The Transportation Department said it had reviewed more than 400,000 pages of Toyota documents to determine whether the scope of the company's recalls for pedal entrapment was sufficient.

"As a result of the agency's review, (the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) asked Toyota to recall these additional vehicles, and now that the company has done so, our investigation is closed," said NHTSA administrator David Strickland.

Toyota has now recalled more than 14 million vehicles globally to fix gas pedals and other safety problems since 2009. U.S. regulators said earlier this month that electronic flaws were not to blame for reports of sudden, unintended acceleration. The company paid the U.S. government a record $48.8 million in fines for its handling of three recalls.

The world's No. 1 auto company said more than half of the vehicles under recall were being added to a massive 2009 recall that fixed gas pedals getting trapped in the floor mat.

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The Transportation Department, assisted by engineers with NASA, said its 10-month study of Toyota vehicles concluded there was no electronic cause of unintended high-speed acceleration in Toyotas. The study, which was launched at the request of Congress, responded to consumer complaints that flawed electronics could be the culprit behind Toyota's spate of recalls.

"We enlisted the best and brightest engineers to study Toyota's electronics systems and the verdict is in. There is no electronic-based cause for unintended acceleration in Toyotas," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement.

Toyota has recalled more than 12 million vehicles globally since fall 2009 to address sticking accelerator pedals, gas pedals that became trapped in floor mats, and other safety issues. The recalls have posed a major challenge for the world's No. 1 automaker, which has scrambled to protect its reputation for safety and reliability.

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Topping the list of Rangel's transgressions was the misuse of his congressional clout to raise money for a vanity academic "center" named after him at the City University of New York from private donors. Yet somehow McConnell got away with the same kind of dubious dealings at the University of Louisville -- and was allowed to reward BAE Systems, donor of $500,000 to the McConnell Center, with $17 million worth of defense earmarks.

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The Japanese automaker will begin selling a Prius station wagon starting next summer as either a 2011 or 2012 model, said Adam Lee, president of the Lee Auto Malls chain of dealerships in Maine. It will sell a plug-in version of the Prius that can get 30 miles on a charge starting later in the year, he said.

Toyota unveiled the new vehicles at its annual dealer meeting in Los Vegas this week. Lee was briefed on the new models by the manager of his Toyota dealership, who was in attendance.

Toyota spokesman Sam Butto declined to comment on any specific product plans,

"We will be coming out with some additional Prius products, but that's really all I can say at this time," Butto said.

Toyota has said in the past it hopes to expand the Prius name to a family of vehicles. The Prius is the best-selling hybrid in the U.S., but sales have been flat this year as the automaker continues to suffer from the fallout from huge recalls.

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From the Wall Street Journal:

"We decided it was inappropriate to continue the investigation while keeping the suspect in custody any further, considering the future of the Japan-China relationship," said Kenji Suzuki, a senior prosecutor at the Naha prosecutors' office in Okinawa, a hastily called news conference Friday afternoon.

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A spokesman for China's Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economics is denying that any such trade embargo exists, but Bradsher's article makes a convincing case that some kind of message has come down from on high to restrict the flow of minerals. Regular readers of HTWW will understand the significance of the move. Rare earth elements play an extraordinarily important role in the high tech, clean energy economy -- as well as advanced military technology such as missile guidance systems.

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That is, if we can trust Arnold Schwarzenegger's loose lips. The governor unexpectedly announced the joint venture while speaking at Google's headquarters Thursday morning. Tesla had previously scheduled a press conference for 5 p.m., but details of the deal with Toyota were embargoed.

But if a puny embargo could stop the Terminator, there probably wouldn't have been three sequels.

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The Japanese automaker said Tuesday it had asked dealers to temporarily suspend sales of the SUV while it conducts its own tests on the GX 460.

"We are taking the situation with the GX 460 very seriously and are determined to identify and correct the issue Consumer Reports identified," said Mark Templin, Lexus vice president and general manager.

The decision to stop selling the SUV is the latest blow to Toyota's tarnished safety reputation after the recall of millions of cars and trucks over gas pedals that are too slow to retract or that can become stuck under floor mats. The GX 460 is not covered by the pedal recalls.

Toyota said about 6,000 have been sold since the vehicle went on sale in late December.

