Business Strategy – Washington-House lawmaker said Friday that internal Toyota documents showed the automaker deliberately withheld crucial vehicle design and testing evidence in lawsuits filed by Toyota drivers injured in crashes.
The lawmaker, Edolphus Towns, the New York Democrat who chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said in a statement that Toyota tried to shield its testing data on potential problems with Toyota vehicles and settled many lawsuits to avoid disclosing the information.
The data was known as the “Books of Knowledge,” Mr. Towns said, and the committee learned about it from records it subpoenaed from a former Toyota liability lawyer who is now suing the company over his dismissal.
In a letter sent to Toyota on Friday, Mr. Towns asked the automaker to provide more details on the database. Toyota was the subject of two Congressional hearings this week on the recall of 8.5 million vehicles over safety concerns.