we have to have the event data recorders in all vehicleses. they need to be standardized and there needs to be readouts. we don't do adequate crash investigations in the country to protect and find out what the problem is. to predict defects, to catch them before they become major crises like toyota acceleration and ford explorer. if we had a international accident sampling system at the full design level of 19,000 crash we could have predicted defeats. we would have found them earlier. we wouldn't have them build up over 10 years before we get a recall and manufacturers like toyota suffer in their reputation. let's build the system.

cutting corners on safety is no bargain for anyone, the consumers, manufacturers, or government. thank you. >> thank you, mr. ditlow. i will ask the first question and then senator wicker from mississippi who said he'll be back in time is acting today as the ranking member. and he will ask the second question, we will go on from there. mr. saski, last week, mr. lentz, the president of toyota motor sales usa testified that he had no authority so recall toyota vehicles sold in the united states when those vehicles have safety problems. now i believe either mr. inaba or uchiyamada were going to

probe that. is that an rack rate -- an accurate statement as of now? >> if you take a look at the process and the energy on the members. >> let me answer. it is true that north american member was not officially included in our recall decision-making process. :

we realize as you pointed out our old system may have caused some concern for suspicion on the part of the united states or the north american marketplace and therefore in order to improve as we have decided to include someone who is very well familiar with the north american market situation to become a panel member, an important panel member that it be involved in the recall decision making process and this inclusion it is an official one. >> when will the system starts?

>> [speaking japanese] >> translator: our north american entity has already selected candidates for this particular position so although i hope we wouldn't have to come to that in the near future however should we have to come to this then this new system will be deployed immediately. >> let me ask -- we have two members mr. sasaki and the mr. inaba who are full board members can actually special board members of what toyota motor company so i can help put but

wonder when and the shift began to take place it came as a surprise to but it evidently has taken place for some time now and nafta affect quality ended your president has so indicated. was that a board decision? was that just something that you all to? how did that come to pass? that was a little bit less adherence to quality and safety riches what i always associated poor europe with and the desire to become the largest country in the country. that is a shift that was caused by something, some decision to take place and i am curious. >> may i step in?

>> [speaking japanese] >> translator: allow me to answer. >> [speaking japanese] >> translator: as our president indicated in the house hearing last week, we really did not keep pace with our business expansion, our reinforcements of the human resources of the quality assurance. >> [speaking japanese]

>> [speaking japanese] >> translator: how does -- how this issue came about is because there weren't many vehicle -- many voices were sent to us from the customers but we really did not listen to everyone of them very carefully one by one. we should have really listen to them carefully and rendered some technical analysis so that it would be connected to our following product improvement however, the quality of this work or the efficiency of our work or the speed with which we work to have big, slow -- or sort of a came gradually and this came to a much larger

issue. we have taken this very seriously and reflected upon it very seriously. then as we said earlier we have changed our system and and we are to improve our system and very drastically and vary greatly and we're working on a very hard right now. >> mr. uchiyamada, we have a rule here that each questioner can only ask five minutes of questions and my time has run out. i will come back,. senator wicker is not here so i will call on senator cantwell. in. >> thank you mr. chairman. i think i will direct my questions to mr. inaba but a summit has been answered as great as well but under what circumstances does toyota make available the contents of its electronic data recorder? >> i will be glad to answer, but mr. uchiyamada is a specialist.

>> [speaking japanese] >> translator: at this time, all the toyota vehicles have electronic data recorder. set in such a way that the electronic data will remain. it's not the case whether this is disclosed or not disclosed however because there is a special interest is that we use it just turns out in a way that only toyota can read it out. >> [speaking japanese] >> translator: may i continue? >> yes go ahead.

>> [speaking japanese] [speaking japanese] >> translator: we believe that such data it should become more public and therefore we are trying to make this data available to other entities that ourselves and, indeed, we're trying to provide 100 such data recorders by early april and 150 units of such recorders by the end of april in north america. >> [speaking japanese] >> if i could because i only have five minutes. i am asking this because one of my constituents son and died in a single vehicle crashes driving one of the recall to thousand

toyota tundras appear in his parents have the trucks ddr and requested the company to give them access to the software to read its contents. toyota has turned them down. and i stayed there is a law pending in the washington legislature as a result of toyota's refusal so as a possible new provide an -- can you provide that information to their families so that they can have this data and information? >> we would be glad to do so and this is our desire to find out what has happened and i'm very sorry about what has happened to that family but we will be a as -- as he said there will be 100 eunice made available by the first of january or the beginning of january and also for your information and we are delivering the first three units to ma and also at the same time we are discussing our engineers

