Beginning in Mississauga, Ontario, Toyota Canada representatives will tour the country's major cities this week to demonstrate exactly what went wrong and what they've done to fix it.

In the process, they hope to convince consumers that much of the negative publicity that has tarnished the company's reputation stems from events in the U.S. and shouldn't concern Canadian consumers.

So what are Toyota Canada's main points?

Toyota Canada says its main difficulty has been separating its parent company's problems in the U.S. market - where a recall of four million vehicles over concerns about pedals getting stuck in floor mats has resulted in a criminal investigation - from what it describes as lesser problems north of the border.

The floor mat issue, which has allegedly contributed to 34 U.S. fatalities since 2000, was not a problem in Canada because vehicles sold here use different floor mats, according to Toyota Canada spokeswoman.

Toyota Canada was also involved in another, bigger recall of 270,000 vehicles due to a sticky accelerator pedal. Toyota has rolled out a fix to that problem and to date approximately 30 percent of the affected vehicles have been repaired.

Toyota Canada said it has only received five customer complaints related to the sticky pedal problem.

In the U.S., federal prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into Toyota's safety problems as the company prepares to testify before a congressional hearing this week.
One of the issues that will be investigated by Congress is whether the Japanese automaker purposely limited the initial floor mat recall to save money.

Employees at Toyota plants and dealerships in the U.S. have expressed concern that jobs could be lost if Congress is too hard on the company. But a representative said the difference between the issues in the U.S. and Canada, as well as Toyota Canada's quick response to the problems, makes it unlikely that jobs will be lost here.

"If we can do the right thing by our existing customers then I believe that the brand strength is going to be quite high," he said. "Could you have a short-term impact? Sure, but I think longer term, people are going to look back and say, 'Toyota responded exactly the way you'd expect Toyota to respond."

So what are your thoughts on this whole ordeal? Do you think Toyota's media blitz will have a positive impact on Canadians?