WASHINGTON — Toyota president Akio Toyoda said Thursday he will testify at a congressional hearing next week about the automaker’s massive recalls in the United States, meeting face to face with lawmakers after enduring criticism that he responded too slowly to the company’s safety crisis.
Toyoda, grandson of the Japanese automaker’s founder, said in a statement he looks “forward to speaking directly with Congress and the American people.”
The auto executive accepted the invitation from the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee as the government opened a fresh investigation into Corolla compacts over potential steering problems. Toyota has faced a burgeoning safety crisis over the past four months with the recall of roughly 8.5 million vehicles over questions involving gas pedals, accelerators getting jammed in floor mats, and brakes on various vehicles.
Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., told Toyoda in his invitation that motorists are “unsure as to what exactly the problem is, whether it is safe to drive their cars, or what they should do about it.”
The decision to testify came as the Transportation Department formally opened a preliminary investigation into 487,000 Toyota Corolla and Corolla Matrix compacts from the 2009-10 model years over concerns about steering problems at highway speeds. The Associated Press
