Honda, Japan’s No. 2 automaker, has now recalled close to 950,000 vehicles for airbag problems linked to one fatality and a total of 11 injuries in the United States.
While auto recalls are not uncommon and Honda’s is not huge, it comes at a sensitive time for an industry struggling to draw customers back to showrooms after a brutal downturn.
Toyota President Akio Toyoda will come to the United States in early March to meet government officials and to visit the carmaker’s local operations, delaying a trip initially scheduled for next week due to the heavy snowfall in Washington, the Nikkei newspaper reported.
A Republican lawmaker, U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, has invited Toyoda to meet with members of Congress the week of Feb. 22. He is also urging the House Oversight Committee chairman to invite Toyoda to a Feb. 24 hearing. A Toyota representative could not immediately be reached for comment.
Toyoda’s U.S. visit comes as the world’s biggest automaker faces a storm of criticism over safety issues and perceptions that the carmaker has been too slow to respond.
Toyota has up to 70,000 vehicles still stranded on U.S. dealer lots due to defective accelerator pedals that are the subject of a major safety recall, a top U.S. Toyota executive said yesterday.
Bob Carter, Toyota’s U.S. sales chief, said all Toyota U.S. dealers have parts to repair the accelerator pedals and that the dealers were focused on fixing customers’ cars before tackling the vehicles in the inventory.
