U.S. Opens Investigation on Toyota Corolla

Updated 6:55 p.m. EST.

A U.S. Transportation Department official says the department plans to open a formal investigation into the 2009-2010 Toyota Corolla over potential problems with the car's power steering.

The preliminary investigation is expected to be opened on Thursday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the department had not yet notified Toyota of the probe.

Toyota Motor Corp. said earlier Wednesday it was considering a Corolla recall following numerous complaints of problems with the power steering system.

Drivers have complained they feel they were losing control over the steering, particularly at highway speeds.

The company's announcement that that it may recall its top-selling model is another blow to the world's largest automaker already reeling from a spate of safety lapses ranging from sticking gas pedals to braking problems.

Toyota sold nearly 300,000 Corollas in the United States last year and the investigation and any possible recall would affect more than 500,000 cars in the United States.

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Toyota says it has received fewer than 100 complaints relating to Corollas, but the U.S. government says it's already received 163, reports CBS News correspondent Dean Reynolds. In the past, Toyota has misrepresented the timeline of when it became aware of safety problems and how many complaints it received.

President Akio Toyoda also said he's not going to Washington to appear at congressional hearings next week, sending an aide instead and exacerbating the company's image problem in the U.S.

"Anybody but Mr. Toyoda going to Washington is like sending the vice president when there is a huge disaster someplace," Rebecca Lindland, an auto analyst for HIS Global Insight told Reynolds.

Toyoda said he prefers to leave the meeting to his U.S.-based executives while he focuses on beefing up quality controls - though he would consider attending if invited.

"We are sending the best people to the hearing, and I hope to back up the efforts from headquarters," Toyoda told journalists at his third news conference in two weeks.

Eager to show that his company is taking consumer concerns seriously, Toyoda promised a backup safety system in all future models worldwide that will override the accelerator if the gas and brake pedals are pressed at the same time. Acceleration problems are behind the bulk of the 8.5 million vehicles recalled by the automaker since November.

Toyota has made repeated apologies but useful information for customers on what went wrong has been hard to come by.

"It's very concerning," said Toyota owner Deanne Rogers. "They should have been more forthcoming if they did have problems."

At the Transportation Department, 34 reported deaths so far have been attributed to sudden unintended acceleration in Toyotas.

"I think that Toyota knew that it had a problem and it did everything it could to discourage the Department of Transportation from requiring a recall," Joan Claybrook, a consumer advocate and former NHTSA administrator told Reynolds.

Now the department wants Toyota documents involving how and when it knew of its vehicle's problems -- holding out a threat of a $16 million dollar fine. The department wants to know how long the automaker knew of safety defects before taking action.

In Japan, Toyota had no immediate comment on the order Tuesday to hand over the documents.

Toyota's U.S. unit said in a statement that it "takes its responsibility to advance vehicle safety seriously and to alert government officials of any safety issue in a timely manner."

"We are reviewing NHTSA's request and will cooperate to provide all the information they have requested," it said.

"Toyota has always had a culture of secrecy," Claybrook said. "It doesn't like to reveal anything, it doesn't like to admit anything, it doesn't make documents available."

And Toyota's woes could spread.

The executive in charge of quality control, Shinichi Sasaki, said the company is examining fewer than 100 complaints about power steering in the Corolla, one of its best-selling models.

Sasaki said drivers may feel as though they were losing control over the steering, but it was unclear why. He mentioned problems with the braking system or tires as possible underlying causes of the steering problem. U.S. officials are also investigating the complaints.

He stressed that the company's internal investigation was still preliminary and no decision had been made, but that the company was prepared to supply fixes - including a recall as one possibility - if it find defects.

The company is putting customers first in a renewed effort to salvage its reputation and will do whatever is necessary, Sasaki said. Toyota sold nearly 1.3 million Corolla cars worldwide last year.

The step suggests the company is responding more quickly than earlier, said Ryoichi Saito, auto analyst at Mizuho Investors Securities Co. Ltd.

"The company's announcement of the probe before a recall is a big positive step for Toyota," Saito said. "It really shows the company has already learned a lesson from the recall debacle by announcing every probe very quickly."

Analysts had mixed views about Toyoda's reluctance to show up at Congress - some critical but others saying it was OK.

Toyota's top North American chief, Yoshi Inaba, will likely face a grilling next week from U.S. lawmakers over safety lapses. Inaba has little involvement in design and engineering issues handled by its headquarters in Japan.

"They want to talk to the really top guy at Toyota," said Koji Endo, managing director at Advanced Research Japan. "I also think Akio-san should be a little bit more proactive and should go to D.C. with Inaba-san."

Unlike Western chief executives, Japanese presidents are not always expected to be an authoritative figure and plays more of a team leader role in a culture that values harmony and consensus. That role is even more pronounced for Toyoda, the grandson of the company's founder.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and NHTSA Administrator David Strickland also are expected to testify at a Feb. 24 hearing by the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Toyota's gas pedal problems and one by the House Energy and Commerce Committee the next day. The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee plans a March 2 hearing.

Inaba, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and NHTSA Administrator David Strickland are expected to testify at both meetings. The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee has scheduled a March 2 hearing.

"I want people who drive Toyotas to know that we're gonna hold Toyota's feet to the fire on this," LaHood told CBS News. "This is very serious."

Toyoda does plan a U.S. visit, mainly to speak with American workers and dealers, but he said details of his trip are not yet finalized.

Toyoda also acknowledged his company had grown too quickly globally, and the measures in place in Japan to check on defect reports hadn't been enough to deal with "the scale" of America.

But he stressed again that he and his company have nothing to hide.

"We are not covering up anything, and we are not running away from anything," Toyoda said.

The automaker said it was also dealing with questions about whether the gas pedal flaw was electronic and reiterated its investigation has not found any electronic problems.

But it has commissioned an independent research organization to test its electronic throttle system, and will release the findings as they become available.

Scrutiny of Toyota is growing. The U.S. Transportation Department has demanded Toyota hand over documents related to its massive recalls. The department wants to know how long the automaker knew of safety defects before taking action.

Reports of deaths in the U.S. connected to sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles have surged in recent weeks, with the alleged death toll reaching 34 since 2000, according to new consumer data gathered by the U.S. government.

Not everyone's on Toyota's case though. Governors with Toyota plants in their states have now taken up the company's cause, suggesting the federal government - which owns 60 percent of general motors - may have an ulterior motives, Reynolds reports.

Toyota told NHTSA in January that the problem appeared in Europe beginning in December 2008. Toyota has said it began fixes on that in August 2009, but the company failed to link that with gas pedal problems in the U.S., which surfaced in October 2009.

Toyota took full-page ads in major Japanese newspapers Wednesday to apologize for the recalls in Japan, which affect the flagship Prius hybrid and two other hybrid models.

"We apologize from the bottom of our hearts for the great inconvenience and worries that we have caused you all," the black-and-white ads say.