Toyota official: 'We need to come clean'

WASHINGTON – Five days before Toyota announced a massive recall, a U.S. public relations executive at the automaker warned colleagues in an internal e-mail: "We need to come clean" about accelerator problems, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday.
"We are not protecting our customers by keeping this quiet," wrote Irv Miller, group vice president for environment and public affairs. "The time to hide on this one is over."
The recently retired Miller wrote the e-mail on Jan. 16, 2010, as Toyota officials were on their way to Washington to discuss the problems with federal regulators. On Jan. 21, Toyota announced it would recall 2.3 million vehicles to address sticking pedals in six vehicle models.
The e-mail reveals deep concerns within the company's leadership that Toyota wasn't dealing with the safety problems effectively and could damage the automaker's sterling reputation for producing safe and reliable vehicles.
The company already had announced a recall of more than 4 million vehicles in the U.S. in late September 2009 to replace gas pedals that could get stuck in floor mats and cause sudden acceleration.
The documents show that Toyota's European division, at the same time, told its distributors it was "identifying a production improvement and repair procedure to address complaints by customers in those countries of sticking accelerator pedals, sudden rpm increase and/or sudden vehicle acceleration" not caused by floor mats.
"We better just hope that they can get NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) to work with us in coming (up) with a workable solution that does not put us out of business," Miller wrote.
The e-mail was addressed to Katsuhiko Koganei, executive coordinator for corporate communications for Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc.
"I hate to break this to you but WE HAVE A tendency for MECHANICAL failure in accelerator pedals of a certain manufacturer on certain models," Miller's e-mail began with several words in capital letters.
In a memo earlier that day, Koganei wrote Mike Michels, vice president of external communications, "Now I talked with you on the phone, we should not mention about the mechanical failures of acc. pedal because we have not clarified the real cause of the sticking acc pedal formally, and the remedy for the matter has not been confirmed."
Koganei further wrote that Toyota executives were concerned that news of the mechanical failures "might raise another uneasiness of customers."
The subject line said the e-mail was in regard to a draft statement to respond to an ABC News story.
Toyota, in a statement, said it "does not comment on internal company communications" and declined comment on Miller's e-mail. But the automaker said: "We have publicly acknowledged on several occasions that the company did a poor job of communicating during the period preceding our recent recalls."
"We have subsequently taken a number of important steps to improve our communications with regulators and customers on safety-related matters to ensure that this does not happen again," Toyota said, adding that it appointed a chief quality officer for North America and a greater role in the region for making safety-related decisions.
Miller, reached by phone at his home in Los Angeles, said he had no comment. His retirement was announced by Toyota on Dec. 16 and his retirement was effective Feb. 1.
The Transportation Department has assessed a record $16.4 million fine on Toyota for failing to alert the U.S. government to the safety problems about the sticking accelerator pedals quickly enough. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Tuesday that Toyota made a "huge mistake" by not disclosing the safety problems sooner.
Concerns about sticking gas pedals and complaints from Toyota owners in the U.S. were rising at the end of 2009, according to documents obtained by the AP.
Distributors throughout Europe and in Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Turkey and Israel received the technical information.
In mid-January, Toyota held internal meetings "to discuss status of production changes and to prepare for meetings with NHTSA" on Jan. 19, according to the timeline. Two days later, Toyota announced it would recall 2.3 million vehicles to address the sticking pedals.
The documents obtained by the AP were among 70,000 pages of papers turned over to government investigators.
Toyota has recalled more than 6 million vehicles in the U.S. and a total of more than 8 million worldwide because of acceleration problems in multiple models and braking issues in the Prius hybrid.
The Japanese automaker was still weighing its options Wednesday about whether to accept or contest the fine. It has also been named in 138 potential class-action lawsuits over falling vehicle values and nearly 100 personal injury and wrongful death cases in federal courts.

 

This is the first I've heard about any recall or widespread problems.

 

That's alot to read. Anything about Tacomas in there?

But yeah, I heard they announced this to European markets months before US.

 

So can I get a sweet deal on a 2010 tacoma then?

 

My thoughts exactly.

 

Any other fanbois still claim this is all a conspiracy theory against Toyota? LOL

 

I dont doubt they had a problem with floor mats getting stuck under pedals, every car company has recalls, its just you dont hear about any of the american ones.

 

yup. how strange that shortly after our goberment owns a car company, toyota (a foreign company) is getting bashed by the media every chance they get. How come none of these problems occured before GM's bailout?

 

Obviously this means Toyota hates America.

 

I love it. Im just waiting for someone to start blamming Toyota for the large amount of earthquake activity we've had over the past few months.

 

Toyota was trying to hide stuff. They have soiled there reputation with this debacle.

 

So you still think this internal memo doesn't suggest Toyota was actively trying to hide a safety defect?

So you still think this internal memo doesn't suggest Toyota was actively trying to hide a safety defect?

 

take off the blinders. Toyota isn't unlike any other big company. They care about one thing and one thing only, and that's the bottom line.

There are multiple internal memo's that have leaked that have discussed the issue and potential savings by not having to do a recall.

I'm not saying I wouldn't buy anouther TM someday, and I'm not saying GM/F/Honda/other car companies are any different than TM, but it sure isn't fair to be sticking TM up on a pedestal.

 

an internal memo? who says its legit? the media? GM? you make your decisions and I'll make mine.

 

can you point out where i stated i hate TM?


i continue to drive my TM, because it meets my needs and wouldn't make much financial sense to sell it to buy something else.

make sure you take off your blinders before hitting turn one. i'd hate for you to crash.

 

Blah blah blah this is the same old crap we've been hearing about. Honestly who cares? If you don't feel safe in your Toyota get rid of it. If not, why continue to beat this dead horse? I'm still going to buy a new toyota down the road.

 

so your personal opinion is more legit? Right for yourself.

 

if you weren't wearing blinders, i wouldn't tell you to take them off.

if these internal emails are all fabricated, why hasn't Toyota come and denied them?

yes, i agree washington is corrupt. no doubt about that. just like there is no doubt that toyota soiled there reputation over this.

 

if the memos arent legit, why hasn't anyone from toyota come out and said as such?