U.S. consumer advocate Ralph Nader criticized Transport Canada on Wednesday for not taking a more active role in dealing with Toyota Motor Corp.'s problems with gas pedals that stick.

"Transport Canada has got to get into this," Nader said in an interview with CBC News Network's the Lang & O'Leary Exchange. "I get the feeling that the Canadian authorities are relying … too much on Washington. I wouldn't do that if I were Transport Canada."

Nadar wrote Unsafe at Any Speed, the 1965 book widely viewed as leading to higher safety standards in the auto industry. On Wednesday, he said consumers have to take matters into their own hands and complain to regulators. Only complaints can allow those agencies to act, he said.

Nader predicted recalls could increase because budget cuts have made U.S. safety regulators less effective.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says Toyota was slow to deal with safety problems with its gas pedals. (Cliff Owen/Associated Press) Also Wednesday, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood back-pedalled from comments he made earlier that Toyota owners affected by the recall should not drive their cars until they're fixed.

LaHood said he misspoke and meant only that people should take the vehicles to dealerships for repairs. It was "obviously a misstatement," LaHood said, when he told owners: "Stop driving it. Take it to a Toyota dealer because they believe they have a fix for it."

The remark came during testimony to the U.S. House appropriations subcommittee on transportation.

Toyota's most recent recall in the United States affects 2.3 million vehicles with gas pedals that have the potential to stick. The recall applies to about 270,000 vehicles in Canada and 4.2 million vehicles worldwide.

On Tuesday, LaHood criticized Toyota for being too slow addressing the safety issues around gas pedals.

He credited his own department for forcing Toyota to deal with the problem. The company only reacted after U.S. transportation officials travelled to Japan for face-to-face talks to "wake them up" to the seriousness of the sticky pedals, LaHood said.

Toyota Canada said Monday it will install a steel reinforcement bar to fix the pedals. The announcement came the same day disgruntled Toyota owners in Canada launched class-action lawsuits against the embattled auto manufacturer.

Widening investigation

U.S. safety officials have widened their investigation to see whether the gas-pedal problem could exist in vehicles from other auto manufacturers that used the same supplier as Toyota.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it has sent a letter to CTS, the Indiana company that made the pedals for Toyota. The safety agency wants to know more about gas pedals that CTS — which has a manufacturing facility in Mississauga, Ont. — made for other auto companies.

CTS says it makes pedals for Honda and Nissan cars and a small number of Ford vehicles in China. The company has been adamant the issues are limited to Toyota alone. Other automakers have said their pedals are based on different designs and aren't at risk of the same problems.

The Japanese company's sales are being battered in the U.S. — Toyota's biggest market — because of the recalls.

Toyota has also been hit by more than 100 complaints in the U.S. and Japan about brake problems with its popular Prius hybrid. The gas-electric hybrid, which went on sale in Japan and the U.S. in May, is not part of the recalls that extend to Europe and China.

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said two of the complaints about Prius brakes involved crashes that resulted in injuries.

14 Prius complaints in Japan

Japan's Transport Ministry said Wednesday it has received 14 complaints since July about brake problems with the new hybrid. The ministry ordered Toyota to investigate and has yet to receive a formal report from the company, Transport Ministry official Masaya Ota said.

Any serious problems emerging in the Prius, Toyota's flagship green car model, are certain to further tarnish its brand.

The Prius, now in its third generation since its 1997 introduction, is the bestselling gas-electric hybrid in the world, racking up a cumulative 1.6 million vehicles sold so far, according to Toyota.

With files from The Associated Press