TOKYO/DETROIT – Honda Motor Co said it would recall another 440,000 cars around the world for faulty airbags as rival Toyota Motor Corp faced further probes over its largest-ever safety crisis. Honda, Japan's No. 2 automaker, has now recalled close to 950,000 vehicles for airbag problems linked to one fatality and a total of 11 injuries in the United States. While auto recalls are not uncommon and Honda's is not huge, it comes at a sensitive time for an industry struggling to draw customers back to showrooms after a brutal downturn. Toyota President Akio Toyoda will come to the United States in early March to meet government officials and to visit the carmaker's local operations, delaying a trip initially scheduled for next week due to the heavy snowfall in Washington, the Nikkei newspaper reported. A Republican lawmaker, U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, has invited Toyoda to meet with members of Congress the week of February 22. He is also urging the House Oversight Committee chairman to invite Toyoda to a February 24 hearing. A Toyota representative could not immediately be reached for comment. Toyoda's US visit comes as the world's biggest automaker faces a storm of criticism over safety issues and perceptions that the carmaker has been too slow to respond. Toyota representatives were not immediately available for a comment. In the latest of a string of product problems for Toyota, U.S. regulators said they were reviewing dozens of complaints about potential steering problems in newer Toyota Corollas. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it was discussing the matter with Toyota to see if a formal investigation was warranted, a standard procedure when reviewing complaints. Toyota will stop production of its Lexus HS250h and Sai hybrids in Japan from Saturday through February 20 as it modifies the production process to fix braking problems in the vehicles, a company spokeswoman said. The move comes a day after Toyota expanded its recall to include more than 400,000 of its latest Prius and other new hybrid models due to insufficient braking. It also recalled more than 7,300 late-model Camrys in the United States for a separate braking issue.
