Toyota hearings

WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- The next congressional hearing regarding Toyota's massive recalls will involve the company's president appearing on Capitol Hill.

Toyota President Akio Toyoda, according to prepared remarks, is expected to apologize for the company's problems that have led to recalls of more than 8 million vehicles. Problems have been reported with accelerators, brakes and floor mats and cover many of the best-selling models in the world.

Conciliatory words from the company aren't likely to soften the line of questions expected from the House of Representatives' Oversight and Government Reform Committee, before whom Toyoda appears Wednesday.

Toyota's U.S. President Jim Lentz testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee Tuesday, saying the company "acknowledges these mistakes, we apologize for them and we have learned from them."

That was only part of the image-rebuilding tour. An item under Toyoda's name appeared on the op-ed page of Tuesday's Wall Street Journal. It spoke of the "humbling" situations of the past several months and how the company "response will be comprehensive" to the problems.

Toyoda concluded, "I look forward to speaking directly to Congress and the American people (Wednesday) about the decisive actions Toyota is taking to make things right for our customers by building the safest vehicles in the world."