to train how to use it so we are doing this just tomorrow. >> this -- does toyota store and coli? i should say thank you for that, we look forward to looking at information as soon as possible. does toyota collect and store all the information from edr and what is the company to with the information? >> [speaking japanese] >> translator: i'm not 100 percent sure however so far in the united states when the data or information was requested by entities such as the police or court we would submit to that data to them and

i would assume they are the one who is keeping them. >> but isn't all this valuable information in preventing accidents in the future and collecting and seen trends of information? >> [speaking japanese] >> translator: i thank you are completely right. i think we should utilize the data more actively to elucidate the cause of accidents and other matters. >> is there some reason it is not standardized as it is among u.s. manufacturers? y that data device isn't an open interface that is readable by other individuals? is there some reason why u.s. manufacturers do that and toyota does not? >> [speaking japanese]

>> translator: i understand that at this time some makers may get open and there are others who don't make it open so is not really a uniform state. >> i see my time is expired mr. chairman but this is an issue for us to continue on that and look at and investigate. >> senator cantwell, i've decided that because of translation, each member will have seven minutes rather than five minutes so you have another two minutes. >> okay. well, if i could then along that line of questioning, obviously this is a big contingent among the victims of these accidents that they can't get access to information. there's only one electronic data recorder and so i know you think may be making a move to 100 and is a big step, but one other

manufacturers have this as information and then i would assume that that data and information and analyzed by lots of different people could yield important information in so besides the 100 devices, when will you try to make it an open and interface? >> let me address that. i think by middle of 2011, we are working with vendors and therefore its going to be commercially available. ahead of regulation. ahead of the time of regulation. >> [speaking japanese]

>> translator: as mr. inaba mentioned, we would like to make this interface open or public so that it can contribute to the finding out the cause of the accident and not just waiting for that to happen as i said. would like to bring more data readers through the united states so that will also help to make this information available. >> they would also have this to make it available if necessary? they could make it available as necessary? >> [speaking japanese] >> translator: bad is correct. we will be handing over our recorders -- readers rather. >> thank you mr. chairman. >> thank you. senator wicker. >> thank you very much and let me say i was out of the room when this hearing began this

afternoon. it's wonderful to see senator lautenberg back and looking so good, he's had his first treatment with and he tells us that it's good for weight-loss. but frank, you're looking -- i don't to try to, but i think i speak for everyone is good to see you back and looking great. of the me ask my question and by about three analyses of the electronics. you have and the december 2009 -- and i will ask this of the mr. ditlow and whichever representative from toyota who would like to volunteer to answer this question, you've got the one in 2009 commissioned by toyota to an outside firm exponent. and is my understanding that there has been an interim reports confirming toyota's

contingent that the unintended acceleration of it could not be caused by the ptc system because the failsafe south are successful in preventing it. you have another study called the bill bird study. this is a study paid for by basically plaintiffs' lawyers and people interested in bringing lawsuit against toyota which i have a perfect right to do period professor dill birds is a professor at southern illinois university and he did the study determined that while the system did not properly detected electronic malfunctions. and, of course, we understand that toyota this province -- this pusey's sank as the professors test record manipulation of the system that cannot actually have been on the road during driving conditions. then let me ask about the 2007

the study done by nitze. one on the lexus were basically they concluded in madsen there was no defect in the electronic system. i'd understand, mr. ditlow, that too have been critical of that 2007 study. abyla to speed yourself, but i would like to ask toyota the end mr. ditlow about those three analysis with and asked when this sort of thing is done, are there peer reviews? who takes an outside objective look at it? people who have a claim against toyota have a perfect right to hire an attorney and a higher someone to make an assessment. toyota has a perfect right to

pay exponent to do an assessment. and then the nitze assessment i guess was done internally, perhaps the contract. >> out. but is there an accepted peer review process and to look at the methodology and tell us whether it was skewed one way or the other, whether the table was still sitting in one direction or another, whether absolutely recalled by the number so i will let mr. ditlow go first and then toyota can volunteer. >> there is an unknown. you're process to review scientific tests and studies. none of the three studies that you have cited have yet been peer reviewed and -- >> even the 2007? >> no, as a matter of why there's nothing to peer review because the government has no data from that test on electronics. it has no test procedure that it

