The Congressional probe of Toyota's safety issues has widened, with a request by the House Energy Committee for five leading insurance companies to provide regulators with reports of unintended acceleration incidents going back to 2000.

Letters were sent out on Tuesday, February 9, 2010 to Allstate Insurance, Farmers Insurance Group, GEICO, Progressive Group, and State Farm Group asking for duplicates of their communications with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration regarding defects in Toyota models.

Now, however, the panel is not just interested in Toyota's safety record, but in the performance of the NHTSA as an oversight agency. In addition to the work of the House Energy Committee, the House Oversight Committee has also scheduled a hearing regarding Toyota's ongoing problems.

On Tuesday, Toyota recalled more than 400,000 Prius and hybrid models to fix slipping brakes, with an additional 7,300 Camrys subject to recall for a separate brake problem. More than 8.1 million Toyotas have already been recalled for sticking accelerator pedals and jammed floor mats. Nineteen deaths have been attributed to this defects.

Toyota president Akio Toyoda has said he will visit the United States to meet with employees, dealers, suppliers, and customers in an effort to better understand the affects of the crisis and the extent of damage to his company's image.

"Our employees in the United States, our dealers, our suppliers each and everyone is working closely together," Toyoda said. "In my own words, I would like to explain the situation to the people concerned."