Toyota President Denies Hiding Safety Problems From U.S. Regulators

Feb. 5, 2010 — -- At a press conference in Nagoya, Japan, Friday, Toyota president Akio Toyoda apologized for his company's massive worldwide recalls and said the automaker would improve quality by setting up a special committee. He said Toyota had not yet decided whether it would expand its recalls to include the Prius hybrid.

"We have caused lots of concern and worry and we are sorry," said Toyoda, who until the press conference had kept a low profile, doing only a brief interview with Japanese television. Toyoda said he would personally head the quality committee. The executive who oversees quality, Shinichi Sasaki, added that the committee would also include outside experts.

At the press conference, ABC News asked Toyoda in English if his company had withheld safety information from U.S. regulators. Toyoda answered in Japanese. "As a company, our intention is to sincerely give 100 percent cooperation," said Toyoda. "We want to make our best effort to deal with this matter for our customers' security and safety."

ABC News reported Thursday that former government regulators working for Toyota in the U.S. had met and negotiated with government safety officials prior to investigations of safety issues with Toyota, and that the ensuing investigations were very narrow in scope. A former Toyota lawyer also told ABC News that the automaker had tried to hide safety problems from consumers, which Toyota denies.