Mark Saylor, his daughter Mahala, wife Cleofe, and brother-in-law Chris Lastrella (not in photo) were killed in a crash blamed on a defective Toyota car

A Filipino mother's anguish over the loss of her family is providing an all too human face to the problem of runaway Toyota cars.

Fe Niosco Lastrella lost her daughter, son, son-in-law and granddaughter during a fatal crash of a Toyota Lexus ES-350 in Santee, San Diego, CA last August 28.

Her son-in-law Mark Saylor, a decorated California highway patrolman, was behind the wheel when the Lexus suddenly shot to 120 mph approaching an intersection until he lost control and plunged into a canyon.

Her son Chris made a frantic 911 call, yelling "hold on, hold on and pray, pray!" before silence.

"August 28, 2009 was the tragic date that triggered us all," Lastrella told a hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform committee on Feb. 24.

She described the trauma of her family, revealing "our 7-month old grandson Connor Toyooka would not give us a smile."

The panel was looking into the enigma of runaway Toyotas that has killed at least 39 people and led to the biggest car recall.

In contrast, exploding Pinto gas tanks killed 27 people in the 1970s.

"We now know that the terrifying deaths of this family were not caused by a freak accident. It turns out that people from all over the country had been complaining about sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles for years," said committee chairman Edolphus Towns (D, 10th district, New York).

Toyota president condoles

Toyota Motor president Akio Toyoda condoled with the stricken family.

"I regret that this has resulted in the safety issues described in the recalls," he told the panel, "and I am deeply sorry for any accidents that Toyota drivers have experienced."

"I would like to extend my condolences to the members of the Saylor family, for the accident in San Diego. I would like to send my prayers again, and I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said.

He initially turned down an invitation to attend the House hearing but reportedly relented after learning of the Saylor family tragedy.

Toyoda is a grandson of Kiichiro Toyoda who founded the car company in 1937.

He left the hearing after a three-hour grilling and before Lastrella gave her testimony. She represented the families of all who've lost a loved one in a runaway Toyota, offering a human face to the tragedy.

The Associated Press said their family's experience "galvanized attention around safety flaws of Toyota."

The Lastrellas

Lastrella hails from Bicol and is a school teacher by profession but shifted to the real estate business when the family moved to Vallejo in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. She is married to a retired US Navy Command Master Chief, Cleto Lastrella.

Cleofe Lastrella was her eldest child who worked for various pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. She married Mark Wesley Saylor who was once cited for a heroic rescue, pulling out a driver from a burning car that figured in a collision.

"She led her younger siblings the proper way," her mother tearfully recalled, "Love, respect and honesty were the family values they embraced, values she instilled to her daughter Mahala."

Thirteen-year-old Mahala was a promising athlete, her grieving grandmother told lawmakers. She said Cleofe even took a week off from work to help prepare Mahala to join a Catholic high school.

Chris Niosco Lastrella was the middle child in a brood of five. He worked for Wells Fargo in San Diego but his mother intimated his real ambition was to make a career out of "voice acting".

"Our investigation found that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received nearly 2,500 driver complaints about sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles," Rep. Towns said.

He noted that auto insurance State Farm had alerted the NHTSA of more than 900 cases of sudden acceleration in Toyotas since 2000, but this was never truly investigated.

"The NHTSA did very little about it, and when it did do something, its actions were very limited," he averred.

Lastrella said she agreed to testify because she "didn't want another family to suffer like we are suffering."