Toyota Receives Subpoenas From U.S. Grand Jury, SEC

Toyota Motor Corp. said Monday it has received subpoenas from a U.S. federal grand jury and the Securities and Exchange Commission, both requesting documents related to unintended acceleration of its vehicles and the braking system of its Prius hybrid.

The company's disclosure comes one day ahead of the start of congressional hearings into its handling of safety problems responsible for the recall of more than six million vehicles.

Toyota said it intends to cooperate with the investigations and is preparing its responses to the requests.

A person familiar with the matter said the securities-fraud unit of the U.S. attorney's office is handling the investigation but declined to say anything further.

The securities-fraud unit brings cases involving violations by public companies, including improper disclosures or misleading statements made to investors, among other things.

Read more here

Committee Subpoena Could Loom for Toyota CEO

A subpoena from Congress could be next for Toyota's top executive after he declined a committee appearance Wednesday.

The office of the top Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), said that Issa and committee Chairman Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) would take further steps to get testimony from Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda on his company's recent safety recalls.

"Obviously, Mr. Toyoda is not as eager too give Congress and the American people answers as we first thought," Issa spokesman Kurt Bardella said in a statement. "It's telling that the only way he'll come before the Oversight committee is by formal invitation."

Toyoda said Wednesday that he planned to travel to the U.S. next week, but said that Toyota North America President Yoshimi Inaba would be the best-suited person to testify before the Oversight committee.

Toyoda has sought to wage a PR offensive after millions of his company's vehicles were recalled for a faulty accelerator problems. Over 100,000 of the company's fuel-efficient Prius line were also recalled for braking problems.

Read more here