Toyota Hearing Witness List Includes Family of Lexus Crash Victims

With the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing scheduled for tomorrow, Wednesday, February 24, all eyes are on Washington and the people who, more or less, will make or brake Toyota in the near future.

The Oversight committee posted on its official website the list of people who will appear in front of the three panels an try to answer the question which titles the entire hearing: “Toyota Gas Pedals: Is the Public at Risk?”

The witness list includes David L. Strickland, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration administrator, Akio Toyoda, Toyota CEO, Yoshimi Inaba, Toyota Motor North America CEO and Sean Kane, president of Safety Research and Strategies.

In addition, the committee has a few surprises up its sleeve. The witness list includes Fe Lastrella, a relative of the four people killed in the crash in August last year near San Diego. Fe Lastrella is the mother of Cleofe and Chris Lastrella, both killed when the Lexus driven by California Highway Patrol officer Mark Saylor lost control and crashed, apparently because of an unintended acceleration issue.

Joining Lastrella will be Kevin Haggerty, who also experienced a sudden acceleration incident in a Toyota vehicle and Rhonda and Eddie Smith, a Tennessee couple who also had a similar experience. According to DetNews, the couple will be the first to appear in front of the panel tomorrow.