NAGOYA —
Toyota Motor Corp Executive Vice President Shinichi Sasaki on Tuesday offered an apology to customers for a massive recall that could reach up to 4.45 million vehicles worldwide over potentially defective accelerator pedals.

But the executive in charge of quality and customer service operations defended the widely criticized delay in Toyota’s response to address the problems as a result of the company putting its customers first.

While the automaker had been mostly mum about the impact of the extensive recall, Sasaki admitted Toyota is ‘‘very concerned’’ about meeting its recently announced global sales target for 2010 with its reputation for quality deeply tarnished by a spate of safety issues dogging the world’s largest automaker.

‘‘We sincerely apologize for causing concern to our Toyota customers worldwide,’’ Sasaki said at a news conference in Nagoya.

‘‘We put priority on notifying our customers as quickly as possible even if it resulted in confusion among our dealers and the frontline of our production,’’ he said.

He said orders for Toyota vehicles have fallen since the recalls were announced and speculated monthly sales may initially fall bigger than around 20 percent, based on examples from previous recalls which were smaller in size.

On Monday, Toyota announced a remedy for potentially defective accelerator pedals and said it will begin repairing its recalled vehicles in the United States, Canada and Europe. The recall was first announced in the United States on Jan 21.

The company on Feb. 8 will resume suspended production of the recalled eight models in five plants in North America.

While Sasaki said he did not know the impact of the recall on the company’s earnings, he was not considering earnings or costs when compiling a remedy and was instructed by Toyota President Akio Toyoda to put customers first.

Details on the impact on Toyota’s business may be further revealed when the company announces its earnings for the April to December period on Thursday.

The automaker, which had been reticent about discussing the recall issue openly, is launching an aggressive campaign to repair its damaged reputation with newspaper ads, appearances on television, and press conferences by company executives excluding Toyoda.

In the police reports, it says police officers detected that the front wheels of the vehicle dug into the snow bank as if the accelerator was stuck.

"Toyota has this accelerator problem we've all heard about," Wozniak said. "Well, I have many models of Prius that got recalled, but I have a new model that didn't get recalled. This new model has an accelerator that goes wild but only under certain conditions of cruise control. And I can repeat it over and over and over again--safely."
"This is software. It's not a bad accelerator pedal. It's very scary, but luckily for me I can hit the brakes," he said.

The U.S. Department of Transportation has now said it will look into electrical issues as a possible source for the unintended acceleration of Toyota products. Toyota recently recalled 2.3 million cars and trucks due to pedals that stick or are slow to return and has since announced a fix for the problem that it says is mechanical, not electronic.

According to an unnamed Transportation official, interviewed by Automotive News, the Federal government’s investigation into the pedal issue will include a look at Toyota’s electronics.

Shinichi Sasaki, Toyota’s to man in charge of quality today repeated Toyota’s position that the problem was mechanical and not electronic. The maker of the supposedly faulty pedal, CTS Corp, has said that it does not believe the problem originates with its product.

The accelerator pedal recall affects 2.3 million vehicles in North America, including eight models: 2009-2010 RAV4, 2009-2010 Corolla, 2009-2010 Matrix, 2005-2010 Avalon, 2007-2010 Camry, 2010 Highlander, 2007-2010 Tundra and 2008-2010 Sequoia.

This news come on the day that Toyota launched an advertising blitz in U.S. newspapers, with Toyota U.S.A. president Jim Lentz quotes as saying, “We have launched a comprehensive plan to permanently fix the vehicles we’ve recalled because in rare instances, accelerator pedals can, over time, become slow to release or get stuck. We know what’s causing this and what we have to do to fix it.”

Apparently the Feds aren’t so sure.

Pedal problem was known in '07, exec says

NAGOYA (Kyodo) A Toyota Motor Corp. executive said Tuesday that the company was aware of problems with gas pedal systems as early as in 2007 but could not spot the exact defect and failed to recall products immediately.



Toyota received consumer complaints in 2007 that the gas pedal in its Tundra pickup sometimes wouldn't return quickly when released, Shinichi Sasaki, Toyota's executive vice president in charge of quality and customer service operations, said at a news conference.

Toyota replaced the material of some parts of the gas pedal system, but it did not find the defect that led Toyota to recall millions of cars earlier this month, he said.

Toyota was ultimately prodded by U.S. regulators late last year to make a swift decision on implementing the recalls.

Sasaki denied that the automaker's electronic throttle system was behind the trouble. The system, known as ETCS-i, is at the center of class-action lawsuits involving owners of Toyota vehicles in the United States and Canada.

According to Sasaki, gas pedals in the vehicles subject to the recall, including the Tundra, might not return to their original position quickly if moisture builds up on the root part of the pedal.

On Monday, Toyota announced a remedy for the faulty accelerator pedals and said it will begin repairing the recalled vehicles in the United States, Canada and Europe by inserting a steel reinforcement bar. It will also resume suspended production of the eight recalled models in five plants in North America next Monday.

"We put priority on notifying our customers as quickly as possible even if this resulted in confusion among our dealers and the frontline of our production," Sasaki said. "As a result, there was a time lag in the announcements of the remedy measures and the recall."

Toyota's president apologizes for massive global recalls


Saturday 06th February, 07:19 AM JST

TOKYO —
Toyota Motor Corp President Akio Toyoda apologized Friday for massive global recalls of its top-selling models in an official news conference to address a spate of safety troubles that has pounded the reputation of the world’s biggest automaker.

