WASHINGTON — The Obama administration’s top transportation official sharply criticized Toyota on Tuesday for dragging its feet on safety concerns over its gas pedals, suggesting the automaker was “a little safety-deaf” to mounting evidence of problems.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told The Associated Press that federal safety officials had to “wake them up” to the seriousness of the safety issues that eventually led Toyota to recall millions of popular brands such as the Camry and Corolla. That included a visit to Toyota’s offices in Japan to persuade them to take action.
“They should have taken it seriously from the very beginning, when we first started discussing it with them,” LaHood said. “Maybe they were a little safety-deaf.”
LaHood also said the government was considering civil penalties for Toyota over its handling of the recalls but declined to elaborate. The potential fines were first reported by the Detroit News. The largest auto-industry fine came in 2004, when General Motors paid $1 million for responding too slowly on a recall of nearly 600,000 vehicles over windshield-wiper failure.
The pointed comments came as Toyota showed just how painful the recall has been for the automaker, which makes some of the best-selling vehicles in the United States. Sales fell 16 percent in January, hurt by Toyota’s decision to halt sales while it sorted out a fix for faulty gas pedals.
