, the company announced in a Nov. 20 press release.
Rice is responsible for developing, implementing and managing quality systems and policies within Toyota’s North American operations. Prior to his current position, Rice was vice president of quality at the former Toyota Engineering and Manufacturing of America in Kentucky.
Kent Rice has worked for Toyota Motor Co. for more than 33 years.
Courtesy of Toyota Motor North America
Rice joined Toyota in 1991, starting as a quality engineer. His other roles in his more than three-decade career include being a quality assurance manager at a North American job shop and general manager of quality control at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada. Rice also held positions as deputy general manager of Lexus Assembly in Canada and was responsible for preparations for Toyota Canada to build the first Lexus model outside Japan.
Succeeding Rice is Tom Trisdale, Toyota’s current vice president for quality assurance and verification. Trisdale will report to Chris Nielsen, EVP of product support and quality manager for Toyota Motor North America.
Toyota has received high vehicle quality ratings over the years and its vehicles are considered among the most reliable. Earlier this year, J.D. Power ranked Lexus first and Toyota second on its list of brands with the fewest reported problems. 2024 Vehicle Reliability Study. The study focused on 184 problem areas across nine major vehicle categories and was based on more than 30,000 responses from owners of 2021 vehicles after three years of ownership.