Toyota bosses defend handling of safety problems

OTTAWA – Senior Toyota executives defended their vehicles as among the “safest and most reliable” in the world as they appeared on Parliament Hill to discuss a string on troubling recalls today.

“Nothing is more important to Toyota than the safety and reliability” of its vehicles, said Yoshi Inaba, president and chief operating officer of Toyota Motor North America.

Senior managers from the car maker’s North American and Canadian operations spoke to the Commons’ transport committee Tuesday morning to answer MPs’ questions about vehicle woes that have left motorist unnerved and the company scrambling.

Bloc Quebecois MP Mario Laframboise accused Toyota of being slow-footed to understand the problem of sticking accelerators and warn motorists.

“You took too much time to find out what the problem was and too much time to speak openly about the problem,” said Laframboise (Argenteuil–Papineau–Mirabel).

But Stephen Beatty, managing director of Toyota Canada, defended the company’s handling of the problem, saying the first report of a sticky accelerator appeared last October.

He said it took company engineers time to understand the problem and that Toyota alerted car owners as soon as it could.

“As soon as we determined there was a problem, we issued a recall,” Beatty said.

Joining Inaba and Beatty were Yoichi Tomihara, President and CEO of Toyota Canada, and Ray Tanguay, President of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada Inc.

Together, they highlighted Toyota’s long history in Canada and spoke about the car giant’s contribution to the Canadian economy.

Tanguay noted that Toyota plants employ 7,000 people and have the capability to produce 420,000 vehicles annually, 75 per cent of which are exported.

“We are a major contributor to Canada’s balance of trade,” he said.

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