US LAWMAKERS have intensified pressure on Akio Toyoda, chief executive of Toyota, to come to Washington and testify to Congress over the carmaker’s recall of millions of vehicles, requesting formally he attend a hearing next week.

Edolphus Towns, chairman of the House oversight committee, said in a letter to Mr Toyoda yesterday that it was important he appear before the committee to “help clarify the situation” relating to the 8.5 million vehicles globally that Toyota has recalled since November.

Mr Toyoda on Wednesday declined an informal invitation to appear before lawmakers. Yoshimi Inaba, head of Toyota’s North American business, is due to appear before the committee next week.

Mr Toyoda had said he was planning a trip to the US.

The company is nervous that Mr Toyoda might experience the same hostile grilling to which the chief executives of the Detroit carmakers, General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler, were subjected to before lawmakers in late 2008.

Its view has been that the managers of its North American operations are as well equipped as Mr Toyoda to answer questions from Congress.

Mr Towns, a Democrat, told Mr Toyoda in his letter that “there is widespread public concern regarding reports of sudden unintended acceleration in Toyota motor vehicles . . . There appears to be growing public confusion regarding which vehicles may be affected and how people should respond.

“In short, the public is unsure as to what exactly the problem is, whether it is safe to drive their cars, or what they should do about it.”

Mr Towns has asked for a reply by 5pm tomorrow. Darrell Issa, the senior Republican lawmaker on the committee, has called on Mr Toyoda to appear, saying it was obvious that the Toyota chief executive was “not as eager to give Congress and the American people answers as we first thought”.