A top Toyota executive, in a briefing with Edmunds.com staffers, clarified some points of the automaker's recent actions regarding the recall and subsequent sales and production suspension of eight best-selling Toyota-brand models. He described symptoms that suggest unintended acceleration in these vehicles could occur and provided an update on a remedy for the problem.

Meantime, Toyota expanded its stop-sale to Europe and Asia as well as to the U.S. Toyota Corolla/Matrix-based Pontiac Vibe, a model from a brand that General Motors has discontinued. The Vibe had been built at the New United Motor Manufacturing GM-Toyota joint venture plant in Fremont, California, that is being closed by Toyota. Toyota also added about 1 million vehicles to the floormat recall initiated last fall.