Akio Toyoda, the President of the world’s largest automaker Toyota Motor Corp. has finally accepted to testify at the US congressional hearing related to the recalls of Toyota cars. Toyota has recalled more than 8 million cars (including top selling vehicles Corolla and Prius) across the globe, due to some serious safety issues concerning its vehicles.

The Japan based auto goliath has seen significant erosion in its net worth due to the recalls. The company has lost over $31 billion in its market after it announced the recall on January 2010, almost a month ago.

Considering severity of the incidents, the US authorities sent a formal invitation to the Toyota Chief to attend the hearing. However, initially Akio Toyoda refused to appear and said will be sending an executive to attend the hearing on his account. The announcement instigated more criticism for the company and for the Toyota Chief. So putting an end to the accusations of fleeing away from his responsibilities, Akio Toyoda has announced that he will testify in front of the US lawmakers on the hearing scheduled for 24th February 2010.

This is the worst controversy that the automaker has got itself into in its 70 year long history of existence.