By Jillian Farrel -- February 22, 2010
A federal grand jury in New York issued a subpoena on Feb. 8 to Toyota "to produce certain documents related to unintended acceleration of Toyota vehicles and the breaking system of the Prius." The Securities and Exchange Commission is also looking into the sudden accelerations.
Word of the two investigations comes ahead of planned Congressional committee reviews set for later this week.
A minority member of the House Oversight Committee, said, "the fact that Toyota is now the subject of a federal and SEC investigation does not in any way change our expectation for what we expect will be a transparent and candid testimony from Mr. Toyoda and Mr. Inaba."
Toyoda and Inaba, top Toyota executives, are expected to testify Wednesday.
Last Friday, Toyota Motor Corporation and Toyota Motor Sales received a request and a subpoena from the Los Angeles office of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, seeking certain documents related to acceleration issues and disclosure policies.
Toyota has recalled more than 8.5 million vehicles in relation to accidental acceleration.
The committee is investigating how Toyota and federal auto investigators dealt with the acceleration concerns.
The automaker has said it plans to cooperate with the investigation.
