Toyota officially announced the recall of 2.3 million vehicles for defective accelerator pedals on January 21, but a new report reveals that it took quite a bit of effort to convince the Japanese automaker it had a very serious problem.
Although Toyota’s latest recall was technically voluntary, it was the direct result of strong pressure from federal regulators. Toyota initially refused to acknowledge it had a possible safety issue, only issuing the recall after it was essentially forced to do so by the U.S. government.
“Since questions were first raised about possible safety defects, we have been pushing Toyota to take measures to protect consumers,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement. “While Toyota is taking responsible action now, it unfortunately took an enormous effort to get to this point.”
In an interview with the Associated Press, LaHood added Toyota was “a little safety deaf” and that federal officials had to fly to Tokyo late last year “to remind Toyota management about its legal obligations.”
In fact, new information suggests Toyota knew about safety defects related to its accelerator pedal as far back as 2007. Toyota changed the design of the pedal twice, but never informed the NHTSA of any dangers.
Expect to hear more on the topic in the coming weeks as two hearings involving Toyota are scheduled for later this month.
