With enough personal injury and product liability problems to stretch from San Francisco to New York, Toyota CEO and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood appeared separately before Congress.
Secretary LaHood defended NHTSA’s response to the Toyota recall problems and attempted to convey to members of the panel that the agency was not Toyota’s lap-dog.
Ed Towns (D-N.Y.) commented to LaHood that NHTSA had received over 1,000 complaints about Toyota acceleration problems before launching an investigation.
Towns asked pointedly, “Why did it take NHTSA so long to act?”
Secretary LaHood reminded the Congressman that he was only recently appointed by President Obama and that he couldn’t answer for what happened before he arrived on the job. him,
When pressed by Rep. Towns, “Do you think it’s safe to drive a Toyota today?” Secretary LaHood answered clearly that the vehicles listed on NHTSA’s website aren’t safe to drive: “I will say this: If people check our Web site, we have listed every Toyota that is up for recall. I want anybody that has any one of those cars to take it to their dealer and to make sure it gets fixed.”
Secretary LaHood continued answering questions and stated that he believe Toyota had become “safety-deaf.”
And in an odd exchange that seemed as Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) was attempting to come to the defense of Toyota by insinuating that Toyota was held to a higher standard than American auto makers LaHood stood his ground.
As if implying some labor union conspiracy involved in all of this Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) asked Secretary LaHood if unions are involved in NHTSA’s investigations of U.S. vehicles. The Secretary stated – absolutely not.
