WASHINGTON — The president of Toyota’s U.S. operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers Tuesday that the company’s recalls of millions of its cars may “not totally” solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
“We are vigilant, and we continue to look for potential causes,” Toyota’s James Lentz told a congressional panel. However, he repeated his company’s position that unexpected acceleration in some of the company’s most popular cars and trucks was caused by one of two problems — misplaced floor mats and sticking accelerator pedals.
He insisted that electronic systems connected to the gas pedal and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be further explored — and from a tearful driver who could not stop her runaway Lexus.
“Shame on you, Toyota,” Rhonda Smith of Sevierville, Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second “shame on you” directed at federal highway-safety regulators.
Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues early in the hearing against conducting a “witch hunt” and said, “We don’t want to just assume automatically that Toyota has done something wrong and has tried to cover it up.”
But midway through Lentz’s testimony, Barton said of Toyota’s investigation of the problems: “In my opinion, it’s a sham.”
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of the sudden acceleration. Still, “We have not found a malfunction” in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he said.
In a tearful recounting, Smith told the panel how her Lexus suddenly sped up to 100 mph in 2006.
“I prayed for God to help me,” Smith said as she recalled how she pumped the brakes.
Finally, she called her husband.
“I knew he could not help me, but I wanted to hear his voice one more time,” she said.
When the vehicle finally slowed to 35 mph, Smith said, she was able to turn off the engine. Smith was especially caustic about the brakes.
“I’m embarrassed for what happened,” Lentz said. “I want her and her husband to feel safe about driving our products.”
Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota’s problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has recalled 8.5 million vehicles worldwide — more than 6 million in the United States — since the fall because of unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking issues in the Prius hybrid.
The Los Angeles Times contributed to this report.
