More Toyota complaints filed

Toyota has yet to bow to pressure to have its president appear before Congress, even as U.S. officials deal with new complaints alleging 34 deaths in Toyota vehicles since 2000 due to sudden acceleration.

Complaints alleging 13 deaths have been filed in the past three weeks alone, a U.S. government database shows. The alleged deaths happened in nine crashes between 2005 and 2010. Complaints claiming 21 deaths in Toyota vehicles had been filed through the end of 2009.

Governments typically receive a surge of complaints following recalls, but none of the U.S. allegations have been verified. Transport Canada could not immediately comment on whether similar figures on domestic complaints were available.

Toyota said it had not yet received notice from the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration about worries the series of recalls may next expand to the popular Corolla.

"We have yet to be contacted by the NHTSA regarding what has been reported in the press about a power-steering issue in the Corolla," Toyota spokesman Paul Nolasco said Monday. "Should we be contacted about any investigation by NHTSA related to any of our products, we will co-operate fully."

NHTSA said last week it is looking into complaints from drivers about difficulty with the steering in 2009 and 2010 Corollas.

Lawmakers want answers

Calls have been growing for Toyota President Akio Toyoda to answer questions from U.S. lawmakers on the safety recall, which has now ballooned to 8.5 million vehicles globally.

In Washington, Republican Representative Darrell Issa has said Toyoda should testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Feb. 24.

In addition to the Feb. 24 hearing, the House Energy and Commerce Committee has scheduled a Feb. 25 hearing with Toyota Motor North America chief executive Yoshi Inaba, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Administrator David Strickland.

The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee has scheduled a March 2 hearing.

Toyoda told reporters last week that he planned to go to the U.S., mainly to talk to American workers and dealers.

Toyoda will talk to Japanese reporters Wednesday about the progress of the recall of more than 400,000 Prius cars, and about the company's general approach to quality. That recall is due to concerns over braking software.

Criticized for initially being largely invisible, Toyoda has appeared at two recent news conferences, where he has apologized for the recalls and promised to be more responsive to customers.

Most recently, the automaker said Friday it is recalling about 8,000 Tacoma pickup trucks from the 2010 model year to fix a problem with the front propeller shaft that could cause the vehicle to lose control.

About 1,500 Tacomas in Canada are affected.