Toyota Motor president Akio Toyoda on Friday apologised for the carmaker’s growing recall crisis in his first scheduled public appearance (at 9pm Japanese time in Nagoya, near Toyota City) since the company halted US sales and production of its best selling models last month but did not announce a new recall, this time for the latest Prius.

Toyoda admitted that the company faced "a moment of crisis" but pledged that "the safety of customers is vital," AFP reported.
Toyoda, grandson of the company's founder, said he was "deeply sorry about the inconvenience to customers due to recalls across multiple regions".

"Believe me, Toyota cars are safe," he said, briefly switching from Japanese to English. "Please believe, customer-first is our priority."
The company would set up a new committee on quality control, Toyoda added, Bloomberg News reported.

On top of global recalls for about 8m vehicles, Japan’s government has now ordered Toyota to investigate complaints from customers about brake failures affecting the latest Prius hybrid, Japan’s best-selling vehicle last year.

The carmaker would hire outside experts for its quality committee, executive vice president Shinichi Sasaki said.