Safety scare at Toyota could spread to Europe

The sales suspension to fix pedals that could stick and cause acceleration without warning was announced in the US late on Tuesday.

Last week, Toyota recalled the same eight models, involving 2.3 million vehicles.

Toyota is also halting production at six North American car-assembly plants and gave no date on when production could restart.

Although Toyota's Japan plants are not affected, the problem could spread to Europe, where a similar accelerator part is used, and could affect millions more vehicles.

The problem part comes from one US supplier and does not affect models that use parts from different suppliers, said a Toyota official.

Toyota shares fell 4.3 per cent in Tokyo yesterday. Analysts said the production stoppage signalled a more serious crisis for Toyota than recalls, which are fairly routine for car-makers.

Yasuaki Iwamoto, auto analyst with Okasan Securities in Tokyo, said: "It's an abnormal situation, and there is no way to compare it with anything else."

He said the problem should serve as a wake-up call for Toyota to be

more careful with maintaining quality. There is no quick fix to a tarnished brand image.

Despite the recent recalls, Toyota has still done well on quality surveys, and leads the world in hybrids, which show off top-grade green technology.

But the latest US problems mirror the spate of quality problems that plagued Toyota several years ago in Japan, its home market.

In 2006, former Toyota president Katsuaki Watanabe acknowledged lapses in quality control in Japan.

One sparked a criminal investigation by the Japanese government into accidents suspected of being linked to vehicle problems. No one was charged.

At that time, Mr Watanabe appeared at a news conference in Tokyo,

bowing deeply to express remorse to consumers and dealers. Later, he acknowledged overzealous growth was behind the quality problems.

Mr Iwamoto said: "Under Watanabe's growth strategy, it was difficult to maintain a balance between speed and quality. The problems came about because of the strains that came from his expansion efforts."

Mr Watanabe, who took office in 2005, was replaced last year by Akio Toyoda, the grandson of Toyota's founder.

Mr Toyoda has repeatedly said his company is in a crisis that could threaten its survival.

Toyota quietly gave global sales targets on Tuesday that showed it was optimistic about getting on track to recovery since the financial crisis in late 2008 sent demand crashing, especially in the key North American market.

Toyota said it expected to sell 2.19 million vehicles in North America in 2010, up 11 per cent from 2009. Globally, Toyota said it was planning sales of 8.27 million vehicles this year, up six per cent from 2009.

The US sales suspension includes the following models: the 2009/10 RAV4, the 2009/10 Corolla, the 2007/10 Camry, the 2009/10 Matrix, the 2005/10 Avalon, the 2010 Highlander, the 2007/10 Tundra and the 2008/10 Sequoia. Sales of Lexus and Prius were unaffected.

The announcement follows a larger US recall months earlier of 4.2 million vehicles because of problems with accelerator pedals becoming trapped under floor mats, causing sudden acceleration. That problem was the cause of several crashes, including some deaths.