Japan to review car recall system

Japan’s transport ministry may review and improve its car recall system, reports said today, as Toyota Motor Corp battles accusations it may have delayed acting on drivers’ complaints.

The step reflects deepening concerns in Japan over Toyota’s recalls of more than 8 million vehicles, most of them in overseas markets.

Transport Minister Seiji Maehara told Japanese lawmakers on Friday that he hopes to try to improve his agency’s recall system to respond better to consumer interests, Kyodo News agency reported.

“We will consider reviewing the recall system to make it more familiar to users,” Maehara told a lower house committee.

The agency may require automakers to move more quickly to fix defects and may expand the types of problems subject to reporting requirements, according to the reports, which also included one in the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper. The reports cited unnamed ministry officials.

Toyota’s president, Akio Toyoda, is to appear Wednesday before the US House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Its chairman, Rep Edolphus Towns, virtually compelled Toyoda to attend last week after issuing a formal invitation for him to testify.

Toyota has not given any details of Toyoda’s travel plans, though the Japanese newspapers Yomiuri Shimbun and Mainichi Shimbun reported he left Japan over the weekend.