WASHINGTON – The government may require automakers to include brake systems that can override the gas pedal in response to Toyota's massive recalls, auto safety officials told Congress on Thursday.

David Strickland, the administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said in prepared remarks to a House panel that his agency may require the brake override systems, a fix intended to prevent the type of runaway car incidents that some Toyota drivers have described. It ensures that a driver stepping on the brakes can slow their car or truck even if the gas pedal is stuck or malfunctioning.

Requiring the system could "substantially reduce the most dangerous kinds of sudden acceleration," Strickland said. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said last week the department may recommend the safety systems.

Congress was holding a hearing to examine NHTSA's oversight of the auto industry in the latest congressional review linked to Toyota's recall of more than 8 million vehicles worldwide.

Safety groups have accused NHTSA of being too cozy with the Japanese automaker while lacking the resources to test for vehicle problems that could be electronic, not mechanical.

"NHTSA has been viewed by the motor vehicle industry for years as a lapdog, not a watchdog," Joan Claybrook, a former NHTSA administrator under President Jimmy Carter, said in prepared testimony.

Strickland said in prepared remarks the agency takes its "responsibility to protect consumers very seriously and will continue to ensure that manufacturers fulfill their obligations to identify and remedy safety defects in vehicles and equipment."

Congress is considering new auto industry reforms following Toyota's recalls to fix problems with accelerator pedals and brakes. NHTSA has tied 52 deaths to crashes allegedly caused by the accelerator problems, and the agency has received new complaints from owners who had their cars fixed and said their vehicles suddenly accelerated afterward.

A panel of the House Energy and Commerce Committee was to hear from Democratic former Rep. David McCurdy, president of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a trade group which represents 11 vehicle manufacturers; Ami Gadhia, policy counsel with Consumers Union; Claybrook, the former head of watchdog group Public Citizen, and Strickland.

Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., who chairs the subcommittee, said in prepared remarks the hearing would focus on the agency, not Toyota's troubled safety record. He urged his fellow lawmakers not to veer from scrutinizing NHTSA's performance on vehicle safety.

The Transportation Department has defended its work in policing the auto industry, noting that it dispatched safety officials to Japan late last year to urge the company to take safety concerns seriously. Toyota president Akio Toyoda recently met with Transportation Secretary LaHood and told him the company would "advance safety to the next level."

Strickland, in prepared testimony, said NHTSA receives more than 30,000 complaints a year and has a staff of 57 people to investigate potential defects. He said the "defects program has functioned extremely well over the years in identifying defects that create unreasonable risks."

The agency has been investigating potential electronic problems in Toyota cars and trucks. Toyota has said it has found no evidence of problems with its vehicles' electronic throttle controls but is also studying the issue.

Automakers point to declines in highway fatalities and the use of safety technology such as anti-rollover electronic stability control as signs of safety improvements on the road. "This is not an industrywide crisis," McCurdy said in an interview.

Crisis or not, Congress is considering several reforms that could bring the biggest auto safety changes since the TREAD Act, which was approved in 2000 to help the government spot safety defects more quickly following the massive Firestone tire recall.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., who leads a Senate committee with oversight of the industry, has expressed interest in "strong legislative action," including requiring a brake override system on all vehicles. Toyota is bringing the system to new vehicles and many of the cars and trucks under recall to provide an additional safety precaution.

LaHood told lawmakers his agency may recommend every new vehicle sold in the United States be equipped with the brake overrides, something that would require a relatively inexpensive software upgrade.

Other potential reforms include raising penalties on automakers who fail to recall defective vehicles in a timely manner, requiring car executives to certify the information they provide to NHTSA and mandating car makers provide hardware that dealers need to read electronic data recorders. The "black box" information could help investigators make their own judgments about what has been going wrong.

NHTSA could also receive more funding. Many lawmakers question whether the agency has enough skilled engineers who can understand the complicated electronics of modern cars and trucks.

