U.S. President Barack Obama urged Toyota Motor Corp. to "act decisively" in the disclosure of safety issues following massive global recalls reaching around 8 million vehicles, according to the online edition of BusinessWeek on Thursday.
"Every automaker has an obligation when public safety is a concern to come forward quickly and decisively when problems are identified," Obama said in an interview with Bloomberg BusinessWeek.
"We don't yet know whether that happened with Toyota. That's going to be investigated," he added in his first public comments on the recent spate of safety troubles dogging the Japanese auto giant.
Meanwhile, Rep. Darrell Issa, a Republican from California and key member of the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, urged Toyota President Akio Toyoda to testify before the Feb. 24 congressional committee hearing.