>> toyoda toll the committee that the company did not follow3 poctor..%+++ on march 8, toyota released a report criticiziig his work. two days before he press conference, the vice president of public relationssnoted in an e-mail to the colleagues the importance of finnshing the poll bbfore the event saaing, "we really, really need to get this donee especially with elites. we have a press conference on monday and ttey need our daaa to know what to say." at that press connerence, before exponent presented their findings, the spokessan for t they disparaged the doctor for the faults he identiiied, even though exponent it never did this analyyis either -- exponent never id this analysis either.3 buzzes there. [buzz] exponent added new steps to the experiment and is characterized others, all in an attempt to make his outcome seemed unlikely and to invent flaws in3 independent experts have defended dr. gilbert's approach, professor who reviewed the report at toyota's request and describe the experiment as a perfectly reasonable starting point. i do nottunderstand why the company is attracting -- to ind the root cause of%+ryin- ssdden, unintended acceleration+ ttey ought to be encouraging automotiveeexperts to come cause the problem based on ouu review, we remain concerned that this is not occurring. the committee asked ttyota and exponent to report all of their anallses describing their reports and research related to unintended acceleration or3 we skeddfor all contracts, agrrements, etcetera. it appears that they're only reggon work to date is the report attacking drr ilbert's the credibility. this is extremely troubling, given the fact that they have both informed the committee they at the issue of suddee, unintended acceleration. they have completed 80% of the sticking pedal recalls.. format recalls.eted 30% of thei- -- floor mat recalls. one significant improvement they could make would be tt install break override technology to accelerator and the break are priced at the same time, the break will -- are oppressed -- are pressed at the same time, the brakes will override the pedal. % toyota does not plan to oofer this option, even t the owner's expense. toyotaawill ot offer this to vehicles, even if the customer pays for it. since ourrfebruary hearing,%+ nntss and toyota appear to have improved their working relatiinship. they teel us toyota has beee working to address issues of poncern. they had commissiooed it wo%--d acceleration in vehicles. one study will be conducted by%+ nasa scientists, searching for possible problems associated with their hardware aad-psoftww. it will be completeddby the endd of auuust. phe second studd will be conducted by a paael of independdnt scientists selected+ by the national academy of sciences. it will ffer a comprehensive examination of unintended acceleration and a loo stronger manufacturers.s across all thii will be completed by who the fall. i would like to thhnk you both for yyur testimony and your pngoing cooperation. canceled -- outside counsel for itt responses to our request for pubsttntive briefingg. i wish we could say we received the same levvl of cooperation froo exponent. unfortunatell, exponent has they have modified it documents before producing them tt us. thht is in direet violation of toyota has hired to conduct an indepennent investigation haa hide from this committee.hing to mr. burgess, your opening statement. >> thank you for convening this important hearing. we welcome our wiinesses who are here today. our first hearing on the toyota's problems wwre almost three months ago to the day. we had a lot of questions, but was caussng the sudden,+% unintended acceleration eventt we're here for answers,,but it+ appears we will not be getting those. i was hoping tte hearing wws called because there was new information coming to the floor. in fact, we may be having this -phearing because ww found out that oyota did a poll. mr. chairman, if pulling iss found to be at a level of a high crime or misdemeanor, this would be suddenly and irrevocably silentt we're not going tt get those answers today. i am concerned that we continue to have hearings where wee phis is an important issue aad it needs to be resolveddfor thee safety of toyota's customers and it needs to be resolved ffr the future of automobile sales by that manufacturer. this hearinggssems prematurr.. toyota has commissioned exponen3 do a rrview of their vehicles to pead -- to find the cause of these events. -pthe nhtss has askeddfor nasa's failure anallsis by expprtt to take a look at the faiied electronics. that is a good hhng. we do ot have answers yyt. exponents has not found the answer to what is ccusing these even -- events. nasa is just beginning their study.. they asked nhtsa to not juut finn car is in question, but to tear it apart to find out nhtsa has founddtheir car aad has had it for almost three here is what they found, "%+to mr. chairman, i would ask these e-mails from nhtsa nd the minooity staff be included in the record. the car was delivvrrd on february 26. ttree months later, we do not- know the reason that sommthing went wrong, never mind answers to the other events that are so that is not surprising. ttese are very complicated involved electronics, software, and meehanical issues. finding the right answer is theeimportant part is finding the right answer and not rushing otherwise, it will be impossible to identify the riggt solution. if we do not find the right solution, the cars are not ssfe. toyota's reputation willl cootinue to ssffer.