According to automaker, the electric power steering pinion shaft attachment nuts in the steering column can loosen and “over time, the customer will gradually notice significant increased steering effort when making a left turn.”

Toyota’s press release does not cite any specific cases or accidents, but a Toyota spokesman Brian Lyons told the New York Times that it has received one report of an accident blamed on the problem. Toyota started investigating the flaw nearly four years ago when field tests found that the steering wheel in the first-generation Prius for the Japanese market locked up. The issue was cited in an August 2007 technical report, according to documents on file with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Toyota said it received other, sporadic reports of the problem, but it wasn’t until late last month that engineers discovered the cause behind the loosened steering-shaft nuts and advised a recall. According to U.S. law, carmakers have 5 days to inform NHTSA of its plans for a recall after discovering the safety defect.

Toyota agreed to pay the regulatory agency record fines of $32.425 million for its failure to comply with that very law on two separate occasions. The maximum-allowable fines included $16.38 million for its failure to report floor mat entrapment and sudden unintended acceleration issues in a timely manner and $16 million over its handling of a recall involving loss of steering control in nearly one million vehicles.

NHTSA has also logged several dozen complaints from 2001-2002 Prius drivers about the power steering on those models. The agency has several dozen complaints from owners about problems with power steering on 2001-2 Priuses, many of which report “violent shaking,” “wobbling” “shuddering,” and “vibrating” of the steering wheel while turning left.

Under the current recall, Toyota dealers will replace the nuts that secure the pinion shaft at no charge to the vehicle owner. According to Toyota, the fix takes approximately 4 hours. Owners of the vehicles affected will be notified by first-class mail starting in early July.

Sources:

http://pressroom.toyota.com/releases/toyota+voluntary+safety+recall+prius+june+2011.htm

http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/01/steering-difficulty-prompts-recall-of-52000-toyota-priuses/

http://autos.dir.groups.yahoo.com/group/toyota-prius/message/59762

http://www.toyota-lawsuit.com/news/2010/12/22/guilty-to-the-max-toyota-closes-2010-with-2-more-maximum-federal-fines/

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Faulty steering mechanism prompts Toyota Prius recall

This latest recall is restricted to at least 1,629 Tundras distributed throughout the Southeastern U.S. by Southeast Toyota Distributors. The flaw puts the affected tires in violation of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard #138, which specifies that any vehicles equipped with a tire pressure monitoring system must warn drivers of a low-pressure danger. The failure of an expected warning could lead the vehicle owners and operators to drive on dangerously underinflated tires, thereby increasing the likelihood of an accident.

The TPMS recall is the second time in less than three months that Toyota has recalled vehicles for problems involving the tire pressure monitors. In March, Toyota issued a recall of some 22,000 vehicles for TPMS calibration problems. That recall encompassed certain FJ Cruisers, Land Cruisers, Sequoias, Tacomas, and Tundras from model years 2008 through 2011.

Owners of Tundras affected by this latest recall will likely be contacted by Toyota later this month. The repair will involve taking the truck to a Toyota dealership where a service technician will recalibrate the TPMS.

Prior to Toyota’s sudden unintended acceleration flaws, which give millions of its vehicles the potential to speed out of control, this relatively small TPMS recall might not have been very newsworthy. But the seemingly endless series of Toyota recalls over various electronic, mechanical, and even structural flaws indicates that the automaker prioritized profits over quality and safety in its pursuit to become the top selling automaker in the U.S. and the world.

Sources:

http://blogs.wsj.com/drivers-seat/2011/05/19/toyota-recalls-certain-tundras-with-all-terrain-tires/?mod=google_news_blog

http://www.toyotatpms.com/

http://news.pickuptrucks.com/2011/03/recall-alert-2008-2011-toyota-tundra-and-toyota-tacoma.html

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Toyota Tundras recalled for electronic tire pressure monitor flaw

Of course nobody can say whether the ignition would have made a difference in the outcome of Mr. Saylor’s tragic sudden-unintended-acceleration incident or the accidents of others who were caught in a similar dilemma, but it’s a plausible idea, and one that may shape the future of push-button ignitions.

Prompted in part by Toyota’s sudden-acceleration cases, the Society of Automobile Engineers (SAE) International is considering standardizing keyless ignition systems. The push-button ignitions were a pretty exotic luxury feature 5 years ago, but today they can be found in 189 vehicle models, including several that retail for less than $20,000. But behind this proliferation of keyless ignitions is a number of proprietary technologies and designs.

