Toyota Boss to Testify to Congress

Akio Toyoda, who had said he saw no need to appear before Congress, has accepted the invitation of a Congressional committee to testify about Toyota's ongoing quality nightmare.

Toyoda, the president of the world's largest auto maker, plans to testify next Wednesday before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, at the second of three hearings on safety issues.

The grandson of Toyota's founder reversed himself by agreeing to testify. He had planned to send representatives of Toyota's North American division to the hearings.

But his company is facing the worst public relations disaster in its history. Toyota surpassed General Motors as the world's top automaker based on what its customers believed was a fanatical devotion to quality.

For the past month, though, Toyota has been caught up in one revelation after another about failures of quality. Toyota has had to recall more than 8 million cars, including best-selling Camrys, to fix problems with their accelerators. It has also had to recall its popular hybrid Prius over braking issues. And it faces investigation over steering problems with its Corolla.

So Toyoda is clearly engaging in a bit of damage control by going to Congress to take his medicine, as so many corporate leaders have done before him.