(February 24, 2010) In a prepared statement to House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Jim Lentz, president and COO of Toyota U.S.A., told committee members that Toyota will install advanced brake override systems in all new models.

"We will install advanced brake override systems in all our new models — making us one of the first full-line manufacturers to offer this customer confidence feature as standard equipment," Lentz said in a statement provided by Toyota.

"Additionally, we are announcing that we will install this system on an expanded range of vehicles — including the Tacoma, Venza and Sequoia models — that are capable of accepting the new software. We had previously announced that the system would be installed onto the Camry, Avalon and Lexus ES 350, IS 350 and IS 250 models.

"These actions underscore that Toyota is going above and beyond making the necessary vehicle modifications and repairs to ensure that our customers can be completely confident in the safety and reliability of the cars and trucks they drive," Lentz said.

Lentz's reiterated Toyota's longstanding position that there are no electronic defects in Toyota products that could create acceleration problems. His statement suggested that top Toyota executives were unmoved by sharp criticism of that stance Monday by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman.

Waxman, D-Calif., wrote a letter to Lentz on Monday saying a preliminary review of Toyota documents suggested that the company “consistently dismissed the possibility” of electronic failures as a cause of unintended acceleration.

The company failed to conduct a systematic electronics investigation even after federal regulators sent Toyota a chart in 2004 showing five times as many vehicle speed complaints in Camrys with electronic throttle controls, the letter said.

“Our preliminary assessment is that Toyota resisted the possibility that electronic defects could cause safety concerns,” said Waxman's letter, co-signed by Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the committee's oversight panel.