Consumer Reports is closely read by many car buyers before choosing a new car or truck. In January, it pulled its "recommended" rating on eight vehicles recalled by the automaker due to faulty gas pedals.

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In the latest blow to Toyota's reputation, the magazine said that during a test of the vehicle's performance during unusual turns, the rear of the vehicle slid until it was nearly sideways before the electronic stability control system kicked in.

Consumer Reports said in real-world driving, such a scenario could cause a rollover accident. As a result, the magazine has given the seven-seat SUV a "Don't Buy: Safety Risk" label until the problem is fixed.

"In a real world situation, by that time, the car can hit the curb or the side of the road and that's the situation where, in a vehicle like that, it could cause it to roll over," said Gabriel Shenhar, senior auto test engineer at Consumer Reports, who was one of four testers to experience the problem.

Consumer Reports said the last vehicle to receive such a warning was the 2001 Mitsubishi Montero Limited. It said among the 95 SUVs in its current ratings, no other slid as far as the GX 460.

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A House panel on Thursday planned to examine the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's oversight of the auto industry in the latest congressional hearing linked to Toyota's recall of more than 8 million vehicles worldwide. Safety groups have accused NHTSA of being too cozy with the Japanese automaker while lacking the resources to test for vehicle problems that could be electronic, not mechanical.

"NHTSA has been viewed by the motor vehicle industry for years as a lapdog, not a watchdog," Joan Claybrook, a former NHTSA administrator under President Jimmy Carter, said in prepared testimony.

Congress is considering new auto industry reforms following Toyota's recalls to fix problems with accelerator pedals and brakes. NHTSA has tied 52 deaths to crashes allegedly caused by the accelerator problems, and the agency has received new complaints from owners who had their cars fixed and said their vehicles suddenly accelerated afterward.

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David Strickland, the administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, says the agency is contacting these consumers to find out what's happening and make sure Toyota is doing everything possible to make its vehicles safe.

Strickland says in a statement that if owners are still experiencing sudden acceleration after taking their cars to the dealership, "we want to know about it."

So far, the government has received a limited number of acceleration complaints from the Toyota owners whose floor mats or gas pedals already have been fixed. Toyota recalled more than 8 million vehicles.

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Despite some analysts' predictions of single-digit gains, sales rose 13 percent over last February and all major automakers but Toyota Motor Corp. reported higher U.S. sales. Most took customers from the Japanese automaker, which has been struggling with a series of massive safety recalls. Toyota's U.S. market share fell to 12.8 percent, its lowest level since July 2005, according to Ward's AutoInfoBank.

To win back sales, Toyota said it will offer zero-percent financing on most models this month plus two years of free maintenance to returning customers. General Motors Co. and Chrysler LLC matched the financing deals.

Toyota's U.S. sales fell 9 percent last month, besting some analysts' predictions that its sales would fall by double digits. Meanwhile Ford, GM, Nissan, Honda, Hyundai and BMW all reported double-digit growth compared with February 2009, at the depth of the recession. The gains might have been even higher without the blizzards that paralyzed the East Coast.

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The footage is being played over and over on TV news Thursday in Japan where the public has always had a soft spot for tearful executives under attack.

The latest performance to win hearts: a choked-up Toyoda barely able to finish his sentences during a meeting with dozens of Toyota dealers in Washington -- a far more receptive crowd than the skeptical lawmakers who had grilled him about the automaker's safety lapses earlier in the day.

"People are going to feel sorry for him because he had to go through a theatrical ordeal overseas, a very unusual situation for a Japanese executive," said Kuniyoshi Shirai, executive adviser at A.C.E. Consulting in Tokyo.

The Japanese don't have a monopoly on sincerity and passion, but a show of heartfelt remorse goes a long way in consensus-oriented Japan, where intentions, not just results, carry meaning.

Although tears would be a sign of weakness for an American executive, the Japanese public are swayed by emotions because empathy for a weak person is valued as an honorable trait, says Tatsumi Tanaka, president of Risk Hedge, a consultant for major companies.

