Just when Toyota thought the worst was over and was ready to get on with the recall repairs, a couple of congressmen are calling out the company for covering up the real problem. This is a steaming bucket of bad news for Toyota, or it could be, if the media decides to pick up on the story. If the public gets the sense that Toyota is trying to either cheap out on the fix or doesn’t really have the correct fix in place, the backlash could be unprecedented. 

Congressmen Henry Waxman and Bart Stupak are challenging Toyota on its explanation of the problems with the cars because they conflict directly with statements that Toyota officials made last week when they told staffers of a congressional committee that the causes of the issues were, “very, very hard to identify.”

Jim Lentz, the head of Toyota in the USA, was on a media tour on US television and was making statements that directly conflicted with information given by company officials as to when Toyota knew they had a pedal issue. Apparently the company told the congressional committee that they knew of a problem in April 2009, Lentz told Matt Lauer that the company first heard of the problem in October 2009.

Waxman and Stupak are demanding documentation from the company and for Toyota to come clean as to when they knew about a problem, what they know about it now, and whether or not the seemingly magical washers the company will install on recalled car’s gas pedal assemblies are the cure to the problem.

If Toyota thought it was bad dealing with the nervous American public, just wait until they get a load of congress. The best part of a cover up is when it falls apart like a cheap suit.

Source — The Detroit Free Press — Stupak’s Panel Demands Toyota Back Up Claims

Just for kicks, we’ll include a link below to a story that is very critical to the way that Toyota’s executives have handled the situation. They are writing the playbook on how not to handle a crisis

Source — Business Week — Toyota Chief Eludes Media as Recall Balloons