Toyota president apologizes as safety fears mount

NAGOYA, Japan — When Akio Toyoda took control last summer of the company started by his grandfather, his challenge was to lead Toyota out of its worst financial crisis in 50 years.

That was the easy part.

Since fall, Toyoda and his top U.S. executives have been struggling to find the words to calm consumers about the safety of Toyota's vehicles, and it is proving to be far more difficult than fixing the company's finances.

After the first big recall of Toyota vehicles in the fall, Toyoda said publicly that the company was a step away from "capitulation to irrelevance or death." The company, he added, was "grasping for salvation."

He briefly apologized last week in an interview, but with concerns growing about safety in more models, he apologized again Friday at a hastily arranged news conference, where he said Toyota would establish a high-level committee to study the problems.

"I came out here today because I would not want our customers to spend the weekend wondering whether their cars are safe," he said.

The apology came as pressure mounted for Toyota to address complaints about the brakes on its Prius hybrid, and as Congress prepares next week for the first of two hearings on whether the automaker has been forthcoming about safety problems.

Toyota has recalled more than 9 million vehicles worldwide to prevent the risk of unintended acceleration in its vehicles, which the automaker has blamed on sticky gas pedals and floor mats that can entrap the gas pedal.

Toyoda spoke late Friday in Nagoya, amid Japanese news reports that Toyota would recall its Prius, the target of a U.S. government investigation into reports that it sometimes loses braking power.

Toyoda made no announcement on a Prius recall but said he would head the new task force to review internal checks, analyze consumer complaints and get input from outside experts to address the company's quality control.

In his apology, he said, "I apologize from the bottom of my heart for all the concern that we have given to so many customers."

Japanese reporters noted Toyoda's bows during the apology were not the deep bows expected when a corporate head wants to show contrition.

Communications experts said the company has failed to convey confidence that it has a plan to fix its problems.

"I am shocked at how badly they have handled this," said Paul Argenti, a professor of corporate communications at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. "You would expect a company of this size and stature to roll out a plan to repair problems that have the potential to bring this company down."

Until Friday, Toyoda had delegated the task of reassuring U.S. consumers to executives from the company's U.S. sales arm.

In November, one of the executives, Robert Carter, tried to halt the crisis by saying that Toyota's only safety problem was floor mats in its cars that could interfere with the accelerator pedal.

He was almost immediately rebuked by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which called his comments "misleading."

Another U.S. executive, James Lentz, took the lead Monday in announcing that the company had developed a fix for accelerator pedals that could stick in 2.3 million recalled vehicles.

However, Lentz's appearances on the "Today" show and other news programs raised questions about why Toyoda or other senior Japanese executives were unavailable to address the crisis, said Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a Yale University professor and president of the Chief Executive Leadership Institute.

By putting Lentz out front, Toyota was sending a regional sales executive to do a job that needed to be handled by the top management of the entire corporation, he said.

Until Friday, Toyoda's only public comment since the second major recall Jan. 21 was an apology that came in a brief interview with a Japanese broadcaster on the sidelines of the economic forum in Davos, Switzerland.

"What is he doing in Davos anyway?" said Argenti, of the Tuck School of Business. "If you've got a crisis of this magnitude, you get on a plane and you go to the scene of the problem."

At the news conference, Toyoda signaled after about 30 minutes that he was ready to leave, until reporters implored him to stay.

At one point, he balked at answering a question about whether the company has ever withheld information related to safety concerns. "Toyota is committed to safety," he said.

Asked why he would not be attending congressional hearings, Toyoda said, "Whoever attends from Toyota, we speak with one voice."

At Wednesday's hearing, that voice is expected to be Yoshimi Inaba, a veteran company executive who is responsible for all of Toyota's North American operations.

Sonnenfeld, the Yale professor, said Toyoda should be at the hearings.

"The person who's accountable is the CEO," he said. "He needs to be here."

Material from the Los Angeles Times and The Associated Press

is included in this report.