Rep. Edolphus Towns, a Democrat and chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) failed to follow through aggressively on thousands of complaints dating back a decade about sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles.
NHTSA , which is part of the Transportation Department, "failed the taxpayers and Toyota failed their customers," Towns declared ahead of eagerly awaited testimony by the company's chief executive.
"Thousands of complaints, multiple investigations, and serial recalls are bad enough. But we now have 39 deaths attributed to sudden acceleration in Toyotas," Towns said.
"To give that horrifying number perspective, there were 27 deaths attributed to the famous (Ford) Pinto exploding gas tank of the 1970s." Toyoda, the 53-year-old scion of the Toyoto empire, readied testimony apologizing for the problem and acknowledging that the world's largest automaker grew too fast to keep up with safety controls.
His family name differs from the company name because the number of brushstrokes in "Toyota" - eight - was considered luckier than "Toyoda" with 10 strokes.
"We pursued growth over the speed at which we were able to develop our people and our organization," he said. "I regret that this has resulted in the safety issues described in the recalls we face today, and I am deeply sorry for any accidents that Toyota drivers have experienced." Towns asked Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood a question on behalf all of those Toyota owners and drivers: Are the cars safe to drive? "We have listed every Toyota that's up for recall" on the Transportation Department website, LaHood said. "I want anybody who has one of those cars to take it to the dealer and make sure it gets fixed." LaHood said those vehicles on the recall list posted on his department's website, http://www.dot.gov, "are not safe." Meanwhile, the Senate Commerce Committee requested an investigation by the Transportation Department's inspector general of NHTSA's handling of the Toyota recalls. The committee wants the inspector to expand the review to include industry-wide complaints and reports collected by the agency on unintended acceleration or brake failure, compliance with recent auto safety laws and government ethics at NHTSA.
Rep. Darrell Issa, the top Republican on the House oversight panel, waved a gas pedal before LaHood and complained that Toyota knew about problems of sticking gas pedals and improperly placed floor mats years ago and made some fixes on models sold in Japan but delayed addressing the problems on other cars, including some of its most popular models sold in the US, until just recently.
Toyoda was to be the second witness to appear before the panel and was not in the room during opening statements by members and LaHood's testimony.
An apology may not be enough for the feisty panel of lawmakers on the committee in a year in which every one faces re-election. Nor will any culture gap; Japanese chief executives typically serve symbolic roles akin to figureheads without much power to control operations.
Toyoda's appearance comes as Japan opened its own investigation into unintended acceleration with Toyota and other vehicles in that country.
