On Wednesday, harsh comments shared by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood sent shares of the already struggling Toyota Motor Corp. falling even more , after he advised owners of recalled automobiles to "stop driving" Toyota's cars. Later, however, the remark was characterized as a "misstatement".

By the time Wednesday afternoon rolled in, shares of Toyota managed to recover some ground, after plunging by a whopping 8% on the New York Stock Exchange, to trade at a 5% lower value of $74.30.

The bitter and explosive comments by Secretary LaHood, shared at a House of Representatives hearing, managed to create new confusion over how customers should respond to Toyota major January recall of as many as 2.4 million automobiles over malfunctioning accelerator pedals.

"My advice is if anybody owns one of these vehicles is to stop driving it and take it to a Toyota dealer because they believe they have the fix for it. I want to encourage owners of any recalled Toyota models to contact their local dealer and get their vehicles fixed as soon as possible", Mr. LaHood said.