Senior executives from the Canadian and U.S. operations of Toyota Motor Corp. will take to the television airwaves Monday morning to explain how and when the auto maker will replace sticky accelerator pedals that have led to one of the largest vehicle recalls yet and a firestorm of negative attention.
Their appearance will be the first public statements senior North American executives from the company have made since the recall blew up into a full-blow crisis last week when Toyota halted the sale of its most popular vehicles in the two countries and announced that assembly plants that make the cars and trucks will stop production as of today.
Toyota Canada Inc. managing director Stephen Beatty is expected to appear on Canadian television news programs this morning, while Jim Lentz, president of Toyota Motor Sales USA, will speak on the NBC network's Today show.
Dealers said they hope to begin receiving this week replacement pedals or parts that will allow them to repair the pedals.
The moves come after Toyota recalled 2.3 million vehicles in Canada and the United States and up to another 1.8 million in Europe because of potentially sticky accelerator pedals made by supplier CTS Corp. . The pedals used on top sellers such as the Corolla compact, Camry mid-sized car and RAV4 crossover utility vehicle in North America were made at a CTS plant in Mississauga.
The North American vehicles that are potentially at risk of sudden acceleration because of the sticky pedals were recalled on Jan. 21, but Toyota announced the halt in sales last Tuesday.
The U.S. government's National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) has said it insisted on the sales freeze because U.S. law requires companies to stop selling products they know to be potentially defective.
The solution to the problem is believed to be a sleeve or shim that will be placed in the pedals to prevent them from sticking.
Both the NHTSA and Transport Canada have approved the solution.
"Toyota presented an action plan and solution to Transport Canada and we are satisfied with Toyota's proposed action plan," the federal department said late Friday.
The recall of 2.3 million U.S. and Canadian vehicles - 270,000 of them are on Canadian roads - came after another problem of sudden acceleration or inability to brake caused by floor mats trapping gas pedals so vehicles can't slow down.
That led to a recall in November that was expanded last week to 5.4 million vehicles.
Some of Toyota's vehicles are subject to both recalls.
The furor has cast a stain on Toyota's reputation as the auto maker producing the highest-quality and most reliable vehicles.
Rivals have jumped in with incentives and special finance offers to Toyota drivers to try to lure them away from the Japan-based company, which rode the quality and reliability reputation to the title of world's largest auto maker, displacing General Motors Co.
But Toyota has been criticized by safety groups and consumers for not acting quickly enough and not providing enough information about when the vehicles will be fixed.
The key is to repair vehicles customers are already driving, then vehicles on dealers' lots and finally vehicles in assembly plants that need to be provided with the new parts, said a former senior executive with one of the Detroit Three companies.
"This is the order of importance to maintain integrity and trust as an auto maker," the former executive said.
The publicity campaign that Toyota will undertake today comes after the company ran advertisements in several U.S. newspapers Sunday.
"We believe we are close to announcing an effective remedy," Toyota said in the ads.
Meanwhile, Toyota chief executive officer Akio Toyoda apologized during a brief interview with Japan's NHK television network at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
"I am deeply sorry that we're giving cause for concern to customers," Mr. Toyoda said.
With files from Bloomberg