Apologises for the recall.

TOKYO, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) President Akio Toyoda apologised for the recall of millions of vehicles around the world, Japanese broadcaster NHK reported, as the deepening recall crisis threatened to further damage its sales and delay an earnings recovery.

"We're extremely sorry to have made customers uneasy," Toyoda said on Friday on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, a brief clip on NHK showed.

"We plan to establish the facts and give an explanation that will remove customers' concerns as soon as possible."

Toyoda had been conspicuously silent since the top automaker's recall of cars related to unintended acceleration spread from North America to Europe and China this week.

As of Saturday, the global recalls of Toyota cars and trucks had swollen to about 7.5 million vehicles, almost as many as it sold worldwide in 2009. Toyota has said the defective pedal was not used in any of its cars in Japan, Australia and Asia excluding China.

The total includes repairs for an issue involving floor mats becoming stuck under accelerator pedals.

Toyota has not recalled any cars in Japan, where it uses different suppliers.

With calls mounting for Toyoda to address the media on the escalating ordeal, the world's top automaker had said it was studying some form of comment or action from headquarters. [ID:nTOE60S0A7]

A company source told Reuters a news conference may be held early next week, prior to Toyota's announcement of third-quarter financial results on Feb. 4, but that the company was still working on a final plan. The source did not say whether Toyoda, or another executive, would hold the briefing.

Toyoda, a family scion who took up his post last June, last commented publicly on the matter in October, when he expressed regret for the deaths of four people in a California crash linked to the defects last year.

He has vowed to revamp Toyota's sprawling organisation to make problems at every level of operation more visible, as a rapid expansion over the last decade left it with too much production capacity when the economic crisis hammered car demand globally.

In an editorial, Japan's Asahi Shimbun said on Saturday that Toyota was skirting the responsibility to allay Japanese customers' anxiety over the safety issue, and that its brand image, crafted over years of effort, would be damaged.

"Toyota's response may indicate a growing complacency as the company has surpassed General Motors [GM.UL] as the world's No.1 automaker," it said.

Toyoda's tenure as head of the company founded by his grandfather is widely expected to last at least a decade given his relatively young age of 53.

RIVALS CLOSE IN

As part of the recalls, Toyota has been forced to suspend sales of eight models in the United States, including its Camry sedan, the best-selling car in the world's second-biggest auto market.

Sources briefed on Toyota's U.S. sales plans told Reuters on Friday the sales shutdown would continue until at least mid-February. A resumption assumes a smooth and swift rollout of a remedy to fix faulty accelerators in vehicles already sold or at dealerships, the sources said.

Competitors moved to profit from rising consumer frustration, readying plans to poach sales with incentives targeting Toyota customers. Ford Motor Co (F.N), Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS), and Chrysler Group LLC said they were rolling out incentives, following General Motors' lead.

Volkswagen (VOWG.DE), jockeying with Toyota for the title as global sales leader, is considering a similar move. (Additional reporting by Bernie Woodall, Kevin Krolicki, Soyoung Kim in Ddetroit and John Crawley in Washington; Editing by Jerry Norton)

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Toyota I own an Auris, its one of the affected models.Toyota needs to get amove on, recall the affected cars and fix them. Dilly dallying and courting sympathy from the owners is not the solution. by Brian on February 05 2010, 12:15 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Shame, the incompetence of the average driver! An average driver should have the gumption to be able to handle an emergency when an accelerator gets stuck, otherwise they should not possess a drivers licence. Why can't the problem be addressed as and when customers take their vehicles in for . .more their scheduled services? Either Toyota has a total disregard for the increased carbon footprint causes by their drastic measures, or Toyota realises that the average owner of a Toyota vehicle does not have his/her vehicle serviced by the rip-off Toyota agents due to the poor service they provided to their customers. . .less by Compadre on February 05 2010, 13:30 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Local suppliers cut corners They should rather use suppliers from Japan. by mjs on February 06 2010, 02:42 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Toyota remains the best car on the road I drive a RAV4 VX and my husband drives a Lexus . Toyota offers the best cars with low maintenance costs and after sale service is excellent. I agree with the comment made earlier. If you are not able to handle an emergency when an accelerator . .more gets stuck then either obtain or renew your licence. It is easy to jump on the band wagon when others do. Address the problem when it occurs or rather keep quiet. The moaners have probably never lodged a compaint prior to this "now big issue". Why are they still driving Toyota's. . .less by Diane on February 06 2010, 13:16 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Auris is Drive By Wire @ Compadre you should research your rants better. The Auris is a "Drive-By-Wire" system wherein the driver has NO DIRECT CONTROL of the actual throttle valve of the engine. The pedal in the cabin is an electrical position sensor (rheostat) that . .more is connected to the cars ECU (Engine Control Computer) which is used only to sense what the driver input. The ECU then determines how much to open / close the throttle valve based on this pedal input along with the cruise control, fuel economy and engine torque & rev limit settings and then on a will control the valve via a separate output. So it's entirely possible for a bug in the ECU software or a fault somewhere in the wiring of this system to cause the throttle to just open up and stay open. and un-sticking / releasing the pedal won't help as it's got the least influence over the throttle valve actually. The only way to stop this would be to switch the car off and that's not a good idea as your brake servo assistance is shut-off, the electric power-steering is off and the steering rack with wide low tires is designed with power assistance in mind making it hard to turn / steer / pull an evasive move. Try to steer a dead car going > 80km/h and weighing in excess of 1500kg with no brake servo assist and very heavy steering. And then come back to criticise.... . .less by EffKay on February 06 2010, 16:29 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@Compadre Compadre, I agree with Effkay - You should do your research better. How would the average driver respond to an uncommanded sudden acceleartion? You don't have many options available and they are all problematic. (1) You can turn the key to the off . .more position which will cause the steering wheel to lock and switch off the brake assistance. (2) You can turn the key to the acc position which still leaves you without brake asssitance and powersteering. Neither of these options are availbe on the key-less configurations where the start/stop button should be kept in for 3 seconds! (3) You can push the clutch in which will influence the way you experience your car braking as you are not using the engine - this is again not an option on the automatic models. (4) You push the brakes in as hard as you can but you maybe breaking against the engine supplying power to the engine. Futhermore the high rpms apparently also reduces the brakes assitance. The pedal is a significant safetly concern. Further - even if the average driver know how to handle an emergency situation at high speed - who wants to watch out that you don't crash your vehicle while are simply reversing out of the garage or moving out of a parrallel parking? . .less by JD on February 09 2010, 13:27 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Correction engine supplying power to the wheels by JD on February 09 2010, 13:30 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

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