NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Toyota Motor reported a 9% drop in U.S. sales in February from a year ago as the Japanese automaker continued to suffer from recall problems. Meanwhile, rival Ford Motor vaulted ahead of Toyota and GM to claim the market lead in the U.S. Sales were down for almost all of Toyota's models. One notable exception was a 10% rise in sales of the Prius hybrid, which was recalled due to a problem with its brakes. Still, it did not appear that Toyota's rivals were able to take complete advantage of Toyota's troubles... Toyota problems don't lead to big auto sales lift for rivals - Mar. 2, 2010
Another article seems to tie Toyota's sales declines to gains by its competitors: Ford, GM post sales gains during Toyota recalls - Autos- msnbc.com Cliff-Notes version: and
FWIW, (contrary to a lot of reporting) Ford's sales chief at News Headlines (caught part of this in the morning) at the ~1:50 mark downplayed the amount of prospective Toyota buyers coming to Ford due the Toyota recalls. He said it's not much more than normal. Also, 40% of Ford's sales last month were to fleets.
