Toyota U.S. execs to meet Tokyo management

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - U.S. executives of Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) will meet with the company's top management in Japan over the next several days amid a deepening product safety crisis, a U.S. executive said on Saturday.

Yoshi Inaba, president of Toyota North America, and U.S. sales chief Jim Lentz were on their way to Japan on Saturday to brief senior executives before U.S. congressional hearings scheduled for later this month, Don Esmond, senior vice president of Toyota Motor Sales, told Reuters in an interview.

The two executives' trip comes at a time when the world's top automaker is reeling from massive safety recalls that have cut into sales and financial results and tarnished its once-stellar reputation for quality.

U.S. Representative Darrell Issa, the top Republican on the House of Representatives Oversight and Government Committee, is pressing his case to get Toyota President Akio Toyoda to testify before a congressional committee. Congress has scheduled three hearings to probe Toyota's handling of the matter, for February 24 and 25 and March 2.

"Jim Lentz and Mr. Inaba are flying over there now to talk to them," said Esmond, adding Toyoda's itinerary may be decided at that time.

Esmond spoke on the sidelines of the annual National Automobile Dealers Associations convention in Orlando.

Toyota has recalled more than 8.5 million vehicles globally due to the risk that sticky accelerator pedals or loose floormats may result in unintended acceleration.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is reviewing consumer complaints that unintended acceleration problems may be linked to Toyota's electronic "drive-by-wire" throttle system. Toyota has ruled that out as a cause of the problem.

Esmond said he was "absolutely" confident that repairing accelerator pedals or replacing loose floormats was the right fix to address the risk of unintended acceleration, and said Toyota's electronics system had been "thoroughly tested."

"We have no indication that the electronic throttle is an issue. We are not the only ones with electronic throttles," he said.

To provide additional safety measures, Toyota also aims to install a brake override system -- which would shift vehicles into neutral when the accelerator and brake are depressed at the same time -- in its entire vehicle lineup by the end of 2011, he said.

'COMPETITIVE' INCENTIVES

Esmond said about 400,000 U.S. consumers had their vehicle's sticky accelerator pedals fixed so far. By the end of February, most of 131,000 vehicles at U.S. dealerships are expected to be fixed and be back in the showrooms for sale, he said.

Toyota's U.S. sales dropped 16 percent in January to the lowest level in more than a decade, after it suspended sales of top-selling vehicles subject to safety recalls, including the Camry and Corolla sedans.

Esmond said Toyota's U.S. sales would be down sharply in February from a year earlier, with more than half of vehicles at dealerships waiting to be fixed before being sold to consumers.

He said Toyota would offer "competitive incentives" to attract consumers and take steps to reinforce the brand hurt by Toyota's largest recall in history. The automaker will also take care of the inventory financing costs its dealers have suffered during the suspension of sales, he said.

"We're going to need something to reinforce the brand. I think we'll look at anything and everything," Esmond said.

He added that despite the "little hiccup in the short term," Toyota could regain U.S. consumer trust and come out stronger from the crisis if it handled the recall process properly.

(Reporting by Soyoung Kim and Bernie Woodall; Editing by Philip Barbara and Peter Cooney)