According to Automotive News, the SAE proposes that drivers should be able to stop the vehicle by pressing the button for .5 to two seconds, or by briefly pressing the button two or three times. Likewise, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is also considering proposing a rule this year to standardize the systems, prompting one auto manufacturer to hold off on redesigning its systems as planned until the standards are established.

The proposed standardization doesn’t seem to be a problem for most automakers. According to Automotive News, “while General Motors, Ford, Volkswagen, Honda, Nissan, Chrysler and Hyundai planned to comply with the SAE standard – only Toyota says that it won’t follow the guidelines until it learns if NHTSA will chime in with its own regulations, as well.”

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Keyless ignitions: How Toyota’s sudden-acceleration problem might standardize them

Federal Judge James Selna of U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Santa Ana, who is presiding over all sudden-unintended acceleration (SUA) claims filed against Toyota in federal court, rejected Toyota’s motion on Friday. His dismissal will allow hundreds of economic-loss claims filed against Toyota to move forward. The plaintiffs allege that the value of their vehicles plummeted amidst Toyota’s sudden-acceleration recalls.

It was the second time Judge Selna rejected a motion by the car maker to have the lawsuits thrown out, acknowledging that plaintiffs who claim economic damages against Toyota have enough facts to proceed with their cases, which have not yet been certified as a class action. Judge Selna is expected to make a final ruling on the matter in the next 10 days.

The plaintiffs seek damages for the diminished market value of their cars, claiming Toyota violated a number of federal and state laws and churned out vehicles with defects that could potentially turn them into speeding deathtraps. Toyota argued that allowing the cases to move forward would signal other Toyota owners to seek money without “injury in fact,” simply because they owned a Toyota vehicle.

Judge Selna disagreed with the argument that claimants must have had real or threatened injury as a result of sudden unintended acceleration. In his original ruling, the judge said “If a defect causes SUA to manifest itself in a small percentage of Toyota vehicles, it makes sense that people would be less willing to buy or use those vehicles on the off-chance that they might experience the SUA defect.”

The first trials dealing with acceleration issues are slated to begin in early 2013.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Economic-loss claims against Toyota will go forward, judge rules again

Koua Fong Lee and his family were returning home from church in 2006 when the fatal crash occurred. Lee was exiting a Minneapolis freeway, but instead of slowing down, his Camry sped up, reaching speeds of 90 mph. Lee’s car careened into the back of an Oldsmobile Ciera idling at a red light at the top of the ramp. 2 people in the vehicle were killed instantly. A 7-year-old girl died of her injuries later.

Lee screamed “Brakes! Brakes not working!” as his Camry raced up the exit ramp, but a jury didn’t believe his story. They charged and convicted him with criminal vehicular homicide, criminal vehicular injury, and careless driving. Lee was sentenced to eight years in prison.

Only after Lee was imprisoned did Toyota’s sudden unintended acceleration problems and recalls gain widespread attention. A re-inspection of Lee’s Camry validated his version of events when inspectors found that he had indeed been trying to brake as his car raced out of control. He was released from prison and prosecutors dropped all charges against him.

Now Lee, a 33-year-old immigrant from Laos, and his young family are trying to piece their lives together again after the catastrophic crash, and they want more help from Toyota. Upon his release from prison, Lee filed a lawsuit against Toyota, claiming the defective Camry caused the crash and that Toyota committed fraud and failed to warn its customers about known sudden unintended acceleration problems. But because so much time had passed since the crash, the statute of limitations could bar Lee from filing additional claims, such as strict liability and breach of warranty.

Lee’s other legal alternative is to piggyback his claims by joining the civil case filed by the families of the three people killed in the crash, and then amend the lawsuit to include his additional claims.

However, a lawyer for Toyota argued that if Lee thought at the time of the crash that his Camry’s brakes and throttle failed and caused the accident, “that’s all they needed to know to pursue a claim.”

Toyota recalled about 9 million vehicles for sudden unintended acceleration problems, claiming the reported incidents were linked to accelerator pedal entrapment by the floor mat or sticking throttle assemblies. Many plaintiffs, attorneys, and safety analysts claim the potential to accelerate suddenly is hidden in the electronic throttle controls or software code of the recalled vehicles – a claim that Toyota maintains is false.

Although the throttle in Lee’s 1996 Camry uses a mechanical cable instead of software, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had received several sudden-acceleration-related complaints about the same model as far back as March 1996 but did nothing, Lee’s lawsuit alleges.

