Congressional panel starts tough on Toyota

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Toyota deliberately misled the public about the nature and extent of its safety problems, Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), chairman of the investigating congressional subcommittee, said Tuesday.

“Toyota has a lot of explaining to do to the American people,” said Stupak, pronouncing the company’s name “TAY-ota,” in an accent common in his district in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Stupak was quickly followed by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Beverly Hills), chairman of the full Energy and Commerce Committee, who questioned how seriously the company or U.S. regulators took consumer complaints about bad accelerators.

“There is no evidence that Toyota or [the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration] took a serious look at the possibility that electronic defects could be causing the problem,” Waxman said. He said he thinks legislation is called for to deal with auto electronic technology.

However, Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) warned that lawmakers should not start from the point that Toyota has done something wrong.

--Ken Bensinger, reporting from Washington

--Michael Muskal, reporting from Los Angeles