A House panel on Thursday planned to examine the National Highway Traffic Safety Administrations oversight of the auto industry in the latest congressional hearing linked to Toyotas recall of more than 8 million vehicles worldwide. Safety groups have accused NHTSA of being too cozy with the Japanese automaker while lacking the resources to test for vehicle problems that could be electronic, not mechanical.
“NHTSA has been viewed by the motor vehicle industry for years as a lapdog, not a watchdog,” Joan Claybrook, a former NHTSA administrator under President Jimmy Carter, said in prepared testimony.
Congress is considering new auto industry reforms following - - - - >

David W. Gilbert, an associate professor of automotive technology at Southern Illinois University, altered a circuit in the accelerator pedal he tested, making it unreasonable to draw conclusions about vehicles on the road, Toyota said yesterday at a briefing at its U.S. headquarters. To prove its point, Toyota replicated the test on competitors cars and achieved similar results.
An ABC News broadcast in February featuring Gilbert was misleading, and Toyota should have had an opportunity to observe and analyze the test before it was broadcast, Mike Michels, - - - - >

Toyoda was due to speak at a news conference Monday evening in Beijing, the company said, in his second foreign appearance following last weeks visit to Washington where he was grilled by angry lawmakers. Japanese news reports said he would meet with Chinese officials.
“The fact that he is going to China second, after the United States, tells you the importance they place on China relative to other markets,” said John Bonnell, a J.D. Power analyst. “Toyota wants to make sure it puts its best foot forward, not only with its best products but in instilling confidence.”
The number of Toyota vehicles - - - - >

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood was behaving like “one of the brand managers” for General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC, “running around ripping Toyota to shreds,” Rush Limbaugh said on his radio show.
The governors of four states with Toyota plants wrote to House lawmakers to complain about the federal governments “disturbing statements and hasty actions.”
For some critics, U.S. scrutiny of Toyota Motor Corp.s handling of vehicle defects is motivated by more - - - - >

Complaints to a database maintained by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration about the popular Toyota Prius hybrid grew by nearly 1,000 in just over a week.
On Monday, Transportation Department spokeswoman Olivia Alair said NHTSA is quickly gathering information to help guide the governments examination of sudden acceleration, the Prius braking system and other safety issues.
Toyota Motor Corp. has recalled 8.5 million vehicles globally during the past four months because of problems with gas pedals, floor mats and brakes, threatening the safety and quality reputation of the worlds No. 1 automaker. The government typically receives a surge in complaints following - - - - >

The worlds largest automaker plans to recall at least 270,000 of the gasoline-electric hatchbacks in Japan and the U.S., one person said, declining to be identified as the information isnt yet public. Juergen Stolze, a Toyota spokesman in Germany, said the carmaker will decide whether to recall Prius cars in Europe by Feb. 10.
A Prius recall may further tarnish Toyotas reputation after the Toyota City, Japan-based company lost about $33 billion in market value amid expanding global recalls of other models to repair defects linked to - - - - >

That was in 2003.
The years since have seen hundreds of drivers complaints about unwanted acceleration of their Toyotas, six inconclusive federal investigations, multiple reports of deaths and repeated denials from the automaker that it had a major problem on its hands.
Thats just the sort of bureaucratic inertia Barack Obama pointedly criticized as a presidential candidate. Yet his administration was without a federal highway safety chief for most of its first year and, like the Bush administration before it, missed signals in the Toyota case.
After several investigations, it was only last week that Toyota owners learned federal regulators, concerned that the - - - - >

The automaker expects net income of 80 billion yen ($880 million) in the year ending March 31, compared with an earlier forecast for a 200 billion yen loss, it said in a statement in Tokyo today.
President Akio Toyoda, 53, predicted sales of 503,000 vehicles in North America in the three months ending March 31 even as Toyota has been forced to take its top-selling models off the U.S. market. Global recalls of almost 8 million vehicles due to reports of unintended acceleration will dent demand by - - - - >

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told The Associated Press that federal safety officials had to “wake them up” to the seriousness of the safety issues that eventually led Toyota to recall millions of popular brands like Camry and Corolla. That included a visit to Toyotas offices in Japan to convince them to take action.
“They should have taken it seriously from the very beginning when we first started discussing it with them,” LaHood told AP. “Maybe they were a little safety deaf.”
LaHood also said the government was considering civil penalties for Toyota over its handling of the recalls but declined to elaborate. - - - - >

Jim Lentz, president of Toyota Motor Sales USA, is to speak on the morning news and talk program before holding a conference call with other media organizations, said a company official who declined to be identified because the plan isnt public. Lentz may also appear on Bloomberg Television.
The TV appearances will be the first for a U.S. audience after the automaker ran an informational ad in newspapers today and President Akio Toyoda gave a 75-second apology last week in Davos, Switzerland, in contrast with other Japanese - - - - >