Toyota Faces Racketeering Charges, Shares Drop

Taking hits from all over for the manner in which it handled the recent recalls, as well as for the way in which its cars are built, Japanese carmaker Toyota registered another 0.6 percent drop in shares in Tokyo on Thursday, a percentage above the 0.3 percent decline in the Nikkei 225 Average, Market Watch reported.

In addition to the recall problems and civil damage claims filed by Toyota owners in the US, the carmaker is now facing racketeering claims. According to Reuters, by using federal racketeering laws to amend the class-action complaints, the carmaker faces more potential liability. So far, class-action complaints against Toyota reached the 80 mark, in some 40 states.

Under US laws, a commercial enterprise can be found liable for triple the damages for any harm caused by its fraudulent activities.

To ease the pressure, Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda, said in an interview with the Nikkei business daily the company will continue to take action and make quality the precursor of quantity. A way to do that is to hire more locals for regional divisions.

"Around fiscal 2002, when our annual output surpassed 6 million units, we started moving so fast that we didn't have time to bring up our workers the right way," Toyoda said.

"The personnel who know best what's happening on the spot are going to be the ones that make the decisions there."