Its Scandal May Be Lost Within Gulf Oil, But Toyota's Car Safety Still At Issue

BP, of course, has become the poster child for bad corporate behavior for its monster oil spill that the energy giant can't seem to stop.

But before oil executives like Tony Hayward and Lamar McKay began coming to Capitol Hill for their regular tongue-lashings over the Deepwater Horizon disaster, it was Toyota bigwigs like James Lentz who came to town for congressional reaming due to problems with the carmaker's vehicles that would accelerate uncontrollably, causing a number of fatalities.

It may seem as the Toyota safety scandal was from another age, as preoccupied as the nation has become with oil continuing to spew into the Gulf of Mexico. But, in reality, it was just a few months ago that Congress was probing the Toyota issue, hot-and-heavy. And just because Toyota's ham-handed answers for "unintended acceleration" have given way in the headlines to BP's ineffectual mutterings about "top kill" and paying damage claims, the issue itself isn't over.

A 13-member panel organized by the independent National Research Council (NRC) will meet this week in Washington to identify possible causes of unintended acceleration in vehicles in the aftermath of Toyota's large recalls.

The group, which will hold its first meeting Wednesday and Thursday, includes notable engineers, scientists and auto safety experts. They will review electronic systems across the auto industry.

The study is part of the federal government's work to learn what led to the recall of more than 8 million Toyotas because of sudden unintended acceleration. The review is expected to last 15 months.

The NRC is part of the National Academies, an independent science, engineering and research organization that operates under a congressional charter and regularly provides advice and information to Washington policymakers.

Meanwhile, earlier this month, the Senate Commerce Committee approved the Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 2010, which includes legislation by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) that would crack down on the cozy relationship between the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and automobile companies.

Boxer’s legislation, known as the Motor Vehicle Safety Integrity Employment Act, would bar former NHTSA employees from working for auto manufacturers in any capacity that required written or oral communication with the agency for three years. The legislation would apply to high-ranking NHTSA officials, as well as individuals whose responsibilities during their last year at the agency included any motor vehicle safety-related program.

It's been reported that two former NHTSA regulators took a spin through that revolving door and landed at Toyota, where they helped kill at least four federal investigations into unintended acceleration.

The Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 2010, which provides NHTSA with greater oversight authority, improves the safety standards for motor vehicles and increases transparency and accountability for the auto industry and NHTSA, now moves to the Senate floor for consideration.

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