Obama says he is confident that Toyota will recover from recall fallout

In his first public comment on Toyota’s recall woes, President Barack Obama told Bloomberg News that he didn’t have an opinion on whether Toyota had failed to move fast enough, saying that it was under investigation. However, Obama said that every automaker must act fast when it comes to safety issues and that a delay in addressing the issue can damage their reputation.

“Every automaker has an obligation when public safety is a concern to come forward quickly and decisively when problems are identified,” Obama said. “We don’t yet know whether that happened with Toyota. That’s going to be investigated.”

Obama went on to say that Toyota will survive its fallout from recalling more than 9 million (yes, the number is now 9 million) vehicles worldwide.

“Obviously, Toyota has been an extraordinary automaker for a very long time, and I suspect that they will continue to be, despite this recent glitch,” Obama said.

Toyota has recalled 2.3 million vehicles in the United States for sticky pedals and 5.4 million over pedal entrapment issues. Over 2,000 complaints and 19 deaths have been linked to unintended acceleration issues in Toyotas.

– By: Omar Rana

Source: Detroit News