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Officials with Chattanooga-area Toyota dealerships remain supportive of the embattled car company, even as top Toyota executives apologized to Washington lawmakers on Tuesday.
"I would say the American people have more faith in Toyota than they have in their congressmen," North Georgia Toyota Sales Manager Jonathan Logan said.
The U.S. government's majority stake in General Motors and its ownership of a small part of Chrysler make him suspicious, he said.
"It's a bit of a conflict of interest when the government that's investigating you owns your competitors in business," he said.
Congressional hearings began Tuesday and Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda is expected to testify today, discussing the Japanese car company's response to safety problems with several of its vehicles. Toyota has recalled about 8.5 million vehicles for issues involving acceleration, steering and floor mats.
In testimony on Tuesday, Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville, Tenn., described to lawmakers how her Toyota-made Lexus suddenly zoomed to 100 miles per hour in 2006 as she tried to get it to stop -- shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and turn off the engine.
Fighting back tears, Mrs. Smith told the panel "I prayed to God to help me."
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she said, adding that it took a long time for Toyota to respond to her complaints.
In Dalton, Ga., Mr. Logan's dealership has serviced about 300 vehicles since the recall campaign began. He said technicians have been working late into the night to accommodate customers.
"We have actually received statements of support from our customers," he said. "Many customers have come forward and said, 'We have complete faith in Toyota products.'"
Eddie Triplett, general manager at Toyota of Cleveland, said "99 percent" of his customers have been supportive.
"Our customers have been extremely understanding and patient and, truthfully, the majority of them have made statements that they think the whole thing is blown dramatically out of proportion," Mr. Triplett said.
His dealership has serviced about recalled 900 vehicles so far, he said.
"I think the whole congressional hearing thing, whether it be for Toyota or for any other entity out there, is pure theater," he said.
Mr. Triplett said he remains excited about the company's long-term success because he believes Toyota's current quality troubles will drive the corporation to build better-quality cars.
"I think the best thing for us and our customers, whether it is warranted or not, it is an absolute wake-up call for Toyota to go back and re-evaluate every single quality process for themselves," he said.
At Capital Toyota, Service Manager Marty Woody is sick of hearing about the recalls.
"I've heard so much about it, I'm brain dead to it," he said. "Honestly, I don't know, it's irrelevant, we're a good company with a good product, and that's all I care about."
Capital Toyota has serviced about 660 recalled vehicles, according to Mr. Woody.