Amid a media frenzy, the president of Toyota has arrived for a congressional hearing where he is apologizing for defects across a number of models which lead to massive recalls, and the deaths of some drivers.

The 53-year-old Akio Toyoda entered a packed House committee room at 2:30 pm EST.

Toyoda, the grandson of the Japanese company's founder, apologized publicly for the safety problems and deaths that have been linked to unintended acceleration cases in Toyotas.

The company has recalled 8.5 million vehicles worldwide.

Toyota