NAGOYA/DETROIT, (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp’s  president apologized yesterday for safety problems and said the  automaker would bring in outside experts to review quality  controls, a highly unusual action for a company that has  epitomized world-beating industrial standards.

“I would like to take this opportunity to apologize from  the bottom of my heart for causing many of our customers  concern after the recalls across several models in several  regions,” Akio Toyoda, the grandson of Toyota’s founder, told a  news conference in Nagoya, Japan.

Toyoda’s comments were his most extensive since the latest  recall began in January. Toyota has issued two recalls since  last November.

Investors were relieved that Toyota finally announced  concrete steps to deal with the quality crisis. The company’s  shares, which have taken a beating recently, ended 4.1 percent  higher at $74.71 on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday.  Since Jan. 21, Toyota has lost $30 billion or a fifth of its  market value.

But in a sign the carmaker still faces serious problems,  credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s put Toyota and some of  its suppliers on watch for a possible downgrade. S&P cited  “increased concern over the potential negative impact on  Toyota’s business profile of unfolding developments related to  recent quality issues.”

Toyoda apologized for safety problems that have left the  Japanese carmaker “in crisis”.

He said Toyota would strengthen its inspection process,  respond faster to customer complaints and seek input from  outside experts.

Toyoda also pledged to set up and oversee a quality  improvement task force involving external experts monitoring  quality management. It was not clear how the global quality  management committee would function.