Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. pledged Tuesday to prevent a recurrence of carbon monoxide poisoning caused by its defective kerosene heaters, which have claimed two lives and sickened eight others this year.

Matsushita Executive Vice President Kazuo Toda apologized to a senior official of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry on Tuesday afternoon over the fatal accidents and presented a program outlining how the firm would proceed with the recalls and notify users of the problem.

METI issued an emergency order to Matsushita last week based on the consumer products safety law to ask the Osaka-based electric giant to speed up the recalls and thoroughly notify consumers.

"We take the order very seriously and will make all-out efforts so that such incidents will not be repeated," Toda told Midori Tani, director general of METI's Consumer Affairs Department.

Under the program, the company said it will either pay 50,000 yen per unit to users in collecting the faulty heaters or inspect and repair them for free.

To inform consumers, Matsushita said it plans to replace its television commercials for new products with a message intended to raise consumer awareness on the matter for the time being.

The kerosene fan heaters in question come in 25 types and were manufactured between 1985 and 1992. They were originally sold at 100,000 yen to 150,000 yen mostly in cold regions, including Hokkaido and other northern prefectures.

Of about 150,000 heaters subject to inspection or recalls, Matsushita has yet to identify the owners of about 90,000 units, according to METI.