%+ we are in the investigative3 we should not draa conclusions about the nature of the comprehensiveness of these investigations while they are %+going. nasa and exponent have laiddout a nuuber of areas to examine and magnetic in their parents. my understanding -- magnetic my understanding is that they're looking at both of those ssues but it is calledd-- looking at it is called scientific3 exponent has recentll provided+% the committee with a working draft of their work. i will accept that this drrft is innomplete, that the information has not been thoroughly tested, and that exponeet has not events. that is fine. whee it comee tt the scope of their work, we have seen test results and broad dataa but noo paper that set up their plans for testtng toyota vehicles. pe have been told tootake their+ word for it assto whaa exactly speak for thhmselves. since our last meeting, we have met with one offthe engineers perhaps e still not have a full picture of their work. mr. lentz, what i hope to hear from you today is what toyota's strategy is to solving he committed to working and sharing with the committee and the public whatever york companies find when they find it. i would -- whatever your companies find when they find -pitt i would aaso like to welcome %-nhtsa is also penalizinggtoyo- toyota of with respect to the fine was paid yesserdaa without admitting toothe underryyng charges. mr. strickland, recentlyy traveled to japan to meet with toyota. secretary lahood went with you. he also said toyota is now listening and payinn attention to nhtsa's warnings. ttat is quite aaturnaround in mr. strickland, i would like to assessment and whh you are now confident that tooota has gotte+ the message that before seemed not to get through. i would also like toolearn roo you how toyota's working relationship with nhtsa has improved since our last hearing, based oo seeretary lloyd's hearrng nd on your testimony -- secretary lahood's3 your testimony from before. was the only proolem toyota? are you still confident today assthorough as they shouud ave -pbeen? do you have he necessary skills and expertise to perform this?+ are you doing other reviews of recalls to assure yourself that other manuffcturers are being responsive? mr. lentz, i want to make sure ttat recent iiprovements that toyota has announced are not aa matter of form over substance. i hope youucan offer us some+ specifics about how this has to its consumers, ourponsiveness committees and to nhtsa. >> chairman waxman. >> chairman sttwpot, i want to%t to thank you for holding this hearing. ww have high consumer complaint3 aaceleration. one -- we have had consumer unnntended acceleration. we have been asked whether this could be linked to a chronic eleccronic defeccs in the- to%- vehicles. that is the subject of our february.oday as t was in in februaryy i askeddjames lentz wwether he was certain he recalls that toyota had ordered which revolved round repllcing accelerattr pedals would solvv of control.+ he repliedd,"not totally." moment of corporate candor. sales issued a press releaseor+ entitled "clarification of testimony regarding which he company reiterated that exttnsiie testing made a confident that no problems control ystems in its vehicles. the same day, before a different house committee, the resident of toyota motor company, akio toyoda, testified that hh is absoluttly confident there is no problem wiih the design of toyota's electronic throttle control system, because very rigorous testing dentified noo problem or malfunction. a few days later, toyotaaran a full-paae advertisement in other papers, including the "washington post," declaring ttat solutionsswere effective and durable, and at toyota was%+ confident that no problems exist with the electronii thrrttle control syytem. in preparation for our laatng. hearing, we have received over 100,000 pages offdocuments from toyota and nhtsa. what was most notable about those documents, was what was there was no evidence that3 electronic defects could be caassng the prrblem. in the months since that hearing, the ccmmittee has tooota's repeated assertions. hearings the eegineers who were- most familiar with the testing of the throttle system. we did a leegthy, transcribed interview with these offiiials. personnmost knowledgeable with the testing in the united states. phis is thrrugh firm called exponent.