by Daniel Rook
Toyota's handling of a dangerous gas pedal defect came under fresh scrutiny Monday
Toyota faces fresh questions over recall response
Toyota's handling of dangerous defects in its cars came under fresh scrutiny Monday as the group was reported to be planning a global recall of 300,000 Prius hybrids worldwide over a brake problem.
The world's largest auto maker is expected to tell Tokyo and Washington Tuesday it will pull the latest version of the cars that went on sale from May last year, Japan's Kyodo News agency said late Monday, citing unnamed sources.
"Toyota is also considering filing recalls over other hybrid models, such as the luxury Lexus HS250h sedan and the hybrid-only Sai compact sedan, which employ a similar brake system to the Prius gas-electric hybrid," the agency quoted the sources as saying.
The brake trouble comes on top of recalls of more than eight million vehicles worldwide due to sticking accelerator pedals that have severely tarnished the Japanese giant's reputation for reliability.
The company, whose brand has long been synonymous with safety and quality, faces a class-action lawsuit on behalf of owners in the United States alleging that it hid problems that have led to the rash of recalls.
And Toyota's North America president, Yoshimi Inaba, is set to testify at a US congressional hearing on Wednesday as part of a wider probe by lawmakers.
Toyota has denied it was slow to respond to the unintended acceleration issue but faces new questions about its handling of the episode, after it emerged that the company acted on the problem in Europe about six months ago.
"We did fix this in August last year (in Europe) after first hearing about the issue at the end of 2008," said Toyota spokesman Paul Nolasco.
But it was initially thought that the problem only affected European right-hand drive vehicles, sold mainly in Britain and Ireland, he said.
Related article: Toyota recall raises questions about computerized cars
The trouble was attributed to the car heater blowing hot air on the gas pedal, causing condensation to build up inside and result in sticking, but was not thought to occur in left-hand drive models, he said.
Toyota officials could not immediately confirm whether any action was taken at that point for vehicles already on the road in Europe.
Toyota has come under fire after saying it had fixed the brake system flaw during production of the latest Prius model last month, without warning drivers of those vehicles already on the road.
Toyota is believed to have already notified its dealers in Japan that it will pull all the new model Prius vehicles sold in Japan, amounting to about 170,000 units. The firm will recall about 100,000 Priuses in the US.
Related article: Prius woes may muffle hybrid buzz
The model -- which combines a petrol combustion engine with a battery-powered electric motor -- is Toyota's flagship hybrid car and key to its efforts to stay in pole position in fuel-efficient vehicles.
Toyota, which in 2008 dethroned General Motors as the world's biggest car maker, has seen its brand image badly hurt by its handling of recalls affecting more than its entire 2009 global sales of 7.8 million vehicles.
The accelerator problems have been blamed for several accidents, including one in California in August in which four family members were killed.
Company president Akio Toyoda said Friday he was "deeply sorry" for the string of quality issues and said he would head a new task force to raise standards and investigate the cause of the problems.
Toyota shares fell 1.05 percent to 3,280 yen on Monday, having plunged by more than 20 percent in roughly two weeks.
Toyota has said it expects the accelerator trouble to burn a two-billion-dollar hole in its profits this year in recall costs and lost sales.
AFP
