Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda plans to skip testifying before the U.S. Congress about the company’s recalls, potentially heightening criticism of his handling of the carmaker’s crisis, Bloomberg reported.

Toyoda said he hasn’t decided on his schedule for his U.S. visit. North American President Yoshimi Inaba will attend the hearings in Washington this month. Toyoda told reporters today in Tokyo he may consider attending if he is asked by Congress.

Toyoda, the 53-year-old grandson of the company’s founder, is struggling to repair Toyota’s image after recalling almost 8 million vehicles. The company will put a brake override system on all future models and will fix the braking systems on as many as 80 percent of its best-selling Prius hybrids by month’s end.

“It’s a questionable decision for Toyoda to avoid the hearings,” said Tatsuya Mizuno, director of Mizuno Credit Advisory in Tokyo. “His absence will likely have more of a negative effect on the company’s image than if he were to go.”

Toyoda was invited to a Feb. 24 hearing into the automaker’s handling of recalls by Representative Darrell Issa of California, the senior Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform panel.