Toyota is to install a brake-override system in all its future models worldwide following a major recall in recent weeks of seven of its best-selling cars over unintended acceleration and a further recall on its new Prius range over potential problems with its braking software.
The new mechanism will allow the brake to kick in first when drivers inadvertently depress it and the accelerator at the same time.
At a press briefing today, Shinichi Sasaki, the executive in charge of quality control, said the company is also reviewing complaints over power-steering problems in the US version of its Corolla. He said there were fewer than 100 complaints in the US, but that the firm was taking the complaints seriously.
The number of affected vehicles is unclear, but it refers to the US models sold in 2009 and this year.
Following the briefing, Toyota issued a statement saying Mr Sasaki’s comments had been “misinterpreted” in some reports and there was a suggestion it affected all Corollas.
A spokesman for Toyota Ireland said the power steering issue concerned US Corollas only and would not affect those sold in Europe, as these were different from the US versions. He said: “Toyota has had no issues regarding the 2009/2010 Corolla steering here in Ireland”.
Complaints over the steering on US Corolla models is the latest blow to the car giant after a series of safety-related recalls that totalled 8.5 million cars worldwide, including 18,188 in Ireland.
US Congressional hearings into the Japanese firm’s handling of its recent recalls are due to begin next week. Toyota’s president Akio Toyoda said he will not be attending the hearings personally, despite requests from US legislators to do so. The US authorities are investigating whether Toyota conducted the recalls “in a timely manner”.
Apologising again to customers for the recalls Toyoda said the world's biggest automaker may have grown too fast, neglecting adequate training of staff. "The basic rule of the Toyota Production System is to only build as many cars as there is demand for, and we ourselves broke that rule,” he said.
(Additional reporting AP/Reuters