Toyota executive urged automaker to ‘come clean'

[DainBramaged]

A Toyota Motor Corp. executive urged the Japanese automaker to “come clean” in January about mechanical failures in accelerator pedals for some vehicles, after other officials suggested a more cautious approach.

Irv Miller, then a vice president for communications at Toyota's U.S. sales unit, told other officials in an e-mail on Jan. 16 that “the time to hide on this one is over.” The world's largest automaker recalled 2.3 million vehicles in the United States for accelerator pedal flaws the following week.

“We are not protecting our customers by keeping this quiet,” Miller wrote in an e-mail to Toyota executives in the U.S. and Japan, obtained Wednesday.

Toyota faces a proposed fine of $16.4 million after the U.S. Department of Transportation said this week the company “knowingly hid a dangerous defect” that caused its vehicles to accelerate unexpectedly. The carmaker waited at least four months before it told U.S. regulators in January that gas pedals in its vehicles may stick, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said on April 5.

Miller, who retired from Toyota later in January, declined to comment when reached by phone Wednesday. His retirement was announced Dec. 16.


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