Congressional Leaders Slam Toyota in Opening Remarks
James Lentz, president and COO of Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., listens to a question from Rep. Steve Buyer, R-Ind., during a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on Feb. 23, 2010 in Washington.
Transcript
NARR: At a hearing lawmakers accused Toyota officials of hiding the company’s accelerator problems. But that didn’t hurt the morale of the Kentucky workers. Georgetown assembly line team leader Mike Britch and the others have been lobbying lawmakers . . . relaying how important the Toyota plant is to their community.
BRITCH1 “Any time, anytime there is anything negative said about what you do and your company it’s concerning. But the only thing we have to fall back on i n manufacturing is we fall back on what we do everyday. And that’s we produce a quality car as safely as possible.” (:19)
Lawmakers didn’t raise doubts about manufacturing though. They heard testimony from a Tennessee mother who says her Lexus accelerated on its own four years ago. Toyota blamed her … instead of its computers. Chairman Bart Stupak of Michigan isn’t convinced.
STUPAK1 “They misled the American public by saying that they and other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the electronic system and eliminated electronics as a possible cause for sudden, unintended acceleration, when in fact the only such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained by Toyota’s lawyers.” (:20)
Because of numerous recalls, the Georgetown Toyota plant won’t be manufacturing cars this Friday. It also may have to shut down for a couple day s in the coming months. Team leader Mike Britch says it’s a sign Toyota is putting safety first.
For W-E-K-U News, I'm Matt Laslo, Capitol News Connection, Washington.
In a quite vitriolic hearing House lawmakers accused Toyota officials of purposefully hiding problems with the company’s cars from millions of consumers.
The head of Toyota in North America claims they recalled six million cars because of physical problems with sticky accelerator pedals and loose floor mats, but most lawmakers believe the cars are prone to accelerate on their own because of an electronic malfunction.
“[Toyota] misled the American public by saying that they and other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the electronic system and eliminated electronics as a possible cause for sudden, unintended acceleration,” Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., said. “When in fact the only such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained by Toyota’s lawyers.”
Toyota President and CEO James Lentz repeatedly denied the accusations.
“We have rigorously tested our solutions and are confident that with these repairs, Toyota vehicles will be among the safest on the road today,” Lentz testified.
His responses caused rare Congressional bi-partisanship as members of both parties lashed out at Toyota.
“Toyota had three responses: first, blame the driver, second blame the floor mat, third blame a sticky gas pedal,” Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said.
Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, called Toyota’s plan to fix the cars a “sham.” He added that Lentz couldn’t admit it because of “all the lawsuits” pending against the embattled car company.
Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., scolded her colleagues on the panel who she said came in during the eleventh hour of the Congressional examination to politicize the issue.
“This should not be a trial, but rather a hearing to get to the bottom of safety issues," Blackburn said. “This is a serious issue that has resulted in the loss jobs.”
Blackburn says she asked Toyota and government officials to investigate the issue three years ago.
Lentz and other Toyota CEO’s are hoping the problem will go away, because the company’s sales are plummeting globally.
“We acknowledge these mistakes, we apologize for them and we have learned from them,” read Lentz’ prepared testimony. “We now understand that we must think differently when investigating complaints and communicate faster, better and more effectively with our customers and our regulators.”
With additional reporting by Matt Laslo
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