Embattled Japanese automaker Toyota planned to undermine the credibility of two witnesses who have testified before Congress about acceleration problems of its cars, The Washington Post reported Saturday.
Citing documents provided to a House of Representatives committee, the newspaper said the plan was based in part on opinion polling conducted for Toyota by Joel Benenson, President Barack Obama’s chief pollster.
That survey questioned the integrity of Sean Kane, a Massachusetts safety consultant, and David Gilbert, an auto technology professor at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, the report said.
Toyota is facing an avalanche of claims from across the United States from owners who have alleged their cars suddenly accelerated. Other plaintiffs are seeking economic damages from Toyota, claiming the resale value of their vehicles has plummeted because of the recall crisis.
Toyota has yanked around 10 million vehicles for safety issues and last month agreed to pay a 16.4-million-dollar fine, the largest for an automaker in the United States, for hiding accelerator pedal defects blamed in more than 50 US deaths for at least four months.
According to The Post, congressional investigators are now trying to find out whether a campaign to discredit the witnesses was put into action.
Kane and Gilbert have been highly critical of Toyota’s response to the acceleration issue.
Kane runs a blog that is critical of Toyota. Gilbert has told Congress that he has conducted an experiment showing a flaw in the electronics of a Toyota engine.
