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US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Wednesday he wanted to speak to Toyota's president on the issue of safety recalls as the Japanese auto giant faced mounting woes on the issue.
LaHood told reporters he would raise US concerns with Akio Toyoda, the Toyota family scion named a year ago to steer the Japanese automaker.
"I have said that I intend to call Mr Toyoda and talk to him about this issue," LaHood said.
The US transport chief meanwhile sought to tone down remarks he made earlier in the day when suggested owners of Toyota vehicles should stop driving them.
"What I said... was obviously a misstatement," he said.
"What I meant to say and what I thought I said was if you own one of these cars or if you're in doubt, take it to the dealer and they're going to fix it."
To emphasize the retraction, LaHood's office said in a statement that "the secretary was not saying people should stop driving recalled vehicles altogether."
"The DOT is advising owners of recalled vehicles to contact their local dealerships to arrange for fixes as soon as possible," spokeswoman Olivia Alair added.
LaHood repeated that his agency was studying the possibility of civil penalties on Toyota for safety violations, which could mean fines of millions of dollars.
On Monday, LaHood said Toyota's recall of millions of vehicles with defective pedals that can get stuck and cause unwanted acceleration came only after pressure from the US government.
Toyota disputed the account and said it had made the recall voluntarily.
The Japanese firm said separately it had reported dozens of complaints in North America and Japan about brake failure on its popular Prius hybrid.
Japan's transport ministry said it had received at least 13 complaints about Prius brakes in the two months to January alone.
The Japanese giant, which overtook General Motors in 2008 as the top-selling automaker, has been hit by a series of safety issues that have dented its coveted reputation as a producer of safe and reliable vehicles.
The company is recalling almost eight million vehicles worldwide -- roughly equivalent to its entire 2009 global sales -- due to problems with accelerator pedals that could cause the car to speed up unintentionally.
