Toyota Exec: It's OK, My Son Drives a Prius

TORRANCE, California — In a continuing scramble to do damage control in the wake of recalls of Toyota vehicles, Toyota's top U.S. executive, President and COO Jim Lentz, appeared on Digg.com on Monday afternoon to reassure disgruntled Toyota owners and the general public about the safety of the Japanese automaker's vehicles. He said that one of his sons drives a 2010 Toyota Prius, which has been recalled.

"I wouldn't have my loved ones driving products that I didn't think were safe," Lentz said.

Lentz appeared unfazed by Toyota's recalls and any effect on his family. During Monday's interview, he said he did not have any information about whether the Prius would be recalled. The recall was announced at 1:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday, about seven hours after his appearance on Digg.com. When asked whether any of his family's Toyota vehicles have been in the shop as a result of Toyota's recalls, Lentz replied: "Not yet. Thus far, everything's been great." He also said his family would wait until they received a letter in the mail before taking their Toyota or Lexus vehicles into the shop to be fixed.

Lentz said he drives a Lexus RX 450h hybrid and his wife drives a 2006 Toyota Prius, which was not included in Tuesday's Prius recall. His discussion of his personal vehicles was in response to the No. 1 question by Digg.com participants: "What do you drive?" Digg.com offers a town-hall service that poses questions to subjects based on submissions by what it calls "the crowd."

An update was also provided on the progress of Toyota dealers in addressing the problem of sticking accelerator pedals on 2.3 million Toyota vehicles in the U.S. Lentz said, "Over 100,000 customers have come in" during the first four days of the effort to fix the pedals. At that rate, it will take approximately three months to get to all the affected vehicles.

"I think what's most important right now is the fix is in place," Lentz said. "That's how you start to build that trust back. Many of our dealers have added additional staff [and] are open 24/7. That is where we start building trust."

The Digg.com interviewer asked Lentz: "People have died driving your car. Is there anything you'd like to say?" Lentz replied: "Any time there is a loss of life, whether it's one or many, any time consumers have been in accidents, we're deeply sorry. This company in the United States has been built on 50 years of quality. We will redouble our efforts and work very, very hard to regain their trust. [But] the customers for the most part are very positive."

Inside Line says: Kind of like William Tell, shooting the apple off his kid's head to make a point. — Anita Lienert, Correspondent