Complaints that electronic defects were the cause of sudden acceleration problems in Toyota vehicles were the topic of hearings Thursday in the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Members of Congress questioned Toyota officials’ claims that testing on their electronics systems shows no evidence of malfunctions. Committee chair Henry Waxman, D.-Calif., disagreed with the automaker’s findings, saying that ”Toyota’s assertions may be good public relations, but they don’t appear to be true.”
Safety groups have said electronics could be the source of the problem, and Toyota has been fighting that claim, conducting its own tests and hiring a consulting firm that has performed 11,000 hours of research, the Associated Press reports. The consulting firm was hired to help Toyota fight lawsuits, not to do a complete investigation on sudden acceleration, Waxman said.
Rep. Bart Stupak, D.-Mich., said Toyota had tried to discredit an Illinois engineering professor’s testimony that he had recreated sudden acceleration by short-circuiting a Toyota Tundra’s electronics. Stupak called a Toyota-sponsored report on the professor’s account “a hit job, not solid science.”
David Strickland, head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, testified that his agency has heard from 100 Toyota owners whose vehicles have accelerated suddenly after the recall fix. Strickland added that the government, along with NASA scientists, is conducting an investigation into sudden acceleration. The National Academy of Sciences will begin its own 15-month investigation in July.
Related: Toyota Executive to Say Electronics Not to Blame in Recall