+ we reviewed many more documents. what we have learnee is deeply troubling. therr is no evidence that toyotr rrgorous testing of its vehicles for potential electronic defects that could ccuse sudden, unintended accelerationn therr is a top to bottom review- and that we should noo jump to conclusions. conclusion over anddover agaan that they have ruled out any problem with theeelectronics. we asked toyota for the basis of not have electronic defects. they pointed to two primary justificctions. one is the tesstng that is done -- has been done byythe consulting firm, exponent, here the other is the pre-market testing done by its eegineers in japan. we focused our attention on we looked at eeponent's work, which is claimed to have been comprehensive and independent. the documents reviewed by the committee do not support these aasertions. on the screen, i hope we will see, there is a record that+ neither toyota nor exponent -pproduce to the committee that expllii thh relationship bettwen the comm maltiig ---anything that explained the relationship between their work ann it is just a contract. enggneering consulting services related to class actions filed againnt toyota." lawyers asked exponent toto the- conduct a comprehensive eeamination of a suuden, in fact, the words sudden, uuintended acceleration dd not even appear. our committee interviewed a who oversaw the work. what we learned from him waa -pastonishing. exponent has no written work for the pllaned for this project.%+ the expeeiment. thee havv no wrrtten lists of the potential causes of sudden, unintended acceleration. for the hardware, software,e%- testing, e has no written notes on exponent's wook on this. we asked them to explain the spirit how could there be this rrmarkableelacc of documeetation? he exppained that writing down what exponent does woulddlimit the creativity of the eegineers workinn on the project. thattis preposterous. but for exponent engineer told us that -- a former exponeet engineer told us that the reason they did not write anything down laws to avoid creating documents thht might ave to be produceed in a llwsuit. toyota's laayers appear to be involved n every aspect of with the rightk, to approve publication of the work. have counsel present. the two reports thaa exppoded have been fewer -- that exponen+ prepared to assist in the they're not a comprehensive examination of seven, uninteeded the first one was an interim -- a sudden, unintended -- of a acceleration. the first one was an interrm% report. work.had not commleted their%- outsiie experts crittcized the report because there is unclear methodology end p overly narroo focus. they had a second report that was even narrower, esigned only to rebut that testimony provide+ by our exit -- our expert witness. it did not offer anyydissussion of exponent'ssinvestigation of sudden, uniitended acceleration, other than its replication of a laboratory experiment conducted by the committee's witness.+ close to supporting toyota's conttntion that exponent as thoroughly examined oyooa's+ electronic throttle control systee. the otter bases foo tteir assertion ii that they did pre- maaket testing by tteir own engineers in japan.. they told us that they are -- that they're testing is done before mass production. once theedesign is completed, they did not o any additional testinn. %+gniiicaat limitatiins. the company's duuability esting as don't -- is done only on components, not ars and parts3+ drivers. thh sample size s very small. tested. independent experts ccnsulted bb our committee have told us thht toyota would need a much larrer sample size to rule out potential causes of iran air and unintended acceleration..+ -- of a bad and prayer and intermittent event like 7, -- of a rare and determined to an event likk sudden, unintenddd acceleration. tooota has no ddcummntation to3 that their suppliers chose to suuport -- chose to perform. no3 could be a substitute for our rigorous examination to -pidentify a poss-manufacturing defect. there is nooevidence oyota has donn this post-manufaaturing testing. raissd serious questions. toyota has repeatedly told the%+ public that it has conductee extensive testing of it to be a close -- of its vehicles. assertions. they do not appear to be ttue. toyota has not done mmre. if they are serious abouu they hire a litigationwhy would -pconsulting firm that takes no written notee to lead them into potential defects? the public has the right to everything possible to find any potential electronic defect. toyota diddnot do that. instead, they asked their whose mission appearr to be the exact oppositt -- to obfuscate, and find no roblems. and do not know. i am not an engineer or scientist. i do knoo that dozees f people have died in accidents linked to run away toyota vehicles. many of these have occurred n%+ floor mats orrsticky gas pedals. -pthe priority should be to do out what is causing these+ i do not believe that we'll de hazmat this obligation. i look forward -- that toyota -phas met this obligation. i look orward to heering your >> thank ou. >> thank you. i think he tookkhis time and my time. he certainly gave an extensive statement. i will submit my statement for thh record and make a few extemporaneous remarks. i share the chaarman's concern about findinggthis problem. i am not on the -- it is comppicated. it is easy to sit here on the podium and point fingers and ddmand results and act as if we know what the nswers are. but hat is not how life is. it is in the best interest ofs. nhtsa to solve thissproblem as quickly as possible.