For a measure of just how big the Toyota recall is, consider this: the number of cars that have so far been flagged as defective is now approaching the total number of vehicles sold by all automakers in the U.S. last year. Today, the Japanese automaker expanded its recall to include eight European models, bringing the worldwide total to nine million. At issue in the European models, according to a company statement, is accelerator pedals that may stick. Concerns around the accelerator are also behind recalls in the U.S., where 2.3 million cars have been identified as having gas pedals that could wear down, and five million that had gas pedals that could become stuck in the floor mat. In Washington, two House committees are now holding hearings into whether the defects, which have been linked to 19 deaths in the U.S. in the past decade, put the public at risk.