LaHood says agency plans response to Toyota defects

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said he is prepared to lay out for congressional investigators everything his safety agency did to deal with defective Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles and that he will take responsibility for any failures.

"We'll take responsibility if something should have occurred that didn't," LaHood said in an interview today in Bloomberg's Washington office. "I don't know if that's the case, but we're doing a lot of reviews right now."

Toyota recalled 2.3 million U.S. cars and light trucks on Jan. 21 after reports of unintended acceleration in the vehicles. The House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on the matter, in part to examine the response by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, panel Chairman Henry Waxman of California said yesterday.

Democrats Waxman and Representative Bart Stupak of Michigan said in a joint statement they "continue to have questions" about the responses of NHTSA and Toyota.

LaHood will tell Waxman that "we did everything that we were supposed to do, in a timely fashion," he said in a separate interview on Bloomberg Television's "Political Capital with Al Hunt," airing this weekend.

Every ComplaintWaxman and Stupak said in a letter yesterday to David Strickland, who heads the safety agency under LaHood, that they want to a report on every Toyota model NHTSA has received a consumer complaint about since 2000. They also want the date upon which NHTSA became aware of the sudden unintended acceleration and all actions the agency took to examine each allegation."We're going to do a complete review of everything that we've done," LaHood said.Before Strickland was confirmed as administrator this month, NHTSA's acting administrator Ron Medford traveled to Japan to meet with Toyota, LaHood said.Toyota City, Japan-based Toyota has separately recalled more than 5 million vehicles to prevent pedals from getting trapped by floor mats.Sudden acceleration of Toyota vehicles has been linked to 19 deaths in the past decade, according to Waxman. His panel plans a hearing Feb. 25, following a Feb. 10 hearing by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.Distracted DriversLaHood said he plans to meet with automobile executives "soon" on the issue of distracted driving and "our passion to eliminate" the practice."We want them to be part of the solution," LaHood said of the automakers. "We'll just have a frank discussion."LaHood has made the issue a priority after more than 5,800 people died in 2008 in accidents where at least one form of driver distraction was cited in the crash report. His agency on Jan. 26 banned texting for commercial bus and truck drivers as part of an effort to combat traffic deaths stemming from distracted motorists.LaHood also said he will announce within 10 days the formation of a federal advisory panel to examine airline industry competitiveness. He said he has picked the panelists but wasn't prepared to reveal them.LaHood, who accompanied President Barack Obama to a meeting with Republicans in Baltimore today, said the president "didn't go there to just sort of patronize them, I think he went there to talk frankly with them about his point of view" on issues.Obama and Republicans will be able to work together on issues including the budget, climate change, health care and immigration, LaHood said."What the president did in the State of the Union and today is extend a hand," he said. "Now it's up to Republicans."