The full text of prepared remarks to be delivered on Feb 24 by Toyota president Akio Toyoda to a U.S. congressional panel investigating his company's handling of safety problems is below. It was released by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Feb. 23
"I am Akio Toyoda of Toyota Motor Corporation.
"I would first like to state that I love cars as much as anyone, and I love Toyota as much as anyone.
"I take the utmost pleasure in offering vehicles that our customers love, and I know that Toyota's 200,000 team members, dealers, and suppliers across America feel the same way.
"However, in the past few months, our customers have started to feel uncertain about the safety of Toyota’s vehicles, and I take full responsibility for that.
"Today, I would like to explain to the American people, as well as our customers in the U.S. and around the world, how seriously Toyota takes the quality and safety of its vehicles.
"I would like to express my appreciation to Chairman Towns and Ranking Member (Darrell) Issa, as well as the members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, for giving me this opportunity to express my thoughts today.
"I would like to focus my comments on three topics -- Toyota's basic philosophy regarding quality control, the cause of the recalls, and how we will manage quality control going forward.
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