Toyota Motor Corp.'s U.S. sales unit is creating "rapid response" teams of engineers and technicians to evaluate customer reports of unintended acceleration after record recalls.
The Swift Market Analysis Response Teams will try to get in touch with customers involved in such incidents within 24 hours of a complaint, the unit said today in a statement. The teams will draw on 200 technical staff members in the company's North American operations and will work with dealers, Toyota said.
"There has been a great deal of confusion, speculation and misinformation about unintended acceleration in the past several weeks," Steve St. Angelo, Toyota's new chief quality officer for North America, said in the statement. "Judgments should be based on reliable evidence," which the teams can help provide.
Toyota, the world's largest automaker, has recalled more than 8 million vehicles globally since last year to adjust brakes and fix flaws linked to unintended acceleration. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood this week said Toyota "knowingly hid a dangerous defect" by waiting months to alert regulators to problems involving sticking gas pedals, and called for a $16.4 million civil fine against the company.
The company last month dispatched engineers to review related incidents involving Prius hybrids in San Diego and a New York suburb. Toyota said in each case that technical data indicated parts on the cars weren't at fault.
The Toyota City, Japan-based company's U.S. sales unit has its headquarters in Torrance, California.
