Bowing to pressure: Toyota chief admits 'we failed'

Published on Friday 5 February 2010 22:06

TOYOTA'S president has unveiled a major overhaul of the world's largest car-maker and admitted the way it dealt with a growing catalogue of faults had worried customers.

The crisis-hit firm, already recalling eight million vehicles over sticking accelerators, is also having to grapple with Prius braking problems and a potential brake fault with a Lexus model.

Last night, Toyota revealed there had been 20 reports of accelerator pedals sticking in the UK over the past six months, which suggests there may have been hundreds across Europe. It had previously said there had been just 26 incidents in Europe, which a spokesman clarified as having happened up to last August.

Akio Toyoda, the grandson of Toyota's founder, yesterday said he regretted the company had failed to put customers first.

He said: "We, the ones supposed to relay to people the attractiveness of automobiles, have, instead, imparted on them worry. I regret this more than anything."

He said a four-point improvement plan would include a check on every aspect of the company, from car design to after-sales service. "Centres of quality excellence" would be established and independent experts drafted in to verify the improvements.

The Japanese firm said it expected to start modifying more than 180,000 vehicles in the UK by the end of next week – there are seven models with potential accelerator problems. Priority will be given to the older vehicles because the problem is caused by wear.

Recall letters will be sent to owners of affected iQ, Aygo, Yaris, Auris, Corolla, Avensis and Verso models within the next few days. Toyota said the modifications would take half an hour to complete.

However, motoring experts warned up to 17,000 cars may never be repaired because some owners would fail to respond to the recall notices. Used Car Expert magazine editor Matthew Tumbridge said this was based on government figures that showed nearly one in ten vehicles were not repaired in recalls. This includes stolen and scrapped cars. Toyota said it had a 93 per cent recall rate.

The firm has yet to decide how to deal with brake problems affecting more than 300,000 of the latest version of its petrol-electric Prius hybrid. They include 6,000 which have been sold in the UK since last August.

There have been nearly 200 complaints in Japan and the United States about drivers experiencing a short delay before the brakes respond on bumpy or slippery roads – a problem that can be fixed with a software programming change.

The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it would assess the scope of the problem and the safety risk to the cars that could be affected.

The Japanese government has urged Toyota to consider a recall.

The problem threatens to inflict an even more serious blow to Toyota's reputation than the accelerator faults because of the Prius's green motoring credentials and its popularity with celebrity owners, such as film star Leonardo DiCaprio.

In a third headache for Toyota, the company is investigating possible brake problems with its Lexus HS250h hybrid and Sai models, neither of which is sold in the UK. They use the same brake system as the Prius.

Analysts said Toyota's overhaul announcement demonstrated the firm was going far further than in previous manufacturers' recalls.

Philippe Houchois, of UBS, said bringing in independent experts was "about as good as you can expect".

He added: "I've seen a lot of recalls, but I don't remember seeing that step of getting an outside expert. That's quite an innovative or aggressive approach to try to solve the problem."

&#149 The French makers of more than 6,000 Peugeot 107s and Citroen C1s sold in the UK with accelerator problems similar to Toyota's are not expected to issue recalls until at least next week.