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Pressure mounts on Toyota head to face US Congress
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Pressure mounts on Toyota head to face US Congress
AFP - Thursday, February 11
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Pressure mounts on Toyota head to face US Congress
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TOKYO (AFP) - – Toyota will suspend production from this weekend of two hybrid vehicles in Japan, as the chief of the beleaguered auto maker faces further pressure to explain its mass safety recalls to the US Congress.
The world's biggest auto company has recalled more than eight million vehicles worldwide over faulty accelerator and brake systems in a spiralling public relations nightmare for one of Japan's greatest corporate icons.
The recall covers models with "sticky accelerators" that cause cars to race out of control, a defect blamed for several deadly high-speed crashes, and has widened to brake system problems in the Prius and other hybrid models.
In the United States, where Toyota faces a host of class action lawsuits, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood vowed Wednesday to hold Toyota's "feet to the fire," speaking on ABC's Good Morning America.
The top Republican on a Congressional committee, Representative Darrell Issa, urged company president Akio Toyoda to explain the company's handling of the defect crisis to lawmakers and consumers at a hearing later this month.
"I would think that Mr Toyoda would be receptive to the opportunity to meet with policymakers, and there certainly is widespread interest from Capitol Hill and the American people to hear directly from him," Issa said in a statement.
Toyota Motor Corp. has said it is not aware of any plans for Toyoda, the grandson of the company's founder, to face the hearings, which have been delayed until February 24 by snowstorms battering Washington.
Japan's public broadcaster NHK and the Nikkei business daily reported Thursday that Toyoda, who last week publicly apologised for the crisis, may delay his US trip until early March because of the snowstorms.
Toyoda was due to hold talks with US government officials and visit major dealerships to explain how his company is going ahead with repairs and to regain trust in the safety of its cars, the Nikkei said.
In Japan, mechanics using laptop-style devices have started fixing the software glitch blamed for braking delays in Toyota's latest Prius petrol-electric vehicle, days after it recalled over 400,000 hybrids worldwide. Related article: Toyota cautiously launches new model
Toyota has said it has fixed the problem in new Prius cars rolling off production lines, but announced late Wednesday it would suspend production from this weekend of the other hybrid models, the Lexus HS250h and Sai sedans.
"Once we decide exactly when we can make changes, we will decide when to resume production," a company official said. "We have to adjust our production because we cannot sell the models even if we make them."
At the Chicago auto show, Toyota's top US salesman Bob Carter said a software upgrade for the Prius arrived Tuesday at American dealerships, which were also fixing the accelerator problems on 50,000 vehicles a day.
Dealers had also been fixing the 120,000 or so cars on their lots that were affected by the recall, and the limited sales of the eight brands affected had resumed, he said, braving a phalanx of journalists.
In Japan, a contrite Toyota has scaled down its promotional campaigns and suspended advertising for the affected Sai and Lexus models, after earlier this week declining a government award for its fuel-efficient hybrids.
The company has also cancelled an event next Monday for its new Passo model "to refrain from a glitzy performance at this time," an unnamed company spokesman said according to the Asahi Shimbun daily.
The car safety crisis has come at a bad time for the Japanese auto sector, a top export earner in the world's number two economy which is only just recovering from its worst post-war recession.
The nation's second-largest car maker, Honda, also drew unwanted headlines Wednesday when it recalled more than 400,000 vehicles to fix airbags that it said can explode and spray out potentially deadly metal shards.
Honda's recall, the third related to the defect since late 2008, includes top-selling Accord and Civic cars sold in the United States and Canada as well as models marketed in Japan, Mexico, Taiwan and Australia.
Toyota, meanwhile, faces more potential trouble after US authorities said they may investigate some models of its best-selling Corolla after receiving more than 80 complaints that its steering veers off-centre at high speeds.
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