The judge hearing the arguments said she would she take the motions under advisement and issue a ruling at a later date.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Minneapolis man seeks additional damages from Toyota for sudden acceleration crash

Toyota said that it will have to stop production in several plants in Japan and worldwide for days at a time until supply and distribution links are restored to normal levels. Like other automakers, Japan relies on a network of domestic and global suppliers for components that go into its vehicles. Without those parts, Toyota plants and those of other carmakers both foreign and domestic will have to go offline for periods of time in an effort to stretch production out until the supply chain is normalized. The disruptions will affect operation not only in Asia, but in Europe and the United States as well.

Toyota will stop production at its North American factories for five days in the second half of April. The company will also stop production in Turkey, France, Poland, and the United Kingdom for eight days later this month and next, with reduced output lasting throughout May. Likewise, Ford, Honda, Subaru, and other auto manufacturers that rely on the global supply chain will have to temporarily halt production in the recovery period.

Supplies from Japan usually take 4-6 weeks to arrive in the U.S. and Europe, so component shortages are only just beginning to sting. Industry experts aim to have the flow of supplies and production return to normal by July, but with subsequent earthquakes, aftershocks, tsunami warnings, and the ongoing nuclear reactor crises, the prevailing attitude in the industry is that mid-summer may be too optimistic.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Earthquakes force Toyota to slow production in plants worldwide

U.S. dealerships say they have enough inventory to meet their sales needs for now, but Toyota’s slashed production will ultimately manifest in showrooms nationwide as limited selection and lack of inventory. Damaged domestic plants and crippled supply lines have caused the Toyota to cut its output by at least 400,000 vehicles.

Toyota president Akio Toyoda warned that shortages of parts from Japan would likely result in production cuts at its U.S. assembly plants. The Japanese automaker is currently assessing which of its suppliers are up to pre-quake operating standards. At the same time, the company is inspecting that parts made by Japanese suppliers post-quake continue to meet safety and quality benchmarks.

Last week, Toyota president Akio Toyoda toured his country’s earthquake-damaged regions, including one newly opened plant in Miyagi prefecture that was heavily damaged in the quake. Toyota had positioned the plant to serve as its hub of domestic small-car production.

Mr. Toyoda said in a statement that the region most devastated by the earthquake is “one of our production bases, those directly hit and vastly affected include our dealers, suppliers, and numerous other partners. Seeing the devastation with my own eyes brought home to me the depth of destruction.”

Honda, Nissan, and Subaru are three other Japanese auto manufacturers that are experiencing similar setbacks and production cuts because of the earthquake. A number of car makers in the U.S. and other countries that rely on Japanese-made components also will be adversely affected by the disruption to supplies.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Quake sends aftershocks through Toyota production and sales

The doctor’s lawsuit is the first sudden unintended acceleration claim to reach a jury trial since Toyota launched a series of sweeping recalls. Most of the federal lawsuits filed against Toyota for damages related to sudden, unintended acceleration were combined before U.S. District Judge James V. Selna in Santa Ana, California. The doctor’s lawsuit, however, was filed before Toyota announced any recalls and thus it wasn’t sent to Selna, who is organizing the litigation and overseeing pre-trial evidence gathering. Selna plans to begin hearing the first Toyota trials in early 2013.

“An accident did not simply happen,” the plaintiff’s lawyer said in his opening statement yesterday in the Central Islip, New York, federal court. “An accident was caused by the negligence” of Toyota, he asserted.

The plaintiff says there are just three causes behind his sudden acceleration incident: the electronic throttle controls, the driver-side floor mat jamming the accelerator pedal, and Toyota’s failure to install a brake-override system in his vehicle. The plaintiff alleges that Toyota was aware of other sudden-acceleration incidents before his own crash occurred and should have warned the public earlier than it did.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ordered Toyota to pay two record fines for its delays in warning U.S. regulators and the American public about defects that could potentially cause its vehicles to speed out of control unexpectedly. In fact, if not for the NHTSA’s $16-million statutory cap, which was enacted in 2006, Toyota would have owed the federal government $13.8 billion for its failure to comply with U.S. regulations.

Toyota’s defense team argues that the plaintiff in this case mistook the gas pedal for the brake.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › New York jurors hear Toyota sudden unintended acceleration case

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration asked NASA last year to test the electronic throttle systems in Toyota cars and determine whether an electronic or software-based defect could be to blame for sudden-acceleration incidents. NASA concluded that it could not establish a link between the cars’ electronic components and SUA.

Toyota welcomed the February 8 NASA report and has urged U.S. District Judge James Selna to take judicial notice of its conclusions. Doing so would allow Toyota litigators to present the NASA findings as factual truth in the trials.

