Toyota said that on february 8 it had received a subpoena from the grand jury in the southern district of new york asking it to produce documents related to unintended acceleration of some cars and the braking system of its prius hybrid .
The world 's biggest carmaker also said it had received a subpoena from the los angeles office of the us securities and exchange commission asking it to produce documents relating to " unintended acceleration of toyota vehicles and the company 's disclosure policy and practices " .
It was an unintended charm offensive , but this humble image of american officialdom has no doubt helped pave the way for vice president joseph r. biden jr. , who landed in china on wednesday night for three days of meetings with chinese leaders .
