Toyota President Akio Toyoda has apologised for the recall of millions of cars across the world and pledged to set up a new quality control committee.

Mr Toyoda said he was “deeply sorry” for the recalls and admitted Toyota faced “a moment of crisis”.

He added the firm was still deciding what to do about brake problems on some Prius hybrid models.

Toyota has already recalled more than eight million cars worldwide over concerns about accelerator pedals.

The US Transportation Department is investigating braking problems in the 2010 Toyota Prius after Toyota admitted brake problems with the model.

“There are reasons to believe that a recall could be put in place [in the US and Japan], but it’s still early hours and early days,” said Toyota UK’s managing director Miguel Fonseca.