Toyota on the spot and in the lot in US capital

DETROIT Feb 23 (Reuters) - If there was an unofficial car for U.S. House committee members probing safety complaints on Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) cars and SUVs on Tuesday, it would have been -- a Toyota.

Several members of the House subcommittee that grilled Toyota Motor USA chief Jim Lentz for more than two hours on Tuesday said that they or their family members owned Toyota cars. Some expressed a little unease during their probe of safety complaints.

"You need to look no further than me to find a loyal, long-time Toyota owner," said Rep. Diana DeGette, a Colorado Democrat who owns three Toyota Camrys and who said the questions about Toyota were "not academic."

DeGette said her daughter, now 20, was driven home from the hospital after her birth in a 1988 Camry, and that she now drives that very car. DeGette also owns a Camry hybrid and Camry wagon.

"In less than two months my 16-year-old daughter will be getting her license, and the car she is going to be driving is the 1994 Camry wagon," DeGette said.

Donna Christensen, a delegate to Congress from the U.S. Virgin Islands and a Democrat, said she is now "wary" when she drives her Toyota Solara convertible and is concerned for family members who also drive Toyotas.

"The one that gives me sleepless nights is my two daughters and three and one-half grandchildren driving Toyota-made cars every day -- a 2006 RAV4 and a 2005 RX330 Lexus," she said.

Toyota faces the U.S. congressional hearings and subpoenas from a federal grand jury and U.S. securities regulators over its handling of safety recalls. [ID:nTOE61M048]

The Camry, RAV4 and Tundra vehicles are among models involved in a series of massive safety recalls that have led to the biggest crisis in Toyota's vaunted history.

Rep. Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, said he bought a Camry hybrid based on Toyota's "stellar reputation" and raised questions about the depth of Toyota's investigations into unintended acceleration. At this point, Toyota's recalls do not involve the Camry hybrid.

"Clearly, much more must be done," Markey said.

Remarking on the committee members who drive Toyotas, Rep. Charles Gonzalez, a Texas Democrat, was circumspect.

"I'm not going to ask them if they are going to stop driving their Toyotas," Gonzalez said. "My suspicion is they will not." (Reporting by David Bailey and Soyoung Kim, editing by Matthew Lewis)