Toyota President to face US Congress
The woes for Toyota continues to pile up. Akio Toyoda, grandson of company founder Kiichiro Toyoda, has just been invited to testify on the company’s behalf at an upcoming hearing by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Titled ‘Toyota Gas Pedals: Is the Public At Risk?’, the hearing is set to take place on 24 Feb 2010, with huge repercussions in store for the company’s global future.
Initially, Toyoda-san’s stance was to allow Mr Yoshimi Inaba, president of Toyota North America to represent the company in the above-mentioned congress. However, after openly stating that he “would consider” making an appearance if invited, an one promptly came and undersigned by no less than Edolphus Towns, Chairman of the committee.
The committee’s invitation (posted in our forum, follow the Talk About It link below) stated that Toyoda-san ‘may submit written testimony for the record, of any reasonable length’, in addition to being prepared to ‘provide a five minute opening statement and answer questions posed by Members of the Committee’.
To his credit, Toyoda-san also issued a statement, responding to the invitation the only way he can, saying, “I have received Congressman Towns’ invitation to testify before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on February 24 and I accept. I look forward to speaking directly with Congress and the American people.”
Although the committee worded its letter mildly, there should be little doubt that some tough questions will be awaiting Toyoda-san from the same committee that mercilessly grilled Detroit chief execs during the US Big Three automotive crisis 14 months ago.
Indeed, we very much doubt that Toyoda-san is truly ‘looking forward’ to speak with the Congress; especially not when Dimitrios Biller, lawyer and former Toyota employee, is alleging that ‘the company systematically hid or destroyed evidence of safety problems that would have led to costly trials in the United States’.
Biller, who once headed Toyota’s corporate legal team, was unceremoniously shown the exit in 2007. He left the company bringing no less than 6,000 internal documents with him, which he claims proves his allegations. Toyota had unsuccessfully attempted to reclaim those documents under the terms of his severance agreement, though the US arbitrator presiding over that case also ruled that Biller is not allowed to make the contents of those documents public.
Since his departure from Toyota, Biller has been attempting to sue the company under U.S. racketeering laws, as well as for wrongful termination and emotional distress. Biller’s motives might be open to question, but the potential implications of the documents in his hands are certainly not amusing. The U.S. House of Representatives Oversight Committee has since issued a subpoena for the documents to be turned over to them by 23 Feb 2010, 1700 hrs Eastern time, the day before hearing.
To recap, things started back in 2007 with 55,000 cars affected by the floor mat recall. By Jan 2010, the list had grown to 4.9 million vehicles of nine different models, just on the floor mat issue alone. Then came the stuck accelerator pedal recall, which affected a further 4.1 million cars. Before the replacement accelerators could even reach dealers, things went from bad to worse, when 437,000 units of the Toyota Prius had to be recalled to fix a glitch in its ABS software.
That was not all. Last week, 7,300 units of the 2010 Toyota Camry were recalled in the US due to potential leaking of brake fluid caused by constant rubbing between the brake fluid and power steering hoses. Later, 8,000 units of the Toyota Tacoma 4×4 pickup (not sold in Malaysia) were then hauled up due to driveshaft defects. Currently, the Toyota Corolla is also subject to investigation of power steering issues, potentially involving 500,000 vehicles.
Here in Malaysia, we have been told that out of all that mess above, only 60 units of the Toyota Prius sold are subjected to recalls by UMW Toyota Motor, who has also issued a statement saying that the Camry is not affected by the power steering hose issue. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that parallel-imported Toyotas, which are not supported by UMWT, are holding a much riskier position in the face of this crisis.
Sources:
* Toyoda officially invited to attend House Oversight Commitee meeting on Toyota safety – UPDATE: Guess who’s coming to D.C.? — Autoblog
* Akio Toyoda, Toyota President, Willing to Meet With Congress – NYTimes.com
* Documents prove Toyota concealed evidence, lawyer says | Reuters
