Toyota May Recall Corolla After U.S. Investigation
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2/17/10By Kiyori Ueno and Jeff Plungis
(Bloomberg) – Toyota Motor Corp. may add the Corolla, the world’s top-selling car, to a record recall list after U.S. regulators began investigating the vehicle’s power steering.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration inquiry will cover about 500,000 vehicles from model years 2009 and 2010, a person familiar with the matter said. Toyota is reviewing the Corolla’s steering and will recall the car if there is a safety issue, Executive Vice President Shinichi Sasaki told reporters yesterday, after the NHTSA received more than 80 online complaints.
A Corolla recall would add to a repair list of more than 8 million vehicles on five continents spanning models from the Camry sedan to the Prius hybrid. Toyota, the world’s largest carmaker, has lost more than $31 billion in market value since announcing fixes for accelerator-pedal defects on Jan. 21.
“Toyota’s troubles are going to continue for a while,” said Mamoru Kato, an analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Center in Nagoya, Japan. “Customer complaints will just snowball because they are related to driver perceptions.”
Toyota fell 0.2 percent to 3,375 yen as of 12:58 p.m. in Tokyo. The U.S. investigation into the Corolla is known as a preliminary evaluation, according to the person, who asked not to be identified because Toyota hadn’t been formally notified.
‘Cooperate Fully’
“We are aware of complaints regarding 2009 and 2010 Corolla steering systems, are investigating the issue and will cooperate fully,” with NHTSA’s investigation, Cindy Knight, a Toyota spokeswoman, said in an e-mailed message.
President Akio Toyoda said yesterday the company is making progress addressing the recalls, and that dealers in Japan will have fixed as much of 80 percent of Priuses by the end of February.
Toyoda said he plans to skip testifying before the U.S. Congress about the company’s recalls and hasn’t decided on his schedule for a U.S. visit. North American President Yoshimi Inaba will attend hearings in Washington next week, Toyoda said. Toyota’s U.S. sales unit president Jim Lentz will testify at the first U.S. house hearing on the recalls, according to the company.
The U.S. is traditionally the automaker’s most profitable market. Toyota, which has lost over $31 billion in market value since a Jan. 21 accelerator-pedal recall, placed advertisements in Japanese newspapers yesterday apologizing and promising to complete repairs as soon as possible.
The automaker has set up a global quality committee, headed by Toyoda, and will appoint a chief quality officer at each of the company’s regions, Toyoda said yesterday. The new committee will have its first meeting on March 30, he said. The company will also appoint a third party to test its electronic throttle system.
–With assistance from Tetsuya Komatsu in Tokyo. Editor: Patrick Harrington, Ian Rowley.
To contact the reporters on this story: Kiyori Ueno in Tokyo at +81-3-3201-3844 or kueno2@bloomberg.net Tetsuya Komatsu in Tokyo at +81-3-3201-3370 tekomatsu@bloomberg.net Jeff Plungis in Washington at +1-202-624-1835 or jplungis@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Kae Inoue at +81-3-3201-8362 or kinoue@bloomberg.net
Toyota & Honda dropped the ball on handling the recalls , they should have came forward with a full disclosure. Instead of waiting for a huge media blitz and tons of public pressure. But Toyota & Honda are not alone , I never seen so many car companies having recalls all at the same time. I had no idea my car which is not even a Toyota or Honda, was affected until I searched on http://www.carpedalrecall.com and found I had a bad Anti Lock control unit on my 2008 Pontiac G8 , So be careful check daily, it seems more and more cars are being recalled .