Former NHTSA Administrator Joan Claybrook.
Claybrook speaks at the Toyota Truth press conference back in 2010.
"We are here today with three electronics experts who will demystify Toyota sudden acceleration. They will challenge Toyota’s claim that there’s nothing wrong with its electronic systems and why testing for the electronics problems does not work.
This contentious issue is at the heart of the Dept. of Transportation investigation of sudden acceleration in over 5 million Toyota vehicles in which Toyota claims it has identified that the problem is floor mats. Toyota has sworn under oath to Congress that their vehicles do not have an electronics problem. They have told the Department of Transportation this on numerous occasions in response to requests for specific answers. And they have made this claim public in press conferences an in elaborate demonstrations. If Toyota is misleading the government, the investigators in the Congress, it is liable for criminal penalties under 18 USC 1001. That’s why we can count on Toyota to continue denying that any electronics problem is causing sudden acceleration and so we in the government must turn to experts who can dissect these issues for us."
Nothing has changed since 2010 except that the floor mat story has spread like contagion all the way to the DOJ.