The president of Toyota Motor Corp. paid a visit to the company’s largest manufacturing plant in North America where he met with Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood.

Akio Toyoda promised LaHood that his company would be putting safety into the next level so that it would be able to regain from its customers after the company’s image has been badly damaged by the recent recall of 8.5 million cars amid safety concerns.

Toyoda later toured the plant in Georgetown, Kentucky saying that Toyota is “at a crossroads” right now.

Toyota is now facing a multitude of problems arising from the recall. New York prosecutors are investigating the company for criminal charges; the Securities and Exchange Commission is doing its own probe; and US dealers are outraged on the cost of the recall.

The company is also set to face a number of lawsuits for death and injury. The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation has already asked officials from the transportation sector of the government as well as from Toyota to testify for the hearing that would start on Tuesday.

Hearings have already been held in the Congress this week where congressmen lashed out at Toyoda himself citing the slow response taken by the company on the safety issues raised long before the recall.

Some auto analysts believe that the root of the problem in Toyota’s vehicles may actually come from the electronics part of the cars rather than the gas pedals or the floor mat interfering with the brake pedals.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has asked Toyota for records on the recall and will conduct its own investigation. The agency will also look further into complaints on the steering wheels of Corolla model.

According to Toyota, it has already fixed about 800,000 units of the 6 million vehicles recalled in the US. A deal in New York will allow owners of vehicles covered in the recalls to have a free home pick-up of their cars.

Sales of Toyota for January already dropped by 16 percent even though its competitors have registered increase in their revenues. Analysts expect that sales in February will be down by as much as 40 percent.