did so if you called in a panel of scientists to look at the information on the testing, there is no information to look at. i know that this is difficult to fathom, but i called up -- we have a request and didn't get data or procedure. i called up the government and said are you sure speaking as an engineer you have to have data, you have to have a procedure, and they said no, we have nothing other than a conclusion that is what it is. so you can't peer review of something that you don't have. certainly asked to the university saw -- certainly the exponents it will do it it could have and should be a peer reviewed. >> i see, and who will speak for toyota? >> let me start first and then my colleague will supplement back to. first of all, to that question

that i said in my testimony that we have asked, the honorable slater who is at secretary of transportation, as an outside adviser who set up a panel of and we would also ask him specifically that he can set up a different exponent, a laboratory or whenever he chooses appropriately so that they can test again at our ets system. as far as the exponent is concerned it's very well reputation consulting firm and when the final report is available when we will certainly make it public. >> [speaking japanese] >> translator: i would like to talk about the exponent case and

also dr. gilbert's report. >> [speaking japanese] [speaking japanese] >> translator: we have asked exponent to conduct this information. we have really asked them to do it completely independently. we have not interfered with them at all with regard to the method it might apply. [speaking japanese] >> translator: i think we can call it a pure third-party evaluation. in. >> [speaking japanese]

>> translator: with regard to dr. gilbert's experimentation, we have tried to recreate that based on our sort of estimates and we are able to reproduce his results. however, this week to do only in the laboratory and we believe is extremely unlikely or very difficult to reproduce and the real world. >> [speaking japanese] we also used other car manufacturers available to do this experiment and we were able to create the same result using other vehicle makes.

>> well, thank you mr. chairman. it's amazing how quickly seven minutes rolls past. let me just suggest -- >> seven minutes and 40 seconds. [laughter] >> let me suggest in the next 10 seconds that there is an entity called the national academy of sciences that does independent peer reviews and i found in my experience 14 years in the house and senate's that they can be relied upon to college by the numbers and i would simply suggest to this panel and two colleagues that it might be worthwhile to ask if they're interested in performing an outside independent peer review of all three of these analyses so that the committee can benefit from its. thank you. >> thank you. >> senator dorgan. >> mr. chairman thank you very much. i have been sitting here thinking about four months ago i responded to a want ad in and

purchased a 2003 camry for my daughter who's an upperclassman in college and i did that because the want ad in seemed appealing to me and i knew that toyota was a car with quality and reliability. and have to tell you that as i've read and studied what has gone on in this issue, i am enormously troubled by toyota's response going back some seven or eight years to this issue of acceleration, unintended acceleration. i just think the customer and certainly the latter zero agencies would expect more of and better of your company. i want to ask several questions. first, mr. ditlow. you said in your testimony that of the 2002 to 2010 camry wintu

unintended acceleration the other recall the camry have twice as many little crashes and deaths as those who have been recalled. >> that is correct senator. >> are you confident with those numbers? >> yes, i am. i expect the numbers will increase market. we have two other cases right now that we're looking into. >> mr. inaba, let me ask you then if mr. ditlow is correct, of the fatal crashes of cary between 2002 and 2010 went to unintended acceleration, if there are twice as many that are not recall the last are that have been recalled, doesn't that raise real questions about whether the recall is extensive or as extensive as it should have been? >> senator, i'm not personally aware of that information and therefore i will ask mr. ditlow to give us some information and look into it and maybe get back

to you later on. >> information is accurate as mr. ditlow presents its which you reach the same conclusion i reached that recalling a body of automobiles that of has half the rate of fatalities of astounded deceleration of you would want to recall those who have quite the right? >> i should not speculate but that should be the case. >> let me ask you, mr. inaba, and whoever else wishes and i want to ask about the accelerator and want to have the time. you indicated in your testimony, mr. uchiyamada, you said that as a result of our extensive testing we do not believe seven unintended acceleration results because of a defect in our ptc s of fact and we don't believe it's ever happened. then mr. inaba, you have said we are taking significant steps to bolster confidence in the later in the paragraph we were never

done a defect that has caused unintended acceleration. i think what i hear you saying is that you're doing things here to bolster confidence, but you don't believe there was a defect that caused the unintended acceleration? is that which you are saying to us? >> [speaking japanese] >> translator: it also depends on the result of the test, however, we have sold so far over 40 million vehicles. that has ptc on them. there was not a single case where we could identify that it edie cdl w