CHICAGO — Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Tuesday he wouldn’t be surprised if a review of documents from Toyota uncovered more safety lapses at the automaker.
LaHood said Toyota was “safety deaf” and said the Japanese automaker made a “huge mistake” by not disclosing safety problems with gas pedals on some of its most popular models sooner. A day earlier, the Department of Transportation charged that Toyota failed to alert regulators to its safety problems fast enough and announced it would face a record $16.4 million fine.
Documents obtained from Toyota show that it knew of the problem with the sticking gas pedals in late September but did not issue a recall until late January, LaHood said Monday. The sticking pedals involved 2.3 million vehicles.
On Tuesday, LaHood said, “This is the first thing that we have found. It may not be the last thing,” adding that “it would not surprise me if we discovered other information.” The Associated Press
