Toyota Motor Corp. TM-N now faces the prospect of a criminal investigation, intensifying the storm battering the world’s largest auto maker as its president prepares to testify before a U.S. congressional committee that’s digging into recalls of the company’s most popular vehicles.

Both a U.S. grand jury in New York and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued subpoenas ordering the company to produce documents, Toyota said in a filing with the SEC on Monday.

The grand jury request signals that federal prosecutors are examining whether there’s a criminal case to be made against Toyota in the recall of more than eight million vehicles worldwide that has turned into a public relations nightmare for the company.

The demand for more information came one day after internal Toyota documents already sent to the U.S. House of Representatives oversight and government reform committee showed the company boasted about saving $100-million (U.S.) in 2007 when it agreed to an “equipment recall” of floor mats in Camry and Lexus ES350 models.

In addition, a separate House committee on Monday accused Toyota of resisting the possibility that incidents of sudden acceleration – dealt with by a recall to change gas pedals and floor mats – were caused by defects in the vehicles’ electronic throttle control systems.

The internal documents and the growing political pressure underscore the danger facing the company’s president Akio Toyoda as he testifies on Wednesday in a bid to contain the damage the recall crisis has done to Toyota’s long-standing reputation for quality.

His appearance before the House oversight committee could represent a watershed for Toyota in this crisis, said Gene Grabowski, senior vice-president of Washington-based Levick Strategic Communications and an expert in crisis management.

“If Mr. Toyoda does well enough and demonstrates to the satisfaction of the committee and the viewers that are watching on television that he is taking this seriously, is taking corrective steps, acknowledges responsibility for past failures, then he’s on the right road,” Mr. Grabowski said.

“If he should fail in that mission, should he appear to be arrogant, or appear to be a less-than-willing participant, then the members of Congress, the media and the public will turn against him.”

The scion of the family that founded Toyota needs to be conciliatory and say the company is examining all aspects of its operations, added Robert Wiseman, a professor of management at Michigan State University in Lansing, Mich.

But he and Mr. Grabowski agreed that the hearings will be mainly political theatre.

“It’s an opportunity for politicians to grandstand and say that we’re trying to protect the American public,” Prof. Wiseman said.

The crisis facing Toyota has sparked a war of words between governors representing some U.S. states with Toyota factories and the federal government, and between branches of the federal government itself.

The House energy and commerce committee, which accused Toyota of not looking closely enough at electronic causes of sudden acceleration, also blasted Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, saying his department lacks the expertise to make such an evaluation.

The governors said in a letter to Henry Waxman, the chairman of that House committee, that “Toyota has become as thoroughly an American company as the so-called ‘domestic’ manufacturers.”

That raises the prospect that Mr. Toyoda could face the same scathing criticism from politicians that the heads of Chrysler LLC, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. endured in November, 2008.

Robert Nardelli, Alan Mulally and Rick Wagoner were raked over the coals for flying to Washington in company-owned jets to attend hearings at which they asked for an auto industry bailout.

When they returned a month later to provide detailed explanations of what they planned to do with taxpayers’ money, they drove to Washington.

With files from Dow Jones and Associated Press

The man at the top

Akio Toyoda is the 53-year-old grandson of Kiichiro Toyoda, who founded the auto maker in 1937.

A car enthusiast and active amateur racer, Akio Toyoda joined the company mid-career in 1984 after earning a master’s degree in business administration from Babson College in Massachusetts.

He took the helm in June, 2009, after 25 years with Toyota, the sixth Toyoda family member to head the company. He vowed to quash “big-company disease” and steer Toyota “back to basics” after a decade of massive expansion as the firm grappled with a steep downturn in global auto sales.

One Toyota insider has described him as a fast decision-maker in Toyota’s deliberative corporate culture. But Mr. Toyoda has been criticized for avoiding the spotlight for two weeks after the recall crisis broke, and for issuing a late apology.

Reuters