The head of a US congressional panel probing massive recalls of Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles has asked the chief of Toyota's US operations to provide information regarding allegations by a former Toyota lawyer that the automaker illegally withheld information from a lawsuit over an accident in which a Toyota sport-utility vehicle rolled over, it was learned Friday.

Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., chairman of the House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has sent a letter seeking detailed explanations about the matter to Yoshimi Inaba, president of Toyota Motor North America, Inc., asking for a reply no later than March 12, sources said. The SUV in question is not included in the about 8.5 million recalled Toyotas in the United States, the sources added.

The lower house committee has been looking over documents involving the SUV accident that the committee obtained from the former Toyota lawyer, who worked for the firm from 2004 to 2007, they said.

Towns' letter pointed out the possibility that Toyota failed to disclose "electronically stored information" concerning findings in the company's own investigations into defects in Toyota vehicles, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The alleged withholding of information, if true, might violate laws and regulations over the disclosure of product flaws and related information in a lawsuit in which the product's defects are at issue, the sources cited the chairman's letter as saying.

Toyota has been engaged in a court battle against the former lawyer, arguing he took confidential company documents without permission.

Public relations officials for Toyota said it was not unusual for a company to oppose disclosure of internal information on business operations that, if disclosed, could affect competition with rivals.

"Every company employee has obligations to keep secret information relating to the firm's business transactions," one public relations official said. "We're carefully and adequately dealing with matters involving legal requirements [regarding information disclosure]."

The official denied Toyota might have acted improperly over the alleged disclosure failure.