Toyota Sorry For Slow Defect Response
6:29pm UK, Tuesday February 23, 2010
Toyota’s top US executive has apologised for the company’s slow response to safety concerns – but denied electronic flaws were behind the reported defects.
Toyota executive James Lentz stated the firm had learned from its mistakes
“Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our good faith efforts,” James Lentz stated in a statement for the US congressional committee investigating Toyota’s recall crisis.
However, he added that “extensive testing” of electronic throttle systems had “never found a malfunction” that could cause failures like those reported.
Millions of vehicles have been recalled over sudden acceleration problems that have been blamed for about 30 US deaths.
“We’ve been hearing some fairly tearful testimony from drivers including one woman who described how her automobile ended up reversing at 100mph down a freeway,” stated Sky’s Washington correspondent Robert Nisbet.
“What we are seeing, to use the American expression, is Congress is holding Toyota’s feet to the fire.”
On Wednesday Toyota president Akio Toyoda is due to appear before the same committee, where he will promise to do “much better” on safety.
Meanwhile, Toyota has challenged US broadcaster ABC to let it see a automobile used in a news report that appeared to replicate a sudden acceleration fault.
Dr Gilbert in the Toyota automobile on Brian Ross Investigates report, ABC News
In the damning report, Dr Dave Gilbert, a professor in automobile technology, induces a short circuit in a Toyota Avalon.
It generates a sudden boost of power and gives the driver the sensation that the brakes do not work – but after the automobile has stopped, no error codes are reported by the onboard computer.
“I am dead serious about this. This is something that should not happen,” Dr Gilbert tells reporter Brian Ross.
Responding to the report, Toyota stated it had spoken to the professor about his concerns – but that these had featured a different automobile and a different problem – which would “not cause unintended acceleration”.
“Toyota was surprised to learn that Mr. Gilbert appears now to be making a different claim regarding the electronic throttle control system and in a automobile other than as described to Toyota last week,” the carmaker said.
“Although it is difficult to tell from the footage used in the story, Mr. Gilbert appears to be introducing a different external and artificial method to manipulate the throttle.
“In order to set the record straight, Toyota welcomes the opportunity to evaluate the Toyota Avalon shown in today’s story and the method by which Mr. Gilbert allegedly caused the automobile to accelerate unintentionally.”
Toyota added: “We welcome the attendance of ABC News at any such evaluation of this automobile and Mr. Gilbert’s testing.”
The US broadcaster states it has “aggressively” covered the Toyota recall story and recently claimed Toyota dealers had pulled their adverts on ABC’s local channels.
The Japanese carmaker has recalled more than 8.5 million vehicles worldwide in recent months over fears of sticky accelerator pedals, pedals that can be trapped under loose floor mats and a brake system fault in its hybrid models.
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Submited at Wednesday, February 24th, 2010 at 12:00 am on Business by steve
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