Embattled Toyota chief agrees to testify

Akio Toyoda, Toyota’s embattled chief executive, agreed on Thursday to appear before a US congressional committee investigating his company as lawmakers stepped up their scrutiny of the Japanese carmaker with a subpoena for documents held by one of its former attorneys.

Mr Toyoda accepted a formal request, issued by the Democratic chairman of the House oversight committee, Edolphus Towns, to appear at a hearing next Wednesday.

Mr Toyoda had previously turned down an informal request to testify before the committee, which is investigating the recall of more than 8.5m vehicles by Toyota.

“I look forward to speaking directly with Congress and the American people,” Mr Toyoda said.

Seiji Maehara, Japan’s transport minister, welcomed Mr Toyoda’s decision to testify but said he should have been quicker to accept the committee’s overtures. “This is a safety issue on which people’s lives depend, and it’s a manufacturer’s duty to respond firmly,” he said. “It’s a shame they flip-flopped, and there was talk that he wouldn’t appear.”

The concession by Mr Toyoda came as the House oversight committee issued a subpoena for documents that are being held by Dimitrios Biller, who was national managing counsel for Toyota’s US operations from 2003 to 2007.

Mr Biller has accused Toyota in court of hiding evidence of car defects from safety officials and consumers.

Toyota in September 2009 said Mr Biller had made “inaccurate and misleading allegations about Toyota’s conduct”.

The carmaker won a preliminary injunction against Mr Biller earlier this month, which barred the former Toyota attorney from publicly disclosing confidential documents in his possession.

But the House oversight committee said its subpoena would supersede the injunction and that Mr Biller planned to “fully co-operate”.

Mr Towns had said in a separate letter to Mr Toyoda that it was important he appeared before the committee hearing on Wednesday to “help clarify the situation” relating to the company’s recalls.

“The public is unsure as to what exactly the problem is, whether it is safe to drive their cars, or what they should do about it,” Mr Towns wrote.