US plans another hearing Tuesday on Toyota

As Toyota blames poorly fitting floor mats and sticky gas pedals for the recall of millions of vehicles, the growing tangle of wires, sensors and computers is sill being scrutinized as the root cause of unintended acceleration. But faulty electronic systems are notoriously difficult to assess, since they come with many parts with the effects of each being very difficult to isolate.

The car manufacturing giant is now trying to restore public faith in their cars and trucks, which has been badly damaged by the recall of 8.5 million vehicles over safety concerns.

The recall has damaged Toyota’s reputation and the company is facing legal and PR problems on several fronts: a criminal investigation by federal prosecutors in New York; a probe by the Securities and Exchange Commission; and anger by U.S. dealerships in line to repair potentially millions of recalled vehicles.

The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee is planing a hearing Tuesday. It follows the appearance last week of the President of Toyota at a US congressional hearing.

The President apologized in prepared testimony for the safety problems and deaths that have been linked to unintended acceleration cases in Toyotas.

Akio Toyoda admitted his company focused too much at times on expanding its sales in the United States at the expense of quality and safety.

Of more than 2,000 complaints of unwanted acceleration filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, more than half came from drivers of Toyotas that were not covered by the two acceleration recalls.

That brings into question the scope of the tests that have been done by the Administration to identify the problem.

And with electronics so prevalent in today's cars, there's a growing chorus in Washington questioning whether the Administration has the expertise to investigate problems in this area.

, Former Administrator US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said, "Well I think that this is one of the problems that Department of Transportation has not kept pace with the technology changes that have occurred in vehicles. The accelerator standard right now was issued in 1973, before there was any such thing as electronic throttles, so its completely out of date, its almost irrelevant."

Lawmakers say they will continue to push for answers on whether modern vehicles are safe as well as Administration's capabilities to verify that.