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The only difference? Toyoda and Inaba appeared more sincere than your typical American in their embarrassment at not being able or willing to remember anything substantive. Whether that reflected cultural differences or simply a lack of experience with the political theater of a standing-room-only Congressional hearing is hard to say. The whole event had a distinct feeling of culture clash, with American aggressive political posturing smashing into Japanese demure saving-face subtlety, accentuated by Toyoda's inability to speak English, which required repeated pauses in the action while the CEO had questions translated for him, responded in Japanese, and then had his answers translated.

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Toyota officials said they saved $100 million by successfully negotiating with the U.S. government on a limited recall of floor mats in some Toyota and Lexus vehicles, according to new documents shared with congressional investigators.

Toyota, in an internal presentation in July 2009 at its Washington office, said it saved $100 million or more by negotiating an "equipment recall" of floor mats involving 55,000 Toyota Camry and Lexus ES350 vehicles in September 2007.

The savings are listed under the title, "Wins for Toyota -- Safety Group." The document cites millions of dollars in other savings by delaying safety regulations, avoiding defect investigations and slowing down other industry requirements.

The documents could set off alarms in Congress over whether Toyota put profits ahead of customer safety and pushed regulators to narrow the scope of recalls. Two House committees are holding hearings this week on the Japanese automaker's recall of 8.5 million vehicles in recent months to deal with safety problems involving gas pedals, floor mats and brakes.

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State Farm insurance says it noticed an uptick in reports of unwanted acceleration in Toyotas from its large database and warned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Congressional investigators are looking into whether the government missed warning signs of problems with Toyota vehicles. The Japanese automaker has recalled millions of vehicles. NHTSA (NIT-sa) spokeswoman Karen Aldana says State Farm forwarded the agency a Sept. 7, 2007, claim letter to Toyota concerning a crash involving a 2005 Camry. She says the report was reviewed and added to their complaint database.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

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The recall of the gas-electric Prius will cover cars that went on sale since May last year through January, Kyodo news agency reported late Monday.

Kyodo, which did not identify its sources for the information, said the automaker will notify authorities in Japan and the U.S. of its plan, which will cover more than 270,000 of the hybrids sold in the two countries.

Toyota spokeswoman Ririko Takeuchi said no decision on a Prius recall has been made. Kenji Sugai, an official in Japan's Transport Ministry section in charge of recalls, said it had not been informed of any such plan by Toyota.

The Kyodo report follows others in Japanese media recently that the world's largest automaker has decided to announce a recall early this week. The company has only said it will soon announce plans to deal with the braking problem.

At least 100 drivers of Prius cars in the U.S. have complained to the government that their antilock brakes seemed to fail momentarily while driving on bumpy roads. The Japanese government has also received dozens of complaints. Toyota plans to fix a software glitch to correct the problem. The government says the problem is suspected in four crashes that caused two minor injuries.

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But Akio Toyoda, also Toyota's CEO, said the automaker is still deciding what steps to take to fix brake problems in the popular Prius gas-electric hybrid.

Speaking at a hastily announced news conference, a stern-looking Toyoda promised to beef up quality control.

He said the company is setting up a special committee he would head himself.

It would review internal checks, go over consumer complaints and listen to outside experts to come up with a solution to the widening quality problems.

"I offer my apologies for the worries," he said in Japanese. "Many customers are wondering whether their cars are OK."

Toyoda said the company was moving quickly on the global recalls covering 4.5 million vehicles for sticking gas pedals, about half of them in the U.S.

Dealers are scrambling to make repairs on the gas pedals that need a new steel part to prevent sticking, he said.

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And now comes the news that the Japanese government has ordered an investigation of braking problems with the 2010 Prius, currently Japan's top-selling car. A Toyota representative is quoted by Bloomberg as stating that "the possibility of a recall is not zero." The Prius -- that icon of high technology -- may have a software bug in the braking system.

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Some portion of that success can be attributed to good management. CEO Alan Mullaly, a newcomer to the auto industry who parachuted in from Boeing in 2006, should get credit for keeping a tighter grip on corporate finances and moving adroitly to remix the automaker's product line.

But simply remaining standing while GM and Chrysler crashed and burned can not be underestimated as a marketing tool. There is no scarlet "B" (for bankruptcy or bailout, take your pick) branded on Ford's chassis, which surely played a role in consumer auto-buying decisions in 2009. The misfortunes of its competitors gave the company a huge advantage.

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