Lawmakers Want Toyota to Provide Proof of its Testing Claims

Toyota Motor Corp. has failed to provide congressional investigators with documents to support the company’s contention that its tests have shown no link between electronic defects and unwanted acceleration in its vehicles, two senior lawmakers say. Reps. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Bart Stupak, chairman of the committee’s oversight panel, asked Toyota today to produce employees with direct knowledge of the company’s testing efforts so the employees can be interviewed next week.

“Despite our repeated requests, the record before the committee is most notable for what is missing: the absence of documents showing that Toyota has systematically investigated the possibility of electronic defects that could cause sudden unintended acceleration,” said today’s letter from Waxman, D-Calif., and Stupak, D-Mich.

Toyota spokeswoman Cindy Knight promised cooperation. “Toyota has already agreed to keep the committee informed on a regular basis,” she said. Knight said Toyota this week had given the committee the results of tests said to show that a Southern Illinois University professor’s experiments demonstrating that failures of electronic throttle controls on Toyotas could not be replicated in the real world.

Neil Roland: Automotive News