OTTAWA – Transport Minister John Baird acknowledge Thursday a criminal probe of Toyota’s recall process is possible.
Baird said Transport Canada officials are investigating whether Toyota was too slow to advise them problems existed.
"What we need to do is review what's happened particularly since last November, October, even going back to September (and) look at what we can learn from that to make the roads safer," he said.
Baird said MPs had “expressed a concern” after hearing Toyota executives say Tuesday they waited more than three months before advising customers of serious problems with their vehicles.
The minister said he was being careful with his words because he is “explicitly not allowed to direct a criminal investigation or criminal charges.”
Toyota and other vehicle manufacturers and importers are obliged to notify the minister and current owners upon becoming aware of defects that could affect the safety of any person.
But, Baird said, there is no need for manufacturers to report every complaint since some can be frivolous.
The minister said he plans to hand over 650 pages of complaints on Toyota products received by his department since 2000. He will also release 2,500 pages of email exchanges between his officials and Toyota Canada to MPs studying Toyota’s recall process.
Toyota Canada’s managing director Stephen Beatty told MPs Tuesday, the company wasn't sure what it was faced with when a first case of sticky pedal causing untended acceleration was reported in late October.
The Japanese auto giant issued a recall on Jan. 21.
Toyota has issued recalls for more than 737,000 vehicles in Canada. These are mostly for floor mat pedal entrapment and sticking accelerator pedal, but also include a brake issue in Prius, brake tube chaffing in Camry, driveshaft failure in Tacoma and cross member corrosion in Tundra.
The company began airing new television commercials Monday promising to do “whatever it takes” to regain customers’ confidence.
althia.raj@sunmedia.ca
