Toyota today unveiled a task force aimed at regaining consumer trust and pledged to give more power to its regional operations to speed up decisions on quality issues.
Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who was criticised for not acting quickly enough when the company's safety issues first came to light earlier this year, convened a 50-member committee on quality at Toyota headquarters.
The meeting marked the first time that Toyota's newly named regional quality officers had met and came at a crucial time as the world's largest automaker attempts to recapture lost sales momentum in key markets including the United States.
Toyota said third-party experts in each region, including one in North America headed by former US transportation secretary Rodney Slater, would assess the steps it has taken to renew its focus on quality and safety. The initial review results are due to be released in June.
"We need a renewed commitment to placing customers first and to reviewing all our work processes from the customers' perspective," Toyoda, who chairs the committee, said ahead of the quality meeting. "We are counting on the new framework to optimise our decision-making both regionally and globally."
Toyota has recalled some 8.5 million vehicles globally in recent months. Those recalls take aim at accelerator pedals that can become stuck with condensation, pedals that can be held down by floor mats and a braking glitch on its Prius and other hybrids.
The quality slippage has highlighted the pressure on Toyota's stretched work force as it scrambled to keep up with soaring demand for its popular cars in the past decade.
To reverse the fall in quality, Toyota said it would strengthen information-gathering capabilities at the local level when suspected problems arise.
The company will also expand the use in North America of event data recorders, which can record data on vehicle condition and driver operations, and work with authorities in other markets to better analyse the causes of accidents, it said.
Toyota has repeatedly said it is confident in the safeguards built into its vehicle electronics and has seen no evidence that they have failed on the road. The company faces the prospect of civil fines of up to $16.4 million if US regulators determine it withheld key information.
Cases of unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles have been linked to 51 deaths in the United States over the last decade.