Geo 436 SAO PAULO: One of Brazil’’s biggest states, Minas Gerais, on Thursday ordered a ban on the sales of Toyota Corollas, saying the best-selling car presented a safety threat because of an acceleration problem. “Some vehicles present problems of continual acceleration, putting in danger the lives of occupants,” the state’’s public ministry said in a statement. The Minas Gerais ministry said nine Toyota Corollas in the state had shown accelerator problems that the Japanese auto giant said were caused by badly-installed floor mats on the driver’’s side. “Sales of the model will only be authorized once the manufacturer has taken measures to change the original factory mat in all vehicles in circulation,” it said, in effect demanding Toyota recall all Corollas. The ban compounded Toyota’’s worldwide problems. On Thursday, the ratings agency Moody’’s downgraded the company’’s credit rating, citing uncertainty over “product quality” following mass recalls of several models. Toyota has recalled around 10 million vehicles internationally due to accelerator and brake defects. US authorities in February opened an investigation into problems with the Corolla, based on complaints that the car could accelerate suddenly. At least 34 deaths in the United States have been blamed on the problem. Toyota faces at least 97 US lawsuits seeking damages for injury or death linked to sudden acceleration and 138 class action lawsuits from American customers suing to recoup losses in the resale value of Toyota vehicles. The Corolla is one of the top-selling cars in the world, with more than 30 million sold since it first rolled out of Toyota’’s factories in the 1960s.
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