The US sales of Toyota vehicles declined nearly 9 percent in February.

February was the first full month in which Toyota was able to assess the declines in its fortunes over the recall of millions of its cars.

During the month the Japanese automaker also suspended sales over concerns about the safety of its vehicles.

However, Toyota has announced it still managed to beat sales expectations in February, retaining the title of the third largest automaker in terms of volume in the United States.

Rather than seeing double digit declines, Toyota sold more than 100,000 vehicles in the US last month, only about nine thousand fewer than for the same period last year.