According to papers filed last week in federal court in Santa Ana, California, experts working for plaintiffs will prove that the electronic throttle system in Toyota and Lexus vehicles causes sudden unintended acceleration, not mechanical flaws. However, taking judicial notice of the NASA report, lawyers argued, would not allow plaintiffs to challenge the findings.

“Toyota asks this court to take judicial notice of findings and conclusions by NASA and NHTSA that are hotly disputed in this litigation,” the plaintiffs’ lawyers wrote. “If this court took judicial notice of the disputed findings and conclusions, plaintiffs would be barred from challenging them in this litigation.”

Attorneys working for plaintiffs have already gathered a substantial amount of credible evidence indicating the NASA report falls short of a thorough analysis of Toyota’s electronic throttle controls. They say that NASA analyzed just 280,000 lines of computer code from a total over 8 million in Toyota’s electronic systems.

The argument also introduces the theory that crystalline structures called “tin whiskers” can develop on tin surfaces and “create catastrophic problems in electronic components.”

“Tin whiskers were implicated in the complete failure of three in-orbit commercial satellites,” the plaintiffs’ argument states.

It is not yet known whether NHTSA will ask NASA to expand its analysis of Toyota’s potentially flawed electronic systems.

Last month, Judge Selna, who is presiding over the hundreds of sudden unintended acceleration cases coordinated in multidistrict litigation, told plaintiffs’ lawyers to resolve the dispute concerning Toyota’s electronic source code so that the first cases can go to trial in 2013.

Judge Selna says that plaintiffs’ lawyers have a right to review the software code for evidence of electronic malfunction, but Toyota attorneys say that such a review would jeopardize valuable trade secrets and have been unwilling to release the code to external agencies.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Lawyers plan to prove NASA’s sudden acceleration report wrong

Saylor, a California Highway Patrol officer, his wife, her brother, and the Saylor’s 13-year-old daughter were traveling on a highway outside of San Diego when the car accelerated suddenly to speeds of more than 100 mph. Saylor called 911 and said that nothing he did would stop the vehicle. His family’s final moments were recorded as their car careened off an embankment and exploded.

The incident prompted Toyota to launch the largest automotive safety recall in U.S. history and moved Toyota President Akio Toyoda to publicly apologize for failing its customers. The number of vehicles recalled by Toyota for defects related to sudden unintended acceleration has since climbed to over 14 million. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) also slapped the automaker with two record fines totaling $48.8 million for its sluggish handling of the recalls.

Toyota quietly agreed to pay $10 million on December 23 to settle the lawsuit brought against it by Saylor family members. That agreement did not include a settlement between the plaintiffs and Bob Baker Lexus because Toyota claimed the dealer ignored its instructions to remove the floor mats in certain Lexus models. The automaker maintains that its sudden acceleration woes are linked to faulty floor mat design, sticky accelerator pedals, and driver error.

Bob Baker Lexus had objected to the settlement, asserting that it was taking the hit for Toyota’s errors. A lawyer for the dealership has said an investigation of the Saylor crash indicates that it may have been caused by an electronic defect.

Plaintiffs’ lawyers are currently working with Toyota attorneys to determine how best to analyze Toyota’s highly secretive software source code for problems that could trigger the throttle unexpectedly. The debate over whether sudden unintended acceleration problems are caused by floor mat entrapment or rooted in the electronic brains of the recalled vehicles will be a main focus of the Toyota trials, slated to begin in the first quarter of 2013.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Judge approves $10-million Toyota settlement, dealership left to fend for itself

Toyota steadfastly insists all incidents of sudden unintended acceleration can be pinned on incorrectly installed or mismatched driver’s side floor mats, sticky accelerator pedals, and driver error. However, critics of those explanations argue an electronic malfunction is to blame, pointing to cases where no floor mats were in place and studies conducted by automotive engineers and safety experts that favor an electronic explanation.

Judge Selna says that lawyers for plaintiffs in the litigation have a right to review the software code for evidence of electronic malfunction, but Toyota attorneys say that such a review would jeopardize valuable trade secrets and want a number of safeguards in place to protect the codes from being exposed publicly or falling into the hands of competition.

Toyota’s unintended acceleration recall problems were compounded last week when the company announced it was recalling another 2.17 million vehicles for defects that could cause them to speed out of control without warning. This latest recall brings the total number of vehicles recalled by Toyota for sudden acceleration defects to more then 14 million.

