Mr Toyoda goes to Washington

Akio Toyoda, Toyota's Global President

Toyota's global president, Akio Toyoda, is to stand before the US Congress next week regarding the carmaker's giant global recall programme.

Akio Toyoda said he was "looking forward to speaking directly with Congress and the American people", however James Lentz, head of Toyota in the US, has already said that the company "failed to promptly analyse and respond" to information provided regarding the safety issues on the 8.5 million vehicles recalled. He will join Mr Toyoda before a US congressional committee on the company's handling of the situation.

The committee is expected to ask Mr Toyoda how recall is working, with Democrat Representative Edolphus Towns saying in a recent open letter, "The public is unsure as to what exactly the problem is, whether it is safe to drive their cars, or what they should do about it."

The US alone has seen over 6 million vehicles recalled.

On-going problems

Toyota has been hit hard by not just one, but three faults in their vehicles - faulty accelerator pedals, accelerator pedals getting stuck in floor mats, and a problem with the braking system on its flagship Prius hybrid model.

Despite the floor mat problem starting in October last year, it originally struck in 2007. Since other problems have developed in Toyota's vehicles, the company has been criticised in the US for being too slow in both starting and implementing the recalls. As such, a US car safety watchdog ordered the car company to hand over documents relating to the recalls to see if the firm acted fast enough.

With the recall seriously damaging the Toyota brand and the reputation of the company, if a cover-up was revealed, it could finish the company. However, the company has denied such accusations, saying it would "co-operate to provide all the information" requested by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Earlier today, Mr Lentz said in a statement that, "it has taken us too long to come to grips with a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our good faith efforts.

"The problem has also been compounded by poor communications both within our company and with regulators and consumers."

He added, "In the case of sticking accelerator pedals, we failed to promptly analyse and respond to information emerging from Europe and in the United States.

"We acknowledge these mistakes, we apologise for them and we have learned from them."

Relevant articles:

Toyota's recall crisis | First Toyota... now Honda | Toyota could face criminal prosecution

Timon Singh

Timon Singh is a graduate of Liverpool University where he received a degree in Social and Economic History. He has previously worked for BBC Magazines on BBC Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine, the publication for the popular genealogy show.

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