Federal prosecutors have opened a criminal probe into Toyota’s safety problems. A federal grand jury has subpoenaed records from Toyota related to unintended acceleration in its vehicles and the braking system of its Prius hybrid. The Securities and Exchange Commission has also subpoenaed documents from Toyota. Toyota President Akio Toyoda is scheduled to testify at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Wednesday. Longtime consumer advocate Joan Claybrook said the congressional probe should also examine the role played by federal regulators.

Joan Claybrook: “The regulators also are there to protect the American people, and if the company misbehaves, that’s when the regulators take action. Here they didn’t take action, and then Toyota boasts about it when they’re doing briefings in their Washington office of their Japanese officials and say that they saved the company $100 million by avoiding a big recall and doing instead just what’s called an equipment recall for the floor mats. So I think that Toyota has been exposed, and they have to eat crow. I think there’s a lot that’s going to go on at this congressional hearing that requires an explanation by both Toyota and by the Department of Transportation, which didn’t do its job either.”