Toyota chief struggles to limit damage from safety recalls (Feature)

By Chris Cermak Feb 25, 2010, 2:44 GMT

Washington - The outrage over Toyota's safety recalls illustrates how far the Japanese carmaker had come in the US: even politicians now blasting the company admit that they, too, drive Toyotas instead of American brands.

'I switched to Toyota very reluctantly because I wanted to buy an American car,' said Eleanor Holmes-Norton, Washington's non-voting representative in Congress. 'I was relying on this extraordinary reputation for quality and safety that had been built over generations.'

Holmes-Norton drives a hybrid version of the popular Toyota Camry. Like any ordinary consumer, she had one question for Toyota's President Akio Toyoda: 'Is there any chance that the Camry hybrid will be recalled?'

Toyoda was given a rough ride when he testified before the US Congress for more than four hours on Wednesday, having travelled from Japan in a bid to salvage the reputation of a company that has been the pride of Japan's manufacturing sector for decades.

The congressional hearings into Toyota, which began Tuesday and will continue Thursday, have been intensely personal. Fe Lastrella lost four family members in an August car accident in San Diego that first focused attention on the runaway Toyotas. She tearfully recounted how the accident 'devastated our family.'

Toyoda said he was 'deeply sorry' for the lives lost. He faced a steady stream of US legislators accusing his company of ignoring continuing problems with its vehicles and for years neglecting the safety concerns of its consumers.

'I don't think Toyota has been forthcoming,' said Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich. 'They seem to have blinders on.'

Perhaps there is a hint of jealousy: Toyota overtook US manufacturer General Motors in 2008 as the world's largest carmaker. In 2009 it was the second most popular brand in the United States.

There is pride on the line for Japan as well. Congressman Paul Kanjorski argued that Toyota's recall debacle had shaken the belief of US consumers in the quality of all Japanese manufacturing.

'We had a great deal of faith in something that was stamped 'Made in Japan,'' Kanjorski told Toyoda. 'You injured that thought process in the American public.'

Toyota has recalled more than 8 million vehicles in the last few months over problems of unintended acceleration, as well as faulty brakes in its hybrid Prius model. US regulators have linked the acceleration problem to 34 deaths over the last few years.

The runaway Toyotas were first blamed on floor mats getting caught in the accelerator pedal. Toyota later extended the recalls to 'sticking' accelerator pedals.

Toyoda said he was 'absolutely confident' that his company's engineers had fixes in place and had solved the mechanical problems with Toyota's faulty vehicles, which include models of such popular worldwide brands as the Camry and Corolla.

US lawmakers were unconvinced that mechanical issues are solely to blame. They pointed instead to possible electronic failures - specifically in the electronic throttle control (ETC) system - in Toyota's vehicles.

Toyoda said that internal tests had found no faults with the ETC and said he was willing to submit to any external scrutiny. US regulators are investigating and have said the electronics issue could well extend to many other carmakers.

'We are going to do a comprehensive, complete review on the electronics,' Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said.

The intense scrutiny on Toyota has led some to question whether the foreign carmaker is being unfairly targeted, perhaps to give Detroit's struggling carmakers a kickstart.

'Do you honestly believe that Toyota is being held to exactly the same standard as General Motors and everybody else?' asked Congressman Jason Chaffetz, a Republican from Utah.

That sentiment was echoed by four US governors with Toyota factories in their states. The governors of Alabama, Kentucky, Indiana and Mississippi suggested the federal government might be influenced by its bail-out of General Motors and Chrysler.

Toyota deserves 'a level and reasonable response from the federal government one that is not tainted by the federal government's financial interest in some of Toyota's competitors,' the governors wrote earlier this month.

Either way, Toyoda, grandson of the company's founder, admitted his company had mishandled the crisis and said he understood there was still a long way to go to restore confidence. Toyota 'lacked the customers' perspective' and may have placed more emphasis on expansion than safety in the last few years, he said.

'You have my personal commitment,' Toyoda said, 'that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to restore the trust of our customers.'