Federal safety officials have received reports linking 34 deaths in the United States to safety defects in Toyota cars and trucks over the past decade.
“I extend my sincerest condolences to them from the bottom of my heart,’’ responded Toyoda, grandson of the founder of the world’s largest auto company. “I’m deeply sorry for any accident that Toyota drivers have experienced.’’
But what is most important to American drivers - and what lawmakers pressed Toyoda and a top aide to provide - was a better explanation for slow actions to deal with the defects and believable assurances that the problems that led to sudden unintended accelerations will be fixed. Toyoda said those changes are being made nearly around the clock, but he repeated the company’s insistence that there is no link to the cars’ electronic systems.
Many drivers filing complaints with Toyota and the government say their acceleration problems had nothing to do with floor mat interference or sticky gas pedals, the culprits the company is pointing to. Outside analysts have suggested electronic problems.
Toyota has recalled 8.5 million vehicles, more than 6 million of them in the United States, mostly to fix problems with floor mats trapping gas pedals or with pedals getting stuck. Toyoda said that his company was taking great strides to put safety first, and that it was working hard to refit the millions of cars and trucks that have been recalled.
Toyoda also said that systems to allow brakes to override gas pedals were being put on new models.
“Notwithstanding that, accidents actually happen,’’ he told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the second of three congressional panels examining Toyota’s troubles.
Toyoda, 53, remained calm when some Democratic and Republican lawmakers scolded the company for the recalls and safety problems.
