TOKYO (AP) _ Prosecutors have decided against filing charges against three Toyota officials under investigation on suspicion of avoiding recalls that may have led to an accident, a major Japanese business daily reported Tuesday.

Toyota Motor Corp. spokesman Paul Nolasco declined comment on The Nikkei report, saying the company had yet to be officially notified of any decision. Prosecutors in Kumamoto, in southern Japan where the accident occurred, also declined comment. Toyota has denied wrongdoing in the case.

The Nikkei reported without citing sources that investigators had decided it would be difficult to move ahead with professional negligence charges in the 2004 head-on crash.

Five people were injured in that accident when steering failed in a Toyota Hilux Surf sport utility vehicle, causing it to swing out of control into the wrong lane, police said.

At the centre of the investigation is whether Toyota had avoided making a needed recall for eight years. Company officials are accused of being aware of the steering problem as far back as 1995 or 1996, with reports of problems initially surfacing in 1992.

Toyota did not carry out a recall on the model until October 2004. The recall was for a problem part used in the steering system that could break, according to Toyota.

Prosecutors took over a police investigation last year that accused the three officials overseeing quality control at the automaker. Their names have not been disclosed, and Toyota has said at least one of them has left the company.

Toyota's sales are growing rapidly worldwide and in the first quarter it surpassed General Motors Corp. in global sales and production, the first time that's happened in a quarter.

Toyota has a strong reputation for impeccable quality, but that image has been dented a bit lately due to series of recalls, which have raised some doubts whether it can maintain quality standards as its global sales expand rapidly.

Toyota executives have repeatedly expressed concerns about sliding quality and have promised to strengthen quality controls.

A scandal involving recall coverups has taken a huge toll on Mitsubishi Motors Corp. In 2000, Mitsubishi Motors acknowledged it had been systematically hiding auto defects from authorities for more than two decades.

Mitsubishi Motors, which reported its first profit in four years in the fiscal year ended March 31, disclosed in 2004 it had failed to come clean in 2000, and has carried out a spate of recalls.

Nissan Motor Co. is also beefing up quality controls, stressing the need for transparency. A new Nissan centre in Japan to check into defects, working closely with suppliers, opened last month.