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Toyota must do 'much better' on safety: president
AFP - Tuesday, February 23
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Toyota must do 'much better' on safety: president
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TOKYO (AFP) - – Toyota must do "much better" in responding to safety issues, its president Akio Toyoda said Tuesday, shortly before his appearance at a key hearing of US lawmakers in Washington.
The beleaguered Japanese giant has recalled more than eight million vehicles worldwide and faces a host of US lawsuits linking its defects to more than 30 deaths in class action suits that could cost it billions of dollars.
"I recognize that we must do better -- much better -- in responding to safety issues," Toyoda wrote in the Wall Street Journal a day before he was set to testify before a US congressional committee on the safety crisis. Related article: Toyota hit by US subpoena
Toyoda reiterated that he is "personally leading a company-wide effort to institute more stringent quality control. We've begun a top-to-bottom review of our quality control processes from design to production, sales and service."
The company's president, the grandson of the founder, said "it is clear to me that in recent years we didn't listen as carefully as we should -- or respond as quickly as we must -- to our customers' concerns.
"While we investigated malfunctions in good faith, we focused too narrowly on technical issues without taking full account of how our customers use our vehicles," he wrote.
Toyoda, who assumed his post last June, pledged to take the company "back to basics" and vowed that "Toyota will set a new standard for transparency and speed of response on safety issues.
"All Toyota vehicles bear my name. When cars are damaged, it is as though I am as well."
Toyoda, outlining some key points he is expected to make in Congress testimony, said that the company was now expanding its US field monitoring team and increasing the use of onboard vehicle diagnosis technology.
The company had asked an engineering and scientific consulting firm to analyse its electronic throttle control system -- which connects the gas pedal and engine electronically, not mechanically -- and make its findings public.
Toyota has said the system is not the cause of the "sticky accelerator" defect that has caused some cars to race dangerously out of control.
The company chief also reiterated that Toyota will fit all new vehicles with a brake-override system that will cut engine power when the brake and accelerator pedals are pushed at the same time.
Toyoda -- who has been known as publicity shy but has given three press briefings in less than two weeks as the crisis worsened -- said he looked forward to addressing the US Congress.
"President (Barack) Obama has urged all auto makers to act quickly and decisively when problems are identified," he said.
"I look forward to speaking directly to Congress and the American people tomorrow about the decisive actions Toyota is taking to make things right for our customers by building the safest vehicles in the world."
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