Toyota recalls prompting Congress to reconsider whether NHTSA has lived up to its mission of protecting motorists

House panel planned to examine NHTSA's oversight of auto industry in latest Congressional hearing linked to Toyota recall of more than 8M vehicles

Safety groups have accused the agency of being too cozy with Toyota while lacking resources to test for electronic problems, not mechanical

NHTSA has been viewed by auto industry for years as a lapdog, not a watchdog, said Joan Claybrook, a former NHTSA administrator under President Carter

House Energy and Commerce Committee was to hear from David Strickland, NHTSA's administrator and David McCurdy, president of Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers

Also hearing from Ami Gadhia, policy counsel with Consumers Union. and Claybrook, former head of watchdog group Public Citizen

Transportation Department has defended its work in policing the auto industry

Said that it dispatched safety officials to Japan late last year to urge Toyota to take safety concerns seriously

Toyota president Akio Toyoda recently met with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and told him the company would advance safety to the next level

Automakers point to declines in highway fatalities and use of safety technology as signs of safety improvements on the road

Crisis or not, Congress is considering several reforms that could bring the biggest auto safety changes since the TREAD Act

TREAD Act was approved in 2000 to help government spot safety defects more quickly following the massive Firestone tire recall