Last year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ordered Toyota to pay $48.8 million in civil fines for failing to handle its sudden-acceleration recalls in accordance with federal law. The fines were the highest fines NHTSA ever levied against an auto manufacturer.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Judge asks lawyers settle Toyota electronic source code issues

Toyota Motor Corp

The latest recall is for the most part an expansion of the massive recall Toyota launched in October 2009 for defects that cause cars to accelerate violently. Sudden unintended acceleration defects in Toyota vehicles have been linked to 89 fatalities and hundreds of injuries in the United States since 2000. The original recall has been inflated by a series of additional recalls and expansions that have toppled Toyota’s reputation for quality, safety, and reliability.

Including today’s announced recall, the number of vehicles Toyota has recalled globally over safety defects has climbed to over 14 million. Most of these vehicles have been recalled by the automaker under pressure from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for defects that could lead to incidents of sudden unintended acceleration.

Toyota is adding three models to the 2009 “pedal entrapment” recall, including, in approximate numbers:

• 600,000 2003-2009 4Runner SUVs
• 761,000 2006-2010 RAV4 compact SUVs
• 17,000 2008-2011 Lexus LX 570s

Additionally, Toyota is recalling 4 models to replace driver’s side carpeting and retention clips that could interfere with the accelerator pedal. Though not part of the original floor mat entrapment recall, the consequences of this safety defect are similar. These vehicles include:

• 372,000 RX 330, RX 350 and RX 400H vehicles from the 2004 through early 2007 model years
• 397,000 2004-2006 Toyota Highlander SUVs, including hybrid versions

Finally, Toyota is recalling two GS series models over defects also related to accelerator pedal interference. In these vehicles, the plastic padding embedded on the driver’s side floor carpet may interfere with the gas pedal and potentially cause sudden unintended acceleration. Vehicles included in this part of the recall are:

• 20,000 2006-2007 GS 300 and GS 350 all-wheel drive vehicles

Toyota has maintained from the start of its recall woes that mismatched or incorrectly installed floor mats and sticky accelerator pedals are the only causes of sudden unintended acceleration in its vehicles. This claim has been disputed by many safety advocates, scientific researchers, and even ordinary drivers who say the cars can and have accelerated suddenly even when no floor mats were in place.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Toyota announces yet another giant recall for sudden acceleration defects

Toyota

The recall includes 2006-7 Lexus GS300 and GS350, 2006-9 Lexus IS250, and 2006-8 Lexus IS350 sedans. If you own one of these year models and the recall triggers a sense of déjà-vu, that’s because 214,000 of these same vehicles were already recalled in 2009 for the same problem, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration files. Toyota says that since the original recall, it has struck upon torque specifications that will create a secure connection between the pipe and sensor.

In 2007, Toyota recalled about 34,000 Lexus IS and GS sedans from the 2006 model year for possible fuel-line leaks at a seam weld, but Toyota says that the 2009 and present recalls are not related.

Toyota has been working to rebuild its reputation and sales portfolio after recalling more than 8 million vehicles for sudden, unintended acceleration. The automaker faces approximately 400 personal-injury and wrongful-death lawsuits involving runaway Toyota and Lexus vehicles, in addition to class action lawsuits filed on behalf of Toyota owners for loss of resale value. Earlier this month, seven insurance companies filed lawsuits against Toyota to recover damages they paid out over accidents blamed on sudden acceleration.

Other recent recalls for defects such as loss or steering control and rusting frames have cast more doubt on Toyota’s claims of being the leader in quality and safety. The automaker has fought back with extensive media campaigns to repair its battered image and aggressive sales incentives for models affected by the sudden-acceleration recall.

The latest fuel-leak recall encompasses 1.3 million vehicles in Japan and is that country’s second largest recall ever.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Toyota recalls 1.7 million vehicles globally for potential fuel leaks

More than 100 lawsuits against Toyota filed in federal courts across the country were consolidated last April for pretrial proceedings and assigned to Judge Selna, whose courtroom is located near Toyota’s North American headquarters in Torrance. The number of lawsuits has since grown to over 200, with potentially hundreds more pending in different state courts around the country.

The product liability lawsuits include both personal injury and wrongful death claims stemming from the allegation that many Toyota and Lexus vehicles have a defect that can potentially cause sudden, unintended acceleration. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) regulators continue to investigate whether sudden, unintended acceleration is to blame to for killing 89 Americans since 2000.

Plaintiffs accuse Toyota of ignoring evidence that its electronic throttle systems were flawed, containing the potential to cause vehicles to speed out of control. At the same time, plaintiffs say, Toyota chose not to install a brake override system that would have prevented sudden acceleration incidents from occurring. Brake override systems are standard features in many automobiles and effectively kill the throttle when a driver brakes at a high rate of speed.

Toyota recalled 8.5 million vehicles in the U.S. for the potential sudden, unintended acceleration flaw, but insists the problem is caused by the driver-side floor mat trapping the gas pedal in full open position or driver error.

