Mario So Funny

WASHINGTON — Saying it is concerned by the “seriousness and scope” of Toyota’s recalls of vehicles with faulty accelerator pedals, the U.S. House of Representatives’ Energy and Commerce subcommittee said Thursday it will hold hearings on February 25 “to examine the persistent consumer complaints.”

The hearings will look into Toyota’s response to the crisis, as well as the response of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the federal watchdog charged with overseeing vehicle recalls.

Some consumer advocates allege that safety regulators and the automaker were slow to respond to the problem and issue recall notices.

“Our hearing will help us better understand how quickly and effectively Toyota and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration responded to consumer complaints about the safety of the recalled Toyota vehicles,” said Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman in a statement.

Subcommittee chairman Bart Stupak added in a similar statement: “Incidences of sticking accelerators have been ongoing with Toyota vehicles for up to a decade, and have led to a disproportionally high number of deaths. Failure to take every step possible to prevent future deaths or injury is simply unacceptable.”

Congress said it wants documentation from Toyota and NHTSA regarding when they first learned about potential safety defects related to sudden unintended acceleration and what actions they have taken to investigate and resolve the hazards.

NHTSA says sudden-acceleration events in Toyota vehicles have led to 19 deaths in the past decade, nearly twice the number of deaths associated with similar events in cars manufactured by all other automakers combined. On January 26, Toyota announced that it was halting U.S. sales and production of eight recalled models.

Inside Line says: Toyota and NHTSA are called on the carpet by Congress. Maybe we’ll all get more answers to this ongoing crisis. — Anita Lienert, Correspondent