Toyota's Bad Week Gets Worse

(Toyota article updated with commentary, background information and stock closing prices.)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The mixed messages coming from government safety regulators and Toyota(TM) regarding the company's massive recalls threaten to turn Toyota's bad week into a bad month -- or bad year.

Adding to Toyota's mounting public image problem is the revelation, today, of more braking issues. This time they've been found in Toyota's widely hailed new gas-electric hybrid, the Prius. Toyota has received about 180 complaints in the U.S. and Japan about the car's brakes, according to the Associated Press. Ultimately, a recall is not out of the question for the Prius, too.

In addition, it was revealed today that government safety regulators were aware of Toyota's sudden-acceleration problems more than two years ago. However, both they and Toyota apparently didn't know how broad the problem would become, according to the Washington Post. The investigation officially began in August 2007 and came amid numerous reports about acceleration problems with the 100 Lexus ES 350.

Still, more often than not, the investigations ended at the preliminary stage; this meant that investigators didn't proceed with engineering analysis of the problem, according to the Post. Why safety regulators and Toyota didn't resolve the problem from the beginning is now in question.

Toyota has told customers that the sudden acceleration problems have stemmed either from gas pedals sticking to floor mats or from malfunctioning auto-friction devices, which are supposed to make accelerator pedals steadier and more stable.

But now government safety regulators are looking into the vehicles' electronic throttle systems as the possible root of the problem.