Last September, the automaker quietly agreed to pay $10 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of Mark Saylor, the California Highway Patrol officer who was killed with his family when their rented Lexus ES 350 sped out of control and crashed near San Diego in August 2009. That crash ignited the federal government’s longstanding suspicions that Toyota and Lexus vehicles contained a defect that caused them to accelerate unexpectedly.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › First Toyota sudden unintended acceleration cases will be tried in 2013

Toyota

The crash occurred moments after Mr. Saylor called 911 from the vehicle and reported that the 2009 Lexus ES350 loaner car he was driving was accelerating out of control and had no brakes. Mr. Saylor was on the phone when the car careened off of the San Diego highway and exploded, killing all aboard.

The Saylor crash sparked the largest-ever U.S. automotive recall, with Toyota recalling millions of vehicles for their potential to accelerate suddenly and unintentionally.

Technically, Toyota has neither accepted nor denied responsibility for the Saylor crash. Akio Toyoda, the company’s CEO and grandson of its founder did, however, apologize to the American public just after the crash, saying that the company had failed its customers.

In a statement, Toyota said that it had reached “a private, amicable settlement through mutual respect and cooperation without the involvement of the courts.”

The agreement does not include a settlement between the plaintiffs and Bob Baker Lexus, the dealership that loaned the runaway Lexus to Mr. Saylor. Toyota accuses the dealership of ignoring its warning to remove floor mats in certain Lexus models. The automaker maintains that its SUA woes are linked to faulty floor mat design and their ability to interfere with and jam the gas pedal.

Toyota has recalled approximately 11 million vehicles worldwide in more than 15 recalls this year – more vehicles than any other automaker. Many auto and safety experts assert the sudden unintended acceleration defect is really hidden in the vehicles’ electronics – a claim that Toyota steadfastly denies.

This year, Toyota has been hit with three record fines by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for its unlawful handling of U.S. recalls. Together, the three fines amount to $48.8 million.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Toyota settles notorious sudden unintended acceleration case for $10 million

Toyota will pay $16.375 million in one case involving floor mat entrapment and sudden unintended acceleration issues, and $16.050 million in the other case for withholding critical safety information from U.S. authorities, apparently to avoid a recall involving a potential loss of steering control in nearly one million vehicles.

Last February, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) launched an investigation to determine when Toyota first learned of the pedal entrapment defect in its vehicles and how long it took the company to notify U.S. regulators. Federal law requires auto manufacturers to notify NHTSA within 5 days of determining that a safety defect exists and promptly conduct a recall.

However, investigators found the corrective measures taken by Toyota to solve its floor mat-entrapment problems both slow and inadequate. The company’s initial remedy was to recall 55,000 of the suspect mats on September 26, 2007. Then, almost 2 years later, a gruesome and highly publicized crash occurred in Santee, California, claiming the lives of a California Highway Patrol officer and his family. Authorities who investigated the accident found that the floor mat likely played a role in causing the rented Lexus to speed out of control.

After the fatal crash, NHTSA reviewed crash evidence and other data and found that simply removing floor mats was insufficient. Investigators told Toyota that it needed to redesign the accelerator pedal as well. At NHTSA’s urging, Toyota then conducted a recall for 3.8 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles for floor mat entrapment on October 5, 2009. The October recall was expanded on January 27, 2010, to include another 1.1 million vehicles.

In the second investigation, NHTSA probed whether Toyota properly notified the agency of a safety defect in several Toyota models that could result in the loss of steering control. In 2004, Toyota had launched a recall in Japan for Hilux trucks with steering relay rods prone to fatigue cracking and breaking, causing the vehicle to lose steering control. Toyota informed NHTSA at that time that the safety defect was limited to vehicles in Japan and that the company had not received similar field information within the United States.

But in 2005, Toyota informed NHTSA that the steering relay rod defect was present in several models sold in the U.S. and conducted a recall for nearly one million vehicles. Then, in May 2010, NHTSA was alerted to additional information, including complaints from U.S. consumers, that Toyota had not disclosed when it initially notified NHTSA that a U.S. recall was unnecessary.

With these two new fines, the total civil penalties in 2010 for Toyota reached $48.8 million. Back in April, Toyota agreed to pay another maximum fine of $16.375 million for not notifying U.S. regulators of a “sticky” accelerator pedal defect that it had discovered in European models months before.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Guilty to the max: Toyota closes 2010 with 2 more maximum federal fines

The plaintiffs seek damages for the diminished market value of their cars, claiming a number of violations of federal and state law. Toyota’s legal team argued that a ruling favorable to the plaintiffs would open a floodgate of lawsuits by encouraging other Toyota owners to seek money from the car maker simply because they own a Toyota vehicle.

