Toyota Motor Corp will detail plans on Monday to fix the accelerator pedals behind a series of crashes and the global recall of millions of vehicles as it scrambles to put its worst public relations crisis behind it.
Toyota, whose reputation of quality and reliability helped it overtake General Motors Co as the world's top carmaker, is facing criticism of moving too slowly to address a sometimes deadly problem of unintended acceleration in many of its cars.
Including recalls in China and Europe, some 7.9 million Toyota vehicles are up for repair globally, including a separate problem involving floor mats and pedals.
"This (recall) was expanded across the globe and has really put Toyota under the spotlight," said Hiroaki Osakabe, a fund manager at Chibagin Asset Management.
"This could hurt Toyota's brand image and there's definitely concern about a longer-term damage to the image...It could also affect Toyota's overall competitiveness."
Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., its local sales company, said it would issue a news release at 6:30 a.m. EST (1130 GMT), followed by a conference call for media at 11:00 a.m. EST (1600 GMT).
Toyota, which reports its third-quarter results on Thursday, has been forced to halt sales of eight recalled models in North America, including the top-selling Camry, until it comes up with a fix.
On Sunday, Toyota also kicked off a media blitz with full-page ads in major U.S. newspapers alerting consumers to the recall and production shutdown that will last at least a week.
