Toyota official bragged about saving $100M, cited safety cutbacks.

Just when the news for Toyota seemed to be turning around, the automaker's been dealt another blow. In a presentation given on July 6, 2009, Toyota’s Motor Sales CEO and chairman in
 the U.S., Yoshimi Inaba, allegedly bragged about saving the company over $100 million. Not bad. Except it came at the expense of delayed safety regulations and avoiding investigations. The presentation dealth with safety and the topic of "Wins for Toyota".

This news comes after The Detroit Free Press managed to get ahold of the presentation Sunday while Toyota was submitting numerous documents to the House of Oversight and Government Reform Committee, ahead of its hearing on Feb. 24.

In the wake of the recent recalls Toyota has suffered, this has potential to continue to damage the image of a company already struggling with recent setbacks. While they are maintaining their commitment to safety, questions are being raised by major officials.

In an interview with Free Press, California Republican Darrell Issa said he wondered if the bottom line was factored into Toyota's decision-making.
“Did regulators do their due diligence once problems were brought to their attention?" he said. "Did Toyota raise potential safety problems with regulators as soon as they knew a problem existed?”

These answers and more may be coming soon. Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda will be in Washington Feb. 24 handling questions from the Fed.