USA: Senators question Toyota executives about acceleration concerns

Record ID: 402308

  • Title: USA: Senators question Toyota executives about acceleration concerns
  • Date: 3rd March 2010
  • Summary: WASHINGTON D.C., UNITED STATES (MARCH 2, 2010) (UNRESTRICTED POOL) (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) SHINICHI SASAKI EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT FOR TOYOTA MOTORS SAYING "It is purely the decision of the individual who are very aware of the market situation and also someone who is also very familiar with the technical content of this matter and this would be reported to the manager of
  • Embargoed: 18th March 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Industry,Transport
  • Reuters ID: LVADFEXB4W9SEDOB3RBT7UFK9LWZ
  • Story Text: Senators on Tuesday (March 2) had harsh words for both U.S. safety regulators and Toyota, which has recalled more than 8.5 million vehicles worldwide in recent months for the unintended acceleration in various models and braking problems in its Prius hybrid.
    "It seems like these were wins for Toyota but arguably losses for American customers," Sen. Amy Klobuchar said of an internal Toyota memo released to the media.
    "I am very embarrassed," Toyota North America's current president, Yoshi Inaba said of the memo.
    "First of all, this tone is so inconsistent with our company's guiding principles and with my beliefs."
    Authorities are investigating 47 other crash deaths over the past decade associated with complaints of alleged unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles, the U.S. Department of Transportation said.
    Inaba reiterated the company's apology for losing customer focus during its period of rapid global growth.
    Two major recalls over the past five months have focused on mechanical explanations for acceleration problems, including loose floor mats that can jam the the accelerator and "sticky" accelerator pedals that do not spring back as designed.
    Shinichi Sasaki, the Toyota Motors Executive Vice President addressed a memo in which Toyota executives discuss a savings of roughly a 100 million dollars for not announcing a recall for known problems.
    "There is never a discussion the money amount, how much we would save or not save if we had done this or not have that," Sasaki Until Toyota's first big recall in October, NHTSA had taken only modest action to address rising consumer complaints of unintended acceleration in Toyota and Lexus vehicles.
    Lawmakers, safety advocates and consumers have questioned whether enough attention has been paid to the possibility that electronic throttle glitches are behind at least some of Toyota's problems with unintended acceleration since 2002.
    Toyota announced it will retrofit a brake override into a range of its vehicles as an additional measure, as well as incorporating the feature into new vehicles.
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