Akio Toyoda, the grandson of Toyota’s founder and the most powerful man in the car industry, defended the Japanese manufacturer’s handling of a widespread fault with its accelerator pedals but admitted: “We are facing a crisis.”

More than 8m Toyota cars are being recalled worldwide, including 180,000 in the UK, with the company also under investigation in the US over problems with the brakes on its hybrid Prius car.

Mr Toyoda is planning measures which he hopes will avoid a repeat of the crisis. He will lead a committee that will take charge of introducing initiatives including the introduction of new “quality management” professionals at “Automotive Centres of Quality Excellence” in key regions, an improvement in the way it researches its cars and customers, and greater autonomy for regional divisions.

Mr Toyoda apologised to customers for the turmoil but insisted that his company’s vehicles are safe. and that Toyota has yet to establish whether it needs to launch a global recall of the Prius, of which there are about 40,000 in the UK. “I have instructed that consideration be made as soon as possible regarding the way to address such units. Once a decision is made we will inform the public,” he said.

The Toyota boss, who took over last year in the face of a major collapse in global car sales, has come under fierce criticism for his handling of the crisis, which has wiped $30bn (£19bn), or a fifth, off the company’s market value and is estimated to have already cost $2bn.

The crisis could have serious implications for the Toyota brand, which prides itself on quality and reliability. Standard & Poor’s, the rating agency, yesterday put Toyota’s AA rating on its negative watchlist because of “increased concern over the potential negative impact on Toyota’s business risk profile of unfolding developments related to recent quality issues”.

Source: Based on Daily Telegraph Article