A US Senate committee will ask Toyota Motor executive vice president Shinichi Sasaki to testify at a hearing next Tuesday covering the recent recalls.
The announcement ended speculation that Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who testified at the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Wednesday, might also be grilled by lawmakers at the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.
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Sasaki is effectively in charge of making recall decisions at the Japanese automaker, Kyodo News noted, adding that .
Toyota Motor North America president Yoshimi Inaba and US transportation secretary Ray LaHood are also expected to appear at the Senate hearing.
Toyoda met ahead of the Wednesday hearing with LaHood and they agreed to work together to enhance the safety of Toyota cars and protect American consumers, the US Transportation Department said.
The 30-minute talks were ”productive and focused on the importance of safety and working cooperatively to protect consumers in the United States,” the department said in a statement.
In the meeting, Toyoda promised he would take the initiative to advance safety to the next level and that he would try to further improve communications and work more closely with the department, Toyota said.
Later, Toyoda visited the company’s car assembly plant in Georgetown, Kentucky, and expressed gratitude for employees there who continue to work amid criticism of Toyota in the news media and from politicians.
The plant, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky, is the automaker’s key production base and its original plant in the United States and now employs about 6,800 but plans to scale back production due to a sharp decline in sales in the wake of massive recalls.
Toyoda spoke to the workers at the plant in English, ”I have been especially worried about you. Our North American team members, you have seen so much bad news,” he said, according to footage released by the plant.
Toyoda encouraged the workers, saying, ”If we work together, I’m certain that we can make even better cars and that we can restore our customer confidence.”
