Toyota details safety fix, damage claims mount

The moves by Toyota marked the most detail the automaker has provided on its plans to address a safety issue that threatens its finances and reputation, and dented its U.S. sales for January.

Lawsuits announced on Monday claimed Toyota had ignored signs of trouble with some of its top-selling models. The suits are part of what is expected to be a wave of litigation against the automaker for claims ranging from losses on car resale values to injury and death.

Analysts and dealers said it would take months for the automaker to fix all of the vehicles at risk of having an accelerator pedal stick in the open position.

"We know what's causing the sticking accelerator pedals, and we know what we have to do to fix it," said Jim Lentz, president of Toyota's U.S. sales subsidiary.

"We deeply regret the concern that our recalls have caused for our customers, and we are doing everything we can – as fast as we can -- to make things right."

Toyota's U.S. dealers said they would begin training on Tuesday on how to repair vehicles under recall by inserting a metal plate designed to keep the pedal from sticking.

In Canada, Toyota said it would begin notifying owners of 270,000 vehicles with the faulty accelerator pedal to begin coming in for the repair, expected to take less than an hour.

Toyota also said it would begin shipping the needed replacement part to fix an estimated 1.8 million vehicles in Europe this week.

The first round of repairs is expected to cost Toyota at least $250 million in warranty fees in the United States alone. Some Toyota dealerships said they would stay open around the clock to speed customer repairs or hire more mechanics to fix cars overnight.

Criticism is mounting that Toyota moved too slowly to address cases of unintended and dangerous acceleration. The claims have tarnished Toyota's reputation for quality, one of the factors behind Toyota's rise to overtake General Motors Co as the world's largest automaker.

A growing number of lawsuits claim that Toyota should have acted earlier to address the problems, which resulted in a suspension of sales of its most popular models last week, including the top-selling Camry.