President Barack Obama has recommended 66 new jobs for NHTSA in his 2011 budget.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. trade deficit unexpectedly shrank in January, reflecting a big drop in imports of oil and foreign cars. American exports also fell, a potential blow to hopes that the economic recovery will be aided this year by U.S. sales abroad.

The Commerce Department said that the trade deficit declined to $37.3 billion in January, a drop of 6.6 percent from a revised December deficit of $39.9 billion. Economists had been expected the deficit to widen to $41 billion.

U.S. exports dipped 0.3 percent, reflecting weaker sales of a wide variety of products from civilian aircraft and machinery to agricultural products. But imports dropped by a larger 1.7 percent as both oil and foreign cars saw big declines.

In other economic news, the Labor Department reported that the number of newly laid-off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits slipped last week by 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 462,000. It was the latest sign that the nation's employment picture is slowly brightening.

If the trade deficit held at January's level for an entire year, it would give the country an imbalance of $447.5 billion in 2010, up from a 2009 deficit of $378.6 billion, which had been the smallest trade gap in eight years. That improvement reflected a drop in global oil prices and a deep recession, which cut into demand for imported goods.

Economists believe the 2010 deficit will rise as a rebounding U.S. economy purchases more imports. However, the hope is that the U.S. recovery will be supported by strength in export sales as American manufacturers benefit from economic rebounds in other nations and a weaker dollar, which makes U.S. goods cheaper in foreign markets.

That expectation, however, has been clouded somewhat by a rise since December in the dollar's value against the euro, the common currency of 16 European countries. But economists believe that gain will not be large enough or last long enough to derail America's export prospects.

The Obama administration is also hoping to get a boost in exports from a fall in the dollar's value against the Chinese yuan. It has been lobbying China to allow the yuan to rise in value against the dollar, responding to complaints from American manufacturers that China is unfairly manipulating its currency by holding down the yuan's value to gain trade advantages.

China has held the yuan steady against the dollar for 18 months to help Chinese exporters withstand the global economic crisis. But the United States and other countries have been increasing pressure on China to allow its currency to resume rising in value now that the global economy is rebounding.

So far, the Chinese have made no moves to change its currency regime but private analysts believe such an action could happen this year, given that China's economy came through the global recession in better shape than other nations and its exports have begun to surge. China reported Wednesday that its exports rose in February by 45.7 percent from a year earlier.

The U.S. trade report showed that the U.S. deficit with China edged up by 0.9 percent in January to $18.3 billion even though imports from China fell to the lowest level since June.

The deficit with the European Union dropped by 56.3 percent in January to $2.8 billion, the lowest level with May. The big decline reflected a huge drop in imports of European autos. The deficit with Japan fell 27.3 percent to $3.3 billion, also the lowest level since May with the decline also attributed to a big drop in car imports.

The 0.3 percent drop in exports of goods and services left the total at $142.7 billion while imports fell to 1.7 percent to $180 billion.

While the dollar fell for much of 2009 against the euro, it has been rising in value since December. That rebound reflected all the worries over the debt problems of Greece, which uses the euro. If that trend continued, it could dampen U.S. export growth this year.

But many analysts believe the increase will not be large enough to derail the export gains they expect. However, they see imports rising as well as the U.S. economy rebounds.

A panel of 42 top forecasters for the National Association for Business Economics said in their latest projections that the U.S. trade deficit will rise to $437.5 billion this year.

GENEVA – British bank HSBC says information on 15,000 customers with accounts in Switzerland has been stolen.

HSBC says a former employee stole the information in late 2006 and early 2007. The accounts were all opened before October 2006.

The bank says it has contacted the affected customers and apologized for the breach of their privacy.

It said Thursday the stolen information only affects accounts in Switzerland with the exception of its former subsidiary HSBC Guyerzeller Bank.

Several banks in Liechtenstein and Switzerland have become victims of data theft in recent years.

The information has in some cases been offered to foreign governments seeking to track down nationals who have avoided paying their taxes by hiding money in Swiss accounts.