Toyota Motor president Akio Toyoda will tour the United States next month on a trip expected to focus on his company’s handling of safety problems, company sources in Japan said on Thursday.
Toyoda had decided to delay his scheduled US visit, which had been originally planned for this week, until early March due to heavy snowfalls in Washington. He will likely meet with transport secretary Ray LaHood and other US government officials, the sources told Kyodo News.
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Toyota is under pressure from the US government over its slow response to safety issues that led to massive recalls worldwide of its vehicles for problems including potentially defective accelerator pedals and, most recently, brake glitches in its Prius and other hybrid models. LaHood has promised “to hold Toyota’s feet to the fire” over the issue.
In Washington on Wednesday, US House of Representatives lawmaker Darrell Issa, a Republican on a House committee looking into Toyota’s troubles, said US lawmakers are eager to ”hear directly” from Toyoda, according to AFP news agency and other media.
Issa was quoted by AFP as saying he would ask the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to call Toyoda to its 24 February hearing on the matter.
”Given the number of outstanding questions surrounding Toyota’s relationship with US regulators and in the best interests of moving forward, I’d like to help facilitate a dialogue between Mr Toyoda and lawmakers from both parties and both chambers,” Issa was quoted as saying.
”I would think that Mr Toyoda would be receptive to the opportunity to meet with policymakers and there certainly is widespread interest from Capitol Hill and the American people to hear directly from him,” he said.
Toyota spokeswoman Martha Voss told Kyodo Toyoda ”would look forward” to the opportunity to meet with members of Congress when he visits the United States. But it was unknown whether Toyoda would testify before Congress.
Toyota Motor North America president Yoshimi Inaba is scheduled to appear at the 24 February hearing but it has yet to be decided who will represent Toyota in a hearing the following day at the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation is scheduled to meet on 2 March.