Toyota’s argument, however, seems to gloss over the fact that many consumers buy vehicles based on the long-term value of the car. A vehicle’s future worth is a very serious and multi-faceted consideration for many families. But Toyota didn’t acknowledge that the long-term value of their cars has been greatly reduced by sudden unintended acceleration issues and other safety problems.

Critics of the automaker, including some past and present employees, say that Toyota’s problems began when the company prioritized profits over the quality of its vehicles and the safety of its customers. Corners were cut, quality slipped, and the numerous recalls Toyota announced crystallized the public’s perception that Toyota vehicles are cheaply made and unsafe.

Toyota asserted that the plaintiffs lacked the standing to sue because they had no “injury in fact,” generally meaning the party suing personally must have suffered an actual or threatened injury.

However, U.S. District Judge James V. Selna of the Central District of California ruled that personally experiencing a sudden unintended acceleration (SUA) incident is not required.

“If a defect causes SUA to manifest itself in a small percentage of Toyota vehicles, it makes sense that people would be less willing to buy or use those vehicles on the off-chance that they might experience the SUA defect,” the judge said.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Judge allows Toyota economic-loss lawsuits to move forward

Toyota argued that many plaintiffs did not state specific losses in dollars and that many of them did not experience any malfunctions that caused their vehicles to speed out of control and were suing on the basis of the loss in resale value.

In his Nov. 19 ruling however, Judge James V. Selina said that specific damages are not required at this stage in the legal process and that said that lawyers for owners of the Toyota vehicles have provided enough evidence to allow their cases to go forward.

“The court finds that plaintiffs have sufficiently alleged a fraudulent concealment claim under California law,” said the tentative ruling. “The record of complaints made by Toyota customers shows that Toyota was clearly aware of the alleged SUA problem. Although Toyota discounts plaintiffs’ allegations of an SUA defect, the amassed weight of these complaints suggests that plaintiffs’ [unexplained SUA events] were not isolated cases.”

The ruling means that Toyota could be liable for sudden-acceleration damages in the future, including those filed over loss of value. Some attorneys say the decision could mean the potential class could include as many as 40 million Toyota owners, but the judge indicated he would probably reject claims of some plaintiffs who say they deserve a full refund for their vehicles.

Toyota responded to the ruling, saying it is “confident that no such proof [of a defect in its electronic throttle control system] exists.” The automaker has insisted that an electronic defect is not to blame for the sudden acceleration incidents, and says that now the plaintiffs must provide the burden of proof that such a defect exists.

Toyota has recalled about 8.5 million vehicles for defects that have the potential to cause sudden unexpected acceleration. The car maker insists most of these cases are either the result of floor mat interference or driver confusion.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Federal judge gives a green light to sudden acceleration lawsuits

Attorneys filed the lawsuit in federal court for Lee, 32, and his family. According to the complaint, Lee’s wife, children, brother, and father were injured or distressed by the violent crash and Lee’s subsequent incarceration.

The lawsuit alleges Lee suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from the accident and his imprisonment, requiring him to receive psychological counseling. Lee is still being treated for his distress.

The lawsuit seeks damages yet to be determined, but in excess of $75,000.

Lee has steadfastly maintained he did everything in his power to stop his 1996 Camry as it raced at speeds of 70-90 mph up a highway exit ramp in St. Paul and crashed into the back of another car, killing three people and severely injuring two others. The jury, however, convicted Lee of criminal vehicular homicide and sentenced him to 8 years in prison.

Lee’s case was among others that reopened when reports of Toyota’s sudden unintended acceleration defects and massive international recalls flooded the news.

Fortunately, Lee was released from prison in August as he awaited a new trial. Ramsey County, Minn., prosecutor Susan Gaertner dropped all charges against Lee in light of the Toyota recalls and evidence showing Lee was indeed braking at the time of the crash, just as he had claimed in his trial. Inspectors who re-examined Lee’s Camry also found sticking problems in the car’s accelerator system.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Man freed in Toyota sudden acceleration crash sues automaker

The November 5 crash occurred near the Nevada border. Utah State troopers said that the Camry’s driver. Paul Van Alfen, 66, tried to stop the vehicle as it exited the interstate. The runaway car sped past the stop sign at the bottom of the ramp and through an intersection before hitting a rock wall.

