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David Strickland, administrator of the agency, said itwas considering the step in the wake of recalls of millions of Toyota vehicles. He made the disclosure to a subcommittee hearing by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

The recorders, sometimes referred to as ?black boxes, like those on airplanes, record eventsfrom five to 30 seconds before a crash, and soon afterward.

The devices, which are generally linked to air bags, note information like the speed of the car, whether the driver was applying the brakes and other facts that can be downloaded and analyzed.

In 2006, the safety administrationencouraged but did not require automobile manufacturers to install the systems and also did not set a single standard for the way data would be recorded.

That has been an issue in the case of Toyota, whose event recorders are different from those installed on cars from Detroit automakers. Unlike their systems, which can be read through the same diagnostic equipment, the Toyota system requires a special analytic device, and Mr. Strickland said a Toyota representative must help interpret the information.

Safety advocates have called for the same system to be required on all automobiles and say the information should be available to the public.

Mr. Strickland, in his testimony, said the agency would ?evaluate the benefits of mandatory event data recorders in vehicles.

Since last fall, Toyota has recalled six million vehicles in the United States in two major campaigns for potential problems that could cause sudden unintended acceleration, an issue that has affected several automakers.

Toyota recalled one series of vehicles because it said the accelerator pedals could become entangled in floor mats. In a second recall, Toyota said pedals could become stuck because of a faulty pedal design. It is in the midst of making repairs in each recall.

The company also said it would install brake override systems on many vehicles, meant to prevent the cars electronic throttle from sticking open.

At the hearing, Representative John D. Dingell Jr., Democrat of Michigan, said the agencys response to safety defects on automobiles had been ?sluggish. He said he was concerned that the agency lacked appropriate resources, in terms of financing and staff, to fulfill its safety mandate. But Mr. Dingell also said that Toyota sharedresponsibility for failing to act more quickly when reports of problems surfaced.

Mr. Strickland, a former Senate staff member who took office on Jan. 4, said he did not think the agency under his leadership had made mistakes in dealing with Toyota, and he said the company had been ?very responsive to the safety agencysrequests for information.

In earlier hearings, some members of Congress accused the agency of being a ?lapdog for the automobile industry. But Mr. Strickland objected to that characterization, saying the agencyhad opened eight investigations into the issue of sudden unintended acceleration.

?A lapdog doesnt open eight separate investigations, he said.

But he said Toyota was unique among automobile companies in leaving decisions on recalls to its headquarters in Japan. He said the company could move more quickly on requests from the agency if a Toyota executive in the United States had the authority to act.

In December, the Transportation Department sent officials to Japan at the safety administrations request to urge Toyota to speed up its actions on the sticking pedal situation. Soon after, Toyota recalled a series of vehicles to repair accelerator pedals and also temporarily stopped selling and producing models involved in the recall.

Mr. Strickland said his agency would look at many of the features that have come into question because of the recalls. They include electronic throttle technology, brake override systems and accelerator pedals.

In the last week, the police have reported at least two incidents in which the owners of Prius cars complained of sudden unintended acceleration.

Toyota has recalled 2004 to 2009 models of the Prius because of the floor mat issue, but the cars were not part of the sticking pedal recall because they have a different accelerator pedal. The owners of the cars, however, said their floor mats were not entangled in the pedals. In one case, the floor mats had been securely fastened by a dealer.

Officials said that 10 to 12 of the dead were Pakistani soldiers, and that more than 100 people had been wounded in the two blasts.

A Lahorepolice officer, Sohail Sukhera, said this city in the Pakistani heartland was ?in a state of war after the explosions,which came despite what he called tight security in the army-controlled cantonment area of the city.

The attacks came only days after a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden truck into the main gate of a safe house in Lahore used for interrogation by the Pakistani military. The explosion killed at least 15people, including guards,and flattened the building.

In addition, militants have struck several times in other parts of Pakistan this week, including an attack on Wednesday on the offices of World Vision, an American-based Christian aid group, in the northwest district of Mansehra, which killed six Pakistani employees. A bombing at a small, makeshift movie theater in the main northwest city of Peshawar killed four people.

The surge in violence follows a Pakistani crackdown on militants linked to the Taliban and Al Qaeda, including the arrest of the Talibans No. 2 commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. But no group immediately took responsibility for the latest attack on Friday.

Lahore is the biggest city inPunjab, Pakistans most populous province. The attacks here this week seemed a direct challenge to the authority and effectiveness of the military, which recruits heavily in Punjab and has sought to move against militants in recent months in Pakistansmountainous and often lawless areas near theborder with Afghanistan.

Pakistan is a crucial ally of the United States in Washingtons efforts to challenge the Taliban in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. A senior police officer, Superintendent Muhammad Shafiq, said of Fridays attack: ?Both are suicide blasts and the target was Garrison Security Force mobile vehicles, which were ?patrolling in the market at that time. The explosion decapitated two bombers whose heads had been recovered, he said.

A witness, Nadeem Attari, whose clothes were drenched with blood, said he was attending Friday Prayers in a nearby mosque when he heard the blast. ? I left the prayers and rushed outside, he said. ?Suddenly, there was another blast near an army vehicle.

?I ran away, he said.

Another witness, Nadeem Ahmed, who works at an automobile repairshop in the market area, said there were two blasts and the air filled with smoke.

The bombs went off in a market called R.A. Bazaar, a busy public area underarmy jurisdiction connecting the city with the airport and amilitary residential area.

The Pakistan Army sent reinforcements to the area and cordoned it off, barring reporters from entering. Army helicopters hovered overhead and the injured were transported to an army hospital.

Said Ashraf Chaudhry, 25, who lives a few hundred yards from the blast site, said he went to the rooftop of his house after he heard the explosions. ?Ambulances sirens blared from all directions and an army helicopter was circling over the area, he said. Mr. Chaudhry said the R. A. Bazaar neighborhood includes several madrasas, or religious schools, which have been under pressure by the military.

He said the blasts happened near a crowded bus stop at the edge of the market. ?On one side of the road, there are nice houses and the area is quite nice. And on the other side is R. A. Bazaar, he said.