Toyota, dogged by millions of recalls and claims that it still has not fixed its safety problems, took its strongest step yet yesterday to silence critics who blame faulty electronics for runaway cars and trucks. Toyota assembled a group of experts to rebut studies by an Illinois professor who revved Toyota engines simply by short-circuiting the wiring. Toyota’s experts say the experiments were done under conditions that would never happen on the road.

Toyota President Akio Toyoda personally and repeatedly apologized yesterday to Congress and millions of anxious American car-owners for deadly defects in popular models produced by his Japanese company. But angry lawmakers forcefully declared it was hardly enough. “Where is the remorse?“ scolded Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio. And Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., held aloft what he called an “absolutely appalling” Toyota report bragging of defusing a safety investigation.

Federal prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation into Toyota Motor Corp.‘s safety problems and the Securities and Exchange Commission was probing what the automaker told investors, the company disclosed yesterday. Newly released internal documents showed that Toyota officials visited with U.S. regulators years ago who “laughed and rolled their eyes in disbelief” over safety claims.

First it was gas pedals, then brakes. Now Toyota and the government are looking into complaints that the popular Corolla is difficult to steer straight, raising a new safety concern ahead of next week’s congressional hearing about the automaker’s recalls. But how worried should drivers be? Or is this an example of how any problem at the Japanese company now gets intense scrutiny?

In public, Toyota is running apologetic TV ads and vowing to win back customers’ trust as its global recall ballooned to 8.5 million cars and trucks. Behind the scenes, the besieged carmaker is trying to learn all it can about congressional investigations and maybe even steer them if it can. It’s part of an all-out drive by the world’s biggest auto manufacturer to redeem its once-unassailable brand—hit anew yesterday with the recall of 440,000 of its flagship Prius and other hybrids for braking problems.

Toyotas are losing value by the week. Kelley Blue Book dropped the resale values of recalled Toyotas yesterday for the second time in four days , leaving them as much as 4 percent or $300 to $750 lower than a week ago, depending on the model. Recalls and a slow response to safety questions have put a dent in the market value of cars long seen as money in the bank for their owners.

Toyota is close to recalling as many as 300,000 of its popular Prius hybrids over brake problems, according to Japanese media—a decision that would further embarrass a trusted brand suddenly beset by safety problems. The company may have no choice: A week has passed since the problems emerged, and analysts say further delays could be devastating to the automaker’s already damaged reputation in a global market it fought for decades to dominate.

Toyota faced mounting pressure yesterday as the U.S. government opened a probe of brake problems with the Prius, a crown jewel of its lineup. Toyota announced last night that it is also investigating problems with its Lexus hybrids. The beleaguered automaker said it was “too soon” to decide whether to add the Prius hybrid to the millions of cars it has recalled, but today a leading Japanese newspaper reported that the automaker will recall 270,000 Prius hybrids in the U.S. and Japan.

Americans should park their recalled Toyotas unless driving to dealers for accelerator repairs, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood warned yesterday—then quickly took it back—as skepticism of company fixes grew and the government’s probe expanded to other models in the U.S. and Japan. Questions now are being raised about the brakes on Toyota’s marquee Prius hybrid.

Toyota dealers who have started to repair defective gas pedals in millions of U.S. vehicles are extending hours, making house calls and offering other services as they try to repair the damage to Toyota’s reputation. Toyota Motor Corp. recalled eight models Jan. 21 and stopped selling those vehicles five days later because their accelerator pedals could stick in a depressed position. Toyota is sending dealers a piece of steel about the size of a postage stamp that can be inserted into the accelerator mechanism and eliminate the friction that causes the problem.

The Obama administration’s top transportation official sharply criticized Toyota Motor Corp. yesterday for dragging its feet on safety concerns over its gas pedals, suggesting the automaker was “a little safety-deaf” to mounting evidence of problems. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told The Associated Press that federal safety officials had to “wake them up” to the seriousness of the safety issues that eventually led Toyota to recall millions of popular brands like Camry and Corolla. That included a visit by a transportation official to Toyota’s offices in Japan to convince them to take action.

NEW YORK When you think about car safety, you think brakes, air bags and seat belts. Now, you should check floor mats, too. The carpet in your driver’s footwell is at the center of what will be Toyota’s largest-ever U.S. vehicle recall, prompted by a fatal crash. The problem: Gas pedals in some Toyotas could become caught under the edge of floor mats. That may have led to a car cash that killed four people in August outside San Diego.

NHTSA: (888) 327-4236
  Toyota: (800) 331-4331
  Lexus: (800) 255-3987

Inspection reports from a Nestle USA cookie-dough factory in Virginia released yesterday show the company refused several times in the past five years to provide Food and Drug Administration inspectors with complaint logs, pest-control records and other information. The records, which date to 2004, were made public after Nestle’s Toll House refrigerated, prepackaged cookie dough was discovered to be the likely culprit in an E. coli outbreak that has sickened 69 people in 29 states, according to the latest estimates from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC is investigating the outbreak along with the FDA.

In another food scare sure to rattle consumers who watched the national salmonella outbreak in peanuts unfold, federal food officials are now warning people not to eat any food containing pistachios, which could carry contamination from the same bacteria.