Toyota exec: Time to hide troubles over (with scanned document)

[Romulox]

Toyota exec: Time to hide troubles over

BY JUSTIN HYDE and GREG GARDNER
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITERS


WASHINGTON -- Toyota's top U.S. public relations executive warned in January that the automaker needed to "come clean" about sticking accelerator pedals that could trigger sudden acceleration, and that the company "was not protecting our customers by keeping this quiet."

The e-mail from Irv Miller came five days before Toyota launched a recall of 2.3 million vehicles in the U.S. to fix gas pedals. The Obama administration said earlier this week that Toyota hid the problem from U.S. auto safety officials for at least four months and slapped Toyota with a $16.4-million fine, the largest ever for a vehicle defect.

Meanwhile, Toyota executives in Japan said again Wednesday that there were no electronic causes of the unintended acceleration. They declined to say how long they will boost incentives to prevent quality concerns from hurting sales.

http://freep.com/article/20100408/BUSINESS01/4080421/1371/Toyota-exec-Time-to-come-clean

Scan of leaked internal memo at link.