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Toyota Motor Corp President Akio Toyoda - Source: Reuters -
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Toyota Motor Corp's president has apologized for safety problems and says the automaker will bring in outside experts to review quality controls, a highly unusual action for a company that has epitomized world-beating industrial standards.
"I would like to take this opportunity to apologize from the bottom of my heart for causing many of our customers concern after the recalls across several models in several regions," Akio Toyoda, the grandson of Toyota's founder, told a news conference in Nagoya, Japan.
Toyoda's comments are his most extensive since the latest recall began in January.
Toyota has issued two recalls since last November.
Investors were relieved that Toyota finally announced concrete steps to deal with the quality crisis.
The company's shares, which have taken a beating recently, ended 4.1% higher at $US74.71 on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday.
Since January 21, Toyota has lost $US30 billion or a fifth of its market value.
But in a sign the carmaker still faces serious problems, credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's put Toyota and some of its suppliers on watch for a possible downgrade.
S&P has cited "increased concern over the potential negative impact on Toyota's business profile of unfolding developments related to recent quality issues."
Toyoda has apologized for safety problems that have left the Japanese carmaker "in crisis".
He says Toyota will strengthen its inspection process, respond faster to customer complaints and seek input from outside experts.
Toyoda has also pledged to set up and oversee a quality improvement task force involving external experts monitoring quality management.
It was not clear how the global quality management committee would function.
Turning to independent experts is "about as good as you can expect," says UBS analyst Philippe Houchois.
"I've seen a lot of recalls, but I don't remember seeing that step of getting an outside expert. That's quite an innovative or aggressive approach to try to solve the problem."
Toyota, the world's largest automaker, has recalled more than 8 million vehicles around the world for problems with accelerators.
Episodes of unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles have been linked to up to 19 crash deaths in the United States over the past decade.
Toyota is also mulling a recall of Prius, its top-selling hybrid, for a braking problem.
The company has estimated that lost production, lost sales, parts to fix problems, staff training and repairs to recalled vehicles will cost it $US2 billion from January to the end of March.
On the same day, US competitor Ford Motor Co readied a solution for braking problems on two of its hybrid models, the hybrid Fusion and Mercury Milan.
