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Akio Toyoda Apologises for Toyota Recall


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TOKYO - January 30, 2010: Speaking on Friday from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Toyota President Akio Toyoda apologised for the recall of millions of vehicles around the world due to so-called "sudden acceleration," America's latest lawsuit goldmine.

Toyoda's rare appearance came as the deepening recall crisis threatens to further damage the company's sales and delay an earnings recovery.

"We're extremely sorry to have made customers uneasy," Toyoda said. "We plan to establish the facts and give an explanation that will remove customers' concerns as soon as possible."

Toyota is primarily blamming defective brake pedals for the problem. Yesterday, CTS Corporation issued a statement that flatly denied that their product was at fault, citing various claims of the same problem that went back years before CTS was supplying brake pedals to Toyota. The CTS statement cab be read at http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2010/01/29/463816.html.

Reports are that as of Saturday, the global recalls of Toyota cars and trucks had risen to about 7.5 million vehicles, nearly equal to its worldwide sales in 2009. Toyota has said the defective pedal was not used in any of its cars in Japan, Australia and Asia excluding China.

Toyota has not recalled any cars in Japan, where it uses different suppliers.

SEE ALSO: Toyota Facing an Audi-like Media Firestorm