Toyota President Akio Toyoda will speak about quality control Friday in his first - and long awaited - news conference since the automaker announced massive global recalls last month, according to The Associated Press.

Criticism has been growing that Toyoda, grandson of the company's founder, has largely been invisible amid the automaker's worst crisis since it was founded.

Toyota Motor Corp. said Toyoda and Shinichi Sasaki, the executive overseeing quality, will speak to reporters at the automaker's Nagoya office Friday evening. Other details were not immediately available.

The only media comment so far from Toyoda was a brief, impromptu interview last week with Japanese broadcaster NHK on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He said he was sorry for the worries he had caused customers and insisted that Toyota cars were safe.

Toyota said this week it is considering a recall in the U.S. and Japan for its Prius gas-electric hybrid, which has been plagued with braking problems.

Nearly 200 complaints have been reported in the U.S. and Japan over such problems. Toyota said on Thursday it was a flaw in the computerized antilock brake system.

The problems with the Prius, Toyota's flagship model and symbol of its technological prowess and green car ambitions, follow a global recall announced Jan. 21 for 4.5 million vehicles with gas pedals that stick and can cause sudden acceleration.