A Congressional Committee Chairman accused Toyota of withholding documents it was legally required to turn over in liability lawsuits the company was facing.

Toyota has also been charged to have paid higher settlements to plaintiffs to avoid revealing information contained in Toyota's secret "Books of Knowledge”, which contain highly sensitive information that rises to the level of trade secrets and highly confidential information.

Edolphus Towns, Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which grilled top Toyota officials, said that the documents, which were obtained under subpoena from a former Toyota lawyer-turned-whistleblower, indicated a systematic disregard for the law and routine violation of court discovery orders in litigation.

The committee summoned the documents held by former top Toyota North America lawyer Dimitrios Biller, which stated that Toyota was willing to pay a premium settlement to prevent the plaintiff's lawyers from getting access to Toyota's Books of Knowledge.

Lawmakers and Federal safety regulators have accused Toyota of concealing safety problems over cases of sudden unintended acceleration due to gas pedal problems.

Toyota officially declared to extend nationwide some recall-related services that it was offering to customers in the state of New York.