Toyota’s Problems Mount As A Corolla Recall Looms
Posted February 17, 2010 11:11 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Battered Japanese carmaker Toyota is considering a recall of its Corolla, the world’s best-selling vehicle.
After recalling more than 8.5 million vehicles globally over the past four months due to sticking gas pedals, accelerator problems and faulty brake programming, the problem this time seems to be power steering. The company’s quality control executive Shinichi Sasaki says drivers may feel as though they’re losing control over steering, but it’s not clear why. He also says the company has only received about 80 complaints regarding the 2009 and 2010 Corollas.
Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda is coming under fire after he announced he has no plans to attend a U.S. Congressional hearing into the carmaker’s safety recalls.
Toyoda says he is entrusting the job to his U.S. based executives, and that they are more familiar with the U.S. situation. He said he plans to focus his time on improving quality across the globe, and went on to promise a brake-override system in all future models worldwide to add a safety measure against accelerator glitches.
Certainly criticism of the company is growing, with reports of deaths in deaths in the U.S. connected to the sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles have jumped in recent weeks, with the alleged death toll reaching 34 since 2000, according to new consumer data from the U.S. government.
Toyota took out numerous full-page ads in newspapers across Japan apologizing for recall in the country. “We apologize from the bottom of our hearts for the great inconvenience and worries that we have caused you all” the ads say.
With files from The Associated Press
