Add Lexus Model to Potential Recall List

Toyota Motor Corp. says it is investigating possible brake problems with its luxury Lexus hybrid in Japan and the United States.
Toyota spokeswoman Ririko Takeuchi said Friday the Japanese auto giant has launched a probe into the Lexus HS250h model because it uses the same brake system as the Prius hybrid. Toyota is reportedly considering a recall of the Prius hybrid in Japan and the U.S. due to brake problems.

Takeuchi said Toyota has not received any complaints about the Lexus HS250h model, and that the probe is to ensure safety.

But Toyota has discounted or concealed complaints in the past before admitting to problems and initiating massive recalls.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said this week that Toyota was recalcitrant in refusing to deal with or even fully acknowledge the gas pedal problems that have killed several people in the U.S., resisting a fix until U.S. regulators traveled to Japan to confront the company's top brass.

The company was so resistant, LaHood said, that it took a trip from federal safety officials to Japan to "wake them up" to the seriousness of the pedal problems.

Former NHTSA administrator Joan Claybrook said Toyota has long been resistant to regulation.

"I think Toyota has been recalcitrant and very secretive and it does not like to recall vehicles and I think it did everything it could to delay this issue," Claybrook told Reynolds.

"The first line of defense is 'The consumer was wrong, they stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake. It's their fault,'" Claybrook said.

And Dmitrios Biller, a former Toyota lawyer who handled product liability lawsuits, said in multiple media interviews that the automaker willfully tried to suppress evidence of defects.

"Toyota is a very secretive corporation," Biller told the Los Angeles Times. "It doesn't believe anybody outside the corporation deserves to know what is going on inside, even if it kills somebody."

"You have to understand that Toyota in Japan does not have any respect for our legal system. They did not have any respect for our laws," he also told ABC News.

Toyota faced mounting pressure Thursday as the government opened a probe into the Prius brake problems. The beleaguered automaker said it was "too soon" to decide whether to add the hybrid to the millions of cars it has recalled.

Some owners of the 2010 Prius have reported their brakes do not always engage immediately when they press the brake pedal, or that the brakes have an inconsistent feel. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it would assess the scope of the problem and the safety risk to about 37,000 cars that could be affected.

The investigation comes as safety questions surround Toyota, which has already issued broad recalls for millions of its best-selling vehicles, including the Corolla and Camry, because of gas pedals that can become stuck.

U.S. officials have blessed Toyota's solution to that problem, a small piece of steel designed to eliminate excess friction in the pedal mechanism, but have criticized Toyota for being too slow in responding to customer complaints.

Asked whether Toyota would recall the 2010 Prius, spokesman Brian Lyons said: "It's too soon to call at this point. We will, of course, fully cooperate with NHTSA in that investigation."

Read more about the Toyota recall at CBSNews.com

Toyota Faces Cost of Repairs, Lawsuits
Government Opens Probe into Prius Brakes
Toyota Admits Prius Brake Problem
Toyota Reports $1.7B Quarterly Profit
Are Toyota Woes and Opening for GM, Ford?
Toyota Dealers Get $75K to Win Back Buyers
Ray LaHood Comments Show Toyota Owners' Conundrum
LaHood: I Overstated Toyota Warning

Now there are questions about the government's oversight role, reports CBS News correspondent Dean Reynolds, such as a 2008 lawsuit involving an allegedly runaway Toyota charges that a federal investigation was unaccountably narrowed right after one former employee of the NHTSA took a job with Toyota.

Another issue - a federal test more than two years ago turned up clear evidence of sticking gas pedals on Toyota's Lexus, but no action was taken, Reynolds reports.

Congressional investigators expanded their review of Toyota to include the Prius as California Rep. Darrell Issa, the ranking Republican on the House Oversight Committee, asked Toyota for records on its Prius brakes.