Frigid temperatures this weekend prompt cold weather advisories

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

The government ordered Toyota to turn over
documents related to its massive recalls Tuesday, pressing to see
how long the automaker knew of safety defects before taking action.
Toyota, concerned about unsold cars, said it would temporarily idle
some production in three states.

      The Transportation Department is demanding that Toyota reveal
when and how it learned of problems with sticking accelerators and
with floor mats trappping gas pedals, and the company must respond
within 30 to 60 days or face fines. 


Those defects and problems with
brakes on new Prius hybrids have now led to the recall of 8.5
million vehicles.

      The intensifying investigation and the production halts at
Toyota's assembly plants are fresh signs of the ripple effect the
recalls are having on the world's No. 1 automaker - even as
car-owners are streaming to dealers for fixes. 

Toyota faces
separate probes by the Obama administration and Congress as it
struggles to maintain its loyal customer base and its reputation
for safety and quality.

      Toyota said it was halting production temporarily in San
Antonio, Texas, and Georgetown, Ky., to address concerns that too
many unsold vehicles may be building up at dealerships because of
the large recalls.

      Company spokesman Mike Goss said the Texas plant, which builds
the Tundra pickup truck, would take production breaks for the weeks
of March 15 and April 12. The Kentucky plant, which makes the
Camry, Avalon and Venza vehicles, plans to take a non-production
day on Feb. 26 and may not build vehicles on three more days in
March and April.

      Toyota employs 1,850 workers at the San Antonio plant and about
6,600 at the Georgetown facility. None will be laid off during the
production interruptions.

      In addition, the company's plant in Huntsville, Ala., will idle
some production during the same time as the San Antonio facility,
according to company spokeswoman Stephanie Deemer. 

The Alabama
factory makes V-8 engines for the Tundra pickup trucks that are
assembled in Texas. About 300 workers will be affected but will
still be paid and may perform other tasks, Deemer said.

      In late January, Toyota halted production of recalled brands
throughout the United States for about a week.
     


 The demands from the government for information, similar to a
subpoena, follow criticism from consumer groups that the
Transportation Department has been too soft on automakers and has
failed to fine the companies or seek detailed information through
legal powers.

      Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has defended his
department's handling of the Toyota investigation, calling the
Japanese automaker "a little safety deaf" about the problems.

LaHood said the government urged Toyota to issue recalls and sent
federal safety officials to Japan to warn company officials of the
seriousness of the problems.

      LaHood has said the government is considering civil penalties
for Toyota over its handling of the recalls. The maximum fine is
more than $16 million. The largest auto industry fine came in 2004,
when General Motors paid $1 million for responding too slowly on a
recall of nearly 600,000 vehicles over windshield wiper failure.

      Under federal law, automakers must notify the department's
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration within five days of
determining that a safety defect exists and promptly conduct a
recall.

      The probe extends beyond Toyota's U.S. operations, a request
that safety experts said was unprecedented for a federal agency
tasked with regulating vehicles domestically. The agency is seeking
information on Toyota vehicles that were sold overseas and also
subject to U.S. recalls for problems with sticking gas pedals.

Toyota told NHTSA in January that the problem appeared in Europe
beginning in December 2008.

      NHTSA also seeks overseas vehicle information in its
investigation of potential electronic problems.

      Government investigators are looking into whether Toyota
discovered the problems before, during or after production of the
affected vehicles, whether their recalls covered all affected
vehicles and whether the company learned of the problems through
consumer complaints or internal tests.

      Toyota said in a statement that it "takes its responsibility to
advance vehicle safety seriously and to alert government officials
of any safety issue in a timely manner. We are reviewing NHTSA's
request and will cooperate to provide all the information they have
requested."

      Federal officials are focusing on the two major issues behind
the recalls - gas pedals that can become lodged on floor mats and
pedal systems that are "sticky," making it harder for drivers to
press on the pedal or ease up on the gas.

      The information requests seek detailed timelines on when Toyota
first became aware of the problems, how it handled complaints, how
much it have paid out in warranty claims over pedal problems, what
internal communications there were about pedals and which company
officials were involved in making decisions about the issue.

      NHTSA also wants to know how seriously Toyota considered the
possibility that electronics of the gas pedal system might play a
role. The company has said tests show that electronics were not to
blame. But federal safety officials want to know how Toyota dealt
with complaints that might not be related to floor mats or sticking
pedals.

      Kathleen DeMeter, the director of NHTSA's Office of Defects
Investigation Enforcement, wrote that the agency was "seeking to
determine whether Toyota viewed the underlying defects too narrowly
... without fully considering the broader issue of unintended
acceleration and any associated safety-related defects that warrant
recalls."

      Congress is also investigating. The House Oversight and
Government Reform Committee is holding a hearing on Feb. 24, and
the House Energy and Commerce Committee has scheduled one the next
day. Toyota Motor North America chief executive Yoshi Inaba, LaHood
and NHTSA Administrator David Strickland are expected to testify at
both meetings.

      The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee has
scheduled a March 2 hearing.

      Toyota has stepped up its lobbying ahead of the hearings by
highlighting its workers and U.S. production.

      It flew production workers into Washington a day before a
blizzard last week to highlight the company's commitment to quality
and safety. The company also received help from the governors of
four states with Toyota plants - including Kentucky Gov. Steve
Beshear - who called on Congress to be fair to the automaker.

      Toyota has been fixing vehicles under recall. Toyota Vice
President Bob Carter told reporters at the National Automobile
Dealers Association convention in Orlando, Fla., on Monday that the
company had repaired about 500,000 of the 2.3 million vehicles
recalled over a potentially sticky gas pedal.
    


  Toyota president Akio Toyoda is expected to answer questions in
Japan Wednesday about the company's recalls.

Gallery

Business and Economic News

The government ordered Toyota to turn over
documents related to its massive recalls Tuesday, pressing to see
how long the automaker knew of safety defects before taking action.

US demands recall info; Toyota cutting production

Go Deeper.

Like this?