By Angela Greiling Keane, Jeff Green and Jeff Plungis Feb. 25 (Bloomberg) — Toyota Motor Corp. ’s president endured three hours of questioning by U.S. lawmakers, pledging to restore consumers’ trust without shedding new light on the company’s handling of safety recalls. “My name is on the company,” Akio Toyoda , 53, grandson of the automaker’s founder, told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee yesterday, making his first U.S. appearance since record recalls of about 8 million cars and trucks worldwide for defects that may cause sudden acceleration. Toyota is struggling to repair a reputation damaged by the recalls. The company was “more concerned with profit than with customer safety,” committee chairman Edolphus Towns said in opening the hearing. Toyoda faced the U.S. ritual of congressional questioning familiar to bank chiefs challenged over their bonuses and tobacco executives grilled about their products. “He couldn’t possibly fix anything” through his testimony, said Maryann Keller , president of Maryann Keller & Associates in Stamford, Connecticut. “All he could do was answer the question that the company was wrong and take the blame for it.” Toyota shares rose 0.3 percent to 3,285 yen as of 12:43 p.m. in Tokyo. The Toyota City, Japan-based automaker has lost about $35 billion in market value since Jan. 21, when it recalled about 2.3 million vehicles in the U.S. to fix sticking accelerator pedals. ‘Personal Commitment’ “You have my personal commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to restore the trust of our customers,” Toyoda said in his remarks to the panel. Towns, a New York Democrat, told Toyoda at the conclusion of his appearance that the lawmaker was “impressed with the fact that you came, voluntarily, to testify before the committee.” The testimony “went well,” Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama told reporters today in Tokyo. The automaker now must work to improve its image, Hatoyoma said. Appearing on CNN’s Larry King Live program later in the evening, Toyoda said he and the company should have responded sooner to complaints. He said he felt “sadness” that people died in Toyota cars and vowed to focus on the “basics” as the automakers recovers. ‘Right Tone’ Toyoda’s remarks “introduced the right tone and sense of candor, said James Bell, executive market analyst with Kelley Blue Book , an Irvine, California-based vehicle-data service, in an e-mailed statement. “Our sense is that, barring new technical revelations or driver deaths, this day could be seen as a small step toward image recovery,” Bell said. After appearing on Capitol Hill, Toyoda and Yoshimi Inaba , the automaker’s North American president, arrived to a standing ovation at a “town hall” of Toyota workers, executives and dealers in downtown Washington. Paul Atkinson, chairman of the national council of the company’s dealers, said the crowd “respected and supported” Toyoda, “no matter how members of Congress treated you.” ‘Not Alone’ “At the hearing, I was not alone,” Toyoda, reading in English from a prepared statement, said as he held back tears. “You and your colleagues across America and across the world were with me. Words cannot express my gratitude. We at Toyota are at a crossroads. We need to rethink everything about our operation.” During the testimony, some members of Congress told Toyoda his answers fell short. Representative John Duncan , a Tennessee Republican, questioned why Toyota didn’t respond sooner to customer complaints of sudden acceleration. “I’m not sure I’ve seen a good answer today as to why it took your company so long to respond to these complaints,” Duncan told Toyoda. “Why was there not a response before now when you had all these complaints?” Lawmakers such as Representative Brian Bilbray , a California Republican, pressed Toyoda to give “yes or no” answers to questions, such as Bilbray’s inquiry about whether the company supports U.S. regulators requiring manufacturers to report to them on all malfunctions worldwide. ‘Full Cooperation’ Toyoda, who said his company knew about reports of sticky accelerator pedals in Europe a year before it did in the U.S., told Bilbray “we would like to extend full cooperation.” “I’ll consider that a yes,” Bilbray said. “Or should I?” Toyoda linked the defects to the expansion that made his company the world’s biggest automaker. The company has “fully shared the information we have” with U.S. auto safety regulators, Toyoda, speaking through a translator, told Towns. The company has recalled cars and trucks to fix accelerator pedals that it says could become stuck or be jammed by floor mats. “I’m absolutely confident” that electronic throttle controls in the company’s vehicles aren’t a cause of unexpected surges in acceleration, Toyoda said. U.S. regulators have said they are investigating that possibility. Unknown Cause Toyota may not know the cause of unintended acceleration in as many as 70 percent of reported incidents, Jim Lentz , the company’s U.S. sales chief, told a congressional committee on Feb. 23. The recalls to fix accelerator pedals and replace floor mats will “not totally” mitigate sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles, linked to 34 deaths, Lentz told a House Energy and Commerce panel . A Toyota internal document sent to the House oversight panel and dated July 6, 2009, said the company saved $100 million through a “negotiated” vehicle recall. The document, obtained Feb. 21, showed the company outlining accomplishments described as “Wins for Toyota,” including the savings. Toyoda told lawmakers at the hearing yesterday that he didn’t have knowledge of such a document. ‘No Cozy Relationship’ U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood , who oversees the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, testified yesterday before the same committee, saying regulators have “no cozy relationships” with the auto industry. At least four NHTSA investigations into unintended acceleration by Toyota vehicles were ended with the help of former regulators hired by the automaker, warding off possible recalls, court and government documents show. Asked about reports that Toyota executives who used to work at NHTSA influenced decisions to limit sudden-acceleration recalls, LaHood said restrictions prevent former employees from working directly on issues they handled while with the government. LaHood said he’d be willing to assist lawmakers on writing legislation to tighten those lobbying rules. “I don’t want any ethical problems with anyone,” LaHood said. While all automakers have employees who handle NHTSA issues, Toyota may be alone among the major companies in employing former agency staffers to do so. Spokesmen for General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co., Chrysler Group LLC and Honda Motor Co. all have said their companies have no ex-NHTSA people who deal with the agency on defects. To contact the reporters on this story: Angela Greiling Keane in Washington at agreilingkea@bloomberg.net ; Jeff Plungis in Washington at jplungis@bloomberg.net ; Jeff Green in Southfield, Michigan, at jgreen16@bloomberg.net .
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Toyoda Pledges to Restore Consumers’ Trust, Sheds Little Light on Recall
