Attorney General Eric Holder said: ‘Toyota confronted a public safety emergency as it if were a simple public relations problem.’ Toyota also faces criminal charges alleging that it defrauded customers by misleading them on safety issues in Toyota and Lexis vehicles.

Back to basics

At the time of the recall of some of the cars, starting in 2009, Christopher P Reynolds, chief legal officer of Toyota Motor North America, said: ‘We took full responsibility for any concerns our actions may have caused customers, and we rededicated ourselves to earning their trust.  In the more than four years since these recalls, we have gone back to basics at Toyota to put our customers first.’ Source: State Journal