Toyota's public relations nightmare appears far from over.

The beleaguered automaker is facing renewed allegations that it systematically withheld information and ignored safety issues that could have prevented fatal accidents.

Dmitrios Biller, a former Toyota lawyer who handled product liability lawsuits, said in multiple media interviews that the automaker willfully tried to suppress evidence of defects.

"Toyota is a very secretive corporation," Biller told the L.A. Times. "It doesn't believe anybody outside the corporation deserves to know what is going on inside, even if it kills somebody."

"You have to understand that Toyota in Japan does not have any respect for our legal system. They did not have any respect for our laws."