Toyota's president has apologised to the US Congress and American Toyota owners for safety problems that led to deaths and worldwide recalls.

丰田全球总裁就由于汽车的安全问题所引发的事故以及世界范围的汽车召回向美国国会和丰田车主致歉。

Akio Toyoda said he was "deeply sorry" for any incidents which had occurred as a result of failures with accelerators（加速器） and brakes on several models.

Mr Toyoda pledged his "full co-operation" with the US investigation¹.

But, under questioning, he insisted no faults had been discovered with the electronics of any of its vehicles.

He pledged that an independent, outside advisory² board（咨询委员会） would look into the issue.

'Not safe'

Toyota has recalled about 8.5m vehicles worldwide.

Earlier the chairman of the House Oversight³ and Government Reform Committee, Edolphus Towns, said Toyota and regulators had "failed their customers" on safety.

And Transport Secretary Ray LaHood told the hearing that all vehicles which had been recalled were "not safe".

But he added that Mr Toyoda's scheduled appearance showed that world's biggest car maker⁴ was no longer "safety deaf" to complaints and concerns.

Scrutiny⁵

The reputation（声望，名誉） of Toyota has been severely⁶ damaged by a string of major problems across a range of vehicles.

The main issues have been faulty accelerator pedals（加速踏板，油门踏板） , accelerator pedals getting stuck in floor mats, and a problem with braking systems on its hybrid⁷ models（混合模式） .

Fe Lastrella, who lost four family members in a crash caused by a faulty accelerator on a Toyota, gave evidence after Mr Toyoda.

Mrs Lastrella's son Chris, daughter Cleofe, Cleofe's husband Mark Saylor and the couple's daughter Mahala were killed on 28 August 2009 in California - an incident that led to renewed US government scrutiny（监视，详细审查） of problems with acceleration⁸ in some models.

"To the honourable⁹ members of the committee and the honourable members of the congress, the answer lies in your hands," she said.