ORLANDO, Fla. - The nation's largest Toyota dealer Saturday said the automaker's executives in Japan may have been slow to share with American counterparts the scope of the problems that triggered a recall of more than 8 million vehicles, The Detroit News reported.

Mike Jackson, chairman and chief executive of AutoNation Inc., said that disconnect may have slowed acknowledgment and disclosure of vehicle safety problems that have tarnished the world's largest automaker.

"By the time there are issues here, Japan was dealing with it for a while," Jackson told reporters at the National Automobile Dealers Association convention. "They didn't get ahead of it. They have to do better in the future. I think Toyota has to take that to heart."

Toyota spokesman Mike Michels would not comment on what appears to be an opinion expressed by Jackson.

"All of Toyota is responsible," Michels said. "The company as a whole takes responsibility for its actions."

AutoNation owns 207 dealerships nationwide, a figure that includes 21 Toyota stores, which generate 20 percent of AutoNation's sales. The Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based company is responsible for 3 percent of all Toyota sales in the U.S.

Jackson estimates Toyota may have lost a point of market share as a result of the recalls but will recover the majority of its lost share in March and April once recalled vehicles are fixed and sales resume. But customers will need an incentive to overcome any ill will generated by the recalls, a move suggested recently by many dealers.