‘‘I sincerely apologize for causing concern to many of our customers over recalls on multiple models in multiple regions,’’ Toyoda said in a news conference in Nagoya, which was also broadcast live in Tokyo.

But despite the rushed emergency press conference held late in the evening, the automaker said it has not yet reached a conclusion on how to respond to complaints over brake problems involving its new Prius hybrid, in the latest safety crisis to plague Toyota.

‘‘Believe me, Toyota’s cars are safe,’’ Toyoda said in broken English, admitting the company is facing a ‘‘crisis situation.’‘

Toyoda said he has instructed his employees to respond quickly to the Prius issue. He added the company will set up a committee to examine the cause for the recent recalls and ask external experts to analyze its quality management system.

The automaker has been in talks with both Japanese and U.S. regulators as it nears its decision on whether to carry out a voluntary repair or go one step further with a mandatory recall due to spreading concerns among consumers.

Toyota has been facing closer scrutiny on the Prius issue as it came to light following two previous recalls over faulty accelerator pedals and loose floor mats that can cause the gas pedals to stick.

Skepticism has been growing both abroad and at home especially after the company did not disclose the brake problems even after it learned of the complaints from autumn last year.

In a rare open criticism of the automaker from within the Japanese government, transport minister Seiji Maehara on Friday said Toyota’s response to the Prius issue ‘‘lacked customer focus.’‘

Subject to the possible recall is the 2010 Toyota Prius hybrid, which was rolled out in May and remained a top-seller in January in Japan. The automaker has sold about 170,000 units in Japan and about 100,000 units in the United States.

On Friday, Toyota sent an official in charge of technology to the ministry of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism and is believed to have given a detailed explanation of the complex electronic brake system installed in the Prius, which runs on both an electric motor and gasoline engine.

The company plans to fix the problem by improving the software for the antilock brake system, the part that prevents the wheels from slipping when slamming on the brakes. In Japan, Toyota has already started sending the redesigned computer software to dealers so they can implement the remedy.

The recall, if decided, is likely to spread worldwide because Toyota has sold about 310,000 units of the latest Prius model in around 60 countries, including Japan and the United States, as of the end of 2009. The automaker plans to take similar measures in the affected areas.

The company is also currently investigating if there are any similar complaints involving other hybrid models, such as the luxury Lexus HS250h sedan and the hybrid-only compact sedan, the Sai, which employ the same brake system as the Prius.

Toyota officials have said it has already changed the computer software for the newly produced models since late January, and these will not be subject to the recall.

Officials currently see the antilock brake system as the cause of brakes temporarily not working on bumpy or slippery roads.

In a briefing Thursday on the Prius problem, Hiroyuki Yokoyama, Toyota’s managing officer for quality and customer service, said users might experience a time lag before the brakes kick in but the problem can usually be solved by stepping harder on the brake pedal.

The automaker plans to provide the improved computer software to customers through its dealers once it irons out details on carrying out a mandatory recall or voluntary repairs. The process itself is expected to be completed in half an hour or so once the user has taken the car to a dealer.

As of Friday, 93 Prius complaints have been reported to the Japanese transport ministry, including five property damage accidents.

On Thursday, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it has launched a formal investigation into the Prius after receiving 124 complaints from consumers about the gas-electric hybrid, including four reports of crashes.

The Japanese transport ministry is also examining if there were any problems with Toyota’s response to the complaints, although the automaker denies any coverup.

The probe on the Prius came after Toyota carried out a safety recall of some 5.55 million vehicles in the United States and Canada in November to fix gas pedals getting stuck under loose floor mats and causing sudden acceleration.

A more recent recall in January over faulty accelerator pedals, involving models such as the popular Camry and Corolla, has quickly spilled over from North America to Europe, China, Latin America and other parts of the world.

Japanese ask: Is U.S. backlash on Toyota a ploy to boost American auto producers?
TOKYO —
Despite the criticism of Toyota over car safety, Japanese citizens still largely view the world’s largest automaker with pride—so much so that some people here wonder whether pressure on Toyota in the U.S. is a ploy to boost American auto producers and undermine Japan Inc.

“I think the Americans are going overboard,” said Hiroyuki Komiya, 40, a Tokyo restaurant employee. “Maybe it’s Japan-bashing because the trouble at Toyota, which has the world’s No. 1 share, is a big opportunity for its American rivals.”

That notion may seem far-fetched to the millions of Toyota owners in the United States and around the world whose confidence in the company has made it the world leader—and are now simply worried about the safety of their cars.

Some in Japan have criticized Toyota as slow to respond to the safety problems and people acknowledge that the brand—and Japan’s image—has taken a hit. But the prevailing mood is that Toyota—the flagship of Japan Inc—has been unfairly singled out.

“Toyota is so big and famous, so it’s an easy target,” said Masahiro Yasunaga, a 24-year-old tech company employee. “Its brand image has been hurt, but the media reports are too much.”

Others in Japan say Toyota’s sheer size made it hard to respond quickly to the crisis, which has involved recalling more than 7 million cars in the U.S., Europe and China over a sticky accelerator and floor mats that can get caught in the gas pedal.

“It’s typical of a huge corporation, where everything had to go through a lengthy process,” said Yumi Sato, 32, an operator of a customer call center. “I kind of sympathize with Toyota.”