Toyota president takes a risk in testifying on safety woes

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With Akio Toyoda, the grandson of the founder of Toyota, ready to appear and apologize for safety woes before Congress on Wednesday, experts in Asia say the company president is taking a risk, but that there is a possibility of great reward.

“There’s definitely a big risk,” said Koji Endo, an analyst at Advanced Research Japan. “He has the opportunity to explain a complex situation directly to U.S. customers, but on the other hand these types of hearings tend to become political sideshows.

“Many congressmen don’t see this as about right or wrong, but as an opportunity to appeal to voters, many unhappy with the marketplace dominance of Japanese cars. Mr. Toyoda knows this.”

Toyoda will apologize to those hurt by the sudden-acceleration problem that has plagued his cars.

“Quite frankly, I fear the pace at which we have grown may have been too quick,” he will say, according to his prepared testimony before the House Government Oversight Committee. “We pursued growth over the speed at which we were able to develop our people and our organization, and we should sincerely be mindful of that.

“I regret that this has resulted in the safety issues described in the recalls we face today, and I am deeply sorry for any accidents that Toyota drivers have experienced,” he will say.

Toyoda, referred to in newspaper editorials in Seoul as the “de facto captain” of Japan’s manufacturing industry, knows the U.S. market, so he should handle himself well, experts say.

The Japanese public will be watching Toyoda’s testimony closely.

Recent months have brought tensions in the traditionally stable U.S.-Japanese alliance with public rows over trade and the relocation of a U.S. military base on Okinawa.

Full text of Toyoda’s prepared testimony

--John M. Glionna, reporting from Seoul

Michael Muskal, reporting from Los Angeles