+ it is obviously in thh best interest of toyota and tte %+ttre industry. p do not+ elieve this is a sticking paddle or a floorrmat problem. -ppedal orra floor mat problem. having said that, ttying to find a proolem in softwarr or in the i am happy that nhtsa bought the vehicle that -- obtained the vehicle that had the runaway smith's talkeddabout in thise hearing several months ago.. nhtsa engineers haae been tryiig to evaluateethat vehicle aad have not yet found the problem. involved.sed that nasa is%- iiam pleased that toyyta has hired an independent firm to try hopefully today we will get some answers from ourrnhtsa administratorrand thh president of toyota. this is a serious problem. that people have less confidence innthe toyota vehicles that have experienced the oot problems.3 -pgovernment to solve that probm as quicklyyand expeditiously as %pit is very difficult in the rl world. we have o keep iving it our best effortt. under the lladership of mr. , an ranking membbr burgess and myself, we will do what we need- if there is ommtting we neee to -pdo legislatively, we will tryo do that. i thank you for cootinuing this -ppnvestigation. the facts are put on the table%+ what they arr. i yielddback. >> thank you.3 >> thank you, mr. chairman. i thank yooufor your continued vigilance related to this sudden, unintended acceleration. witnesses today. i commend you, mr. chairman, for your insistence on a fair and vigorous oversight over this matter. this subcommittee -- complete oversight leads to efffctive leggslaaion. theesubcommittee on commerce, trade, and consumer protection, wwll mark up the vehicll safety one section of that bill transportationnto ppomulgate a motor safety vehicle standard on electronic systems, which should enable him to determine whether such sttndard is reasonable, appropriate. our hearing today affords ussthe opportunity to exaaine the state of research by government and3 systems and to aasess the feesibility of promulgatiig and implementing a federal motor vehicleesafety standard for3 i intend to ask candid questions of our witteeses about the progress of their respeetive organizations that has been made in determining what if any defects surrounding environment have on electronic components in vehicles. while i elieve that section 101 is written wiih sufficient administrative discretion for the secretary of transportation, iiwant to be able to be certain thaa the epartment wiil be able to perform the research necessary to commly with the requireeents of that ection. that is an important question to be addressed. -pi woold also note that the surrounding environment have, in the past, affected motor vehicle ssfety. -pi would remind that electrooic locks was one sourcc of one source of potential danger in times past, someehing which caused injury and death to american people. is taking seriousll these interference maa haae caused a sudden, unintended acceleration eerly thii year.st year and as toyott works diligently to i waan toobe sure that they are doing he necesssry research on the questton of safety as opposed to justtdefensive measures. ponversation today. poouctivv i thank you for your courtesy, mr. chaarmann i observed again that your ork ffct-finding, and far betterood- thank you. >> thank you.%opening statement. >> thank you. today's hearing on toyota and nhtsa's responseeto the problems of sudden, unintended important, this hearing will answers. many of the fundaaental questions that members of this ttday as both toyota and nhtsa discussed the onnoing status of connection between unintended, electronic throotle control- system. deserve answers about the safety whaa the american people do not3 legislative response innthe forr pnd nobody understands, and that bears aa unintendee consequences much worse than the consequences of iiaction. once nhtsa and tooota actually complett their various reviews+ of the potentiallfor loss off automotive electronics systems, i believe -- fo vario reviews of the -- once nhtsa and ttyota actually complete their riiht for flaws inews of the potentia- electronics systems, i believe we can come to some agreement. we need to conduct diagnoses and askkthe right questions to flesh out he potenttal imppct of this information.. i thank you and i yield back. >> hank you.+ >> it thank ou, chairman.%+ given that my daughtees, graadchildren, and i drrve in3 we'reehaving this hearing to monitor the response of