Toyota Motor Corp., reeling from a recall crisis, launched a task force on Tuesday aimed at regaining consumer trust and pledged to give more clout to its regional operations to speed up decisions on quality issues.
Toyota President Akio Toyoda, who was criticized for not acting quickly enough when the automaker's safety issues first came to light earlier this year, convened a 50-member committee on quality at the automaker's headquarters.
The meeting marked the first time that Toyota's newly named regional quality officers had met and came at a crucial time as the world's largest automaker attempts to recapture lost sales momentum in key markets including the United States.
Toyota said third-party experts in each region, including one in North America headed by former U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater, would assess the steps it has taken to renew its focus on quality and safety. The initial review results are due to be released in June.
"We need a renewed commitment to placing customers first and to reviewing all our work processes from the customers' perspective," Toyoda, who chairs the committee, said ahead of the quality meeting. "We are counting on the new framework to optimize our decision-making both regionally and globally."
Toyota has recalled some 8.5 million vehicles globally in recent months. Those recalls take aim at accelerator pedals that can become stuck with condensation, pedals that can be held down by floor mats and a braking glitch on its Prius and other hybrids.
The quality slippage has highlighted the pressure on Toyota's stretched work force as it scrambled to keep up with soaring demand for its popular cars in the past decade.
To reverse the fall in quality, Toyota said it would strengthen information-gathering capabilities at the local level when suspected problems arise.
"Over the last few months, we really learned that we were not close enough to the customers," Toyoda said.
In the United States, for example, a team of specially trained technicians will conduct on-site inspections as promptly as possible when quality or safety issues arise, Toyota said.
Toyota will also expand the use in North America of event data recorders, which can record data on vehicle condition and driver operations, and work with authorities in other markets to better analyze the causes of accidents, it said.
In other measures, Toyota will increase the number of technology offices in North America to seven from one, establish seven offices in Europe, six in China and more elsewhere.
Industry watchers said the new measures could help Toyota in the long term if they help set it apart from its competitors, but any near-term impact would be limited.
"The issue is how this would translate into quality, but since that won't happen immediately, it will not be a factor that will affect Toyota's share price," said Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management.
"This is positive from a longer-term perspective, but whether it will be reflected in earnings in the near term or in the current share price is another matter," he added.
While a sales suspension of recalled models hammered Toyota's U.S. sales in February, demand is expected to soar on incentives this month, leaving analysts uncertain as to how deeply the recalls will actually damage Toyota's business.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said on Tuesday that U.S. auto safety regulators would conduct a joint investigation of Toyota's electronic throttles to see if they are behind reports of unintended acceleration.
Toyota has repeatedly said it is confident in the safeguards built into its vehicle electronics and has seen no evidence that they have failed on the road.
Toyota also faces the prospect of civil fines of up to $16.4 million if U.S. regulators determine that the automaker withheld key information.
Cases of unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles have been linked to 51 deaths in the United States over the last decade.
LaHood had charged Toyota with being "a little safety deaf" before Toyoda promised reforms in testimony before a congressional panel in February.
