Smoking gun email by a retired (now for hire!) executive!

[MSI]

April 7, 2010: Perhaps LaHood & the Transportation Dept's fine and 'Speculation' from earlier this week were based in whole or part on emails from a retired senior official in Toyota's American operations. Reported yesterday in the NY Times the retired official included in a Jan. 16 e-mail message, that the company had “a tendency for mechanical failure” in some accelerator pedals. He went further that “We are not protecting our customers by keeping this quiet,” and “The time to hide on this one is over. We need to come clean,”
The author of the email is Irving A. Miller, then the group vice president for environmental and public affairs at Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A.(perhaps he's planning to supplement his retirement like Dimitrios Biller, the former Lawyer for Toyota?). The email was to a colleague, Katsuhiko Konagei, a communications coordinator who served as a liaison with Toyota’s Japanese operations. The e-mail message was among 70,000 pages of documents requested from the company by the Transportation Department and Congressional committees, which are investigating Toyota’s recalls. (hmm.. I wonder who pointed them to THAT email correspondence...?)
Mr. Miller, who retired shortly after from Toyota, could not be reached for comment. Toyota had no comment
See the full story Toyota E-Mail Noted Pedal Trouble