The collision killed Mr. Van Alfen and his son’s fiancée, Charlene Lloyd, 38, who was a passenger in the vehicle. Mr. Van Alfen’s wife and son were also in the car and were taken to local hospitals with injuries.

The 2008 Camry has been subject to three of Toyota’s recent safety recalls over sudden acceleration defects. Authorities investigating the crash say that they did not know for certain if Mr. Van Alfen’s Camry was repaired under the recalls, although it appeared he at least had the sticky accelerator pedal defect repaired.

The accelerator pedal defect caused some gas pedals in the affected vehicles to return to idle too slowly after being pressed, leaving the throttle in open position. Toyota has inspected and repaired 1.85 million of the 2.3 million vehicles recalled over the sticky pedals since the recall was announced last January.

Mr. Van Alfen’s Camry was also subject to the floor-mat interference recall, in which the pedal and floor configurations were modified to prevent floor mats from jamming the gas pedals in many vehicles. Under that recall, Mr. Van Alfen’s vehicle also would have received a brake override system that cuts throttle power when the gas and brake pedals are pressed simultaneously over a certain speed. According to Toyota, over 80 percent of the vehicles subject to the floor mat recall have been fixed.

The brakes on Mr. Van Alfen’s Camry were in working order, according to investigators. The car left skid marks on the road as it tried to stop and no mechanical problems were apparent. Utah State Troopers and Toyota engineers are looking at the readings from the event data recorder, but those findings have not yet been made public.

“To think that Toyota has solved the problem with these recalls, I think the complaints show something different,” said Sean Kane, founder of Safety Research & Strategies Inc., a Massachusetts-based safety firm that monitors Toyota’s sudden acceleration reports and recalls.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › 2 dead, 2 injured in Utah Toyota sudden-acceleration crash

The 2008 crash occurred on Interstate 10 in West Los Angeles, killing Chung’s sister-in-law Esook Synn, 69, who was riding in the back seat. Another passenger who survived said that Chung had screamed “no brakes” repeatedly as the car sped out of control.

Chung could have spent up to six years in state prison had she been tried and convicted. However, in light of Toyota’s widespread safety recalls involving sudden unintended acceleration defects, prosecutors dropped all charges against her. Many Lexus models are included in the national recalls.

Head Deputy District Attorney John F. Lynch told the Los Angeles Times “The likelihood that 12 people in the community would convict this woman was not good. I think she would present a very sympathetic figure in the courtroom.”

According to the Los Angeles Times, “Prosecutors would have had to argue the case in the wake of hundreds of lawsuits filed against Toyota after the company started recalling millions of vehicles because of acceleration problems in several models. “

Synn’s family and another passenger who was injured in the crash asked prosecutors to drop the charges against Synn. Meanwhile, Synn’s family has filed a lawsuit against Toyota.

Chung’s attorney praised the dismissal and said he had planned to argue that an electronic malfunction had caused the crash.

Chung’s persecution for the acceleration-related accident wasn’t an isolated incident. We’ve blogged in the past about Toyota drivers who’ve been penalized after their vehicles suddenly accelerated out of control and crashed, killing and injuring passengers and other motorists, only to be vindicated later in light of Toyota’s acceleration-related defects and recalls.

Over the summer, a Minnesota judge freed Koua Fong Lee, a Southeast Asian immigrant and father of four who was convicted in 2007 of criminal vehicular homicide after his 1996 Toyota Camry sped out of control and crashed into another vehicle, killing three people.

Last fall, Guadalupe Gomez of San Jose, California, was released from charges of vehicular manslaughter and a wrongful death lawsuit after Toyota’s sudden acceleration defects came to light. Gomez’s 2007 Camry sped out of control on Interstate 280 in San Jose and collided with a Honda Accord. Troy Edwin Johnson, a 39-year-old father of 5, burned to death in that accident.

Source: Los Angeles Times

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Toyota sudden acceleration defect frees woman from criminal charges

According to the Free Press, the new information was revealed in a 1,056-page document filed Wednesday as part of a class-action case against Toyota.

Hundreds of lawsuits were filed against Toyota since September 2009, when the automaker began what would become a massive recall of many different makes and models of its vehicles. Consumers reported problems ranging from sudden unintended acceleration to faulty brakes. Toyota steadfastly insisted the sudden acceleration problems were the result of improperly installed floormats, or even driver error, even after independent testing showed a possible link to the vehicle’s electrical systems.

Litigation has been consolidated under U.S. District Judge James Selna in Santa Ana, Calif. Beasley Allen attorney W. Daniel “Dee” Miles, III, who heads the firm’s Consumer Fraud Section, has been appointed to the multidistrict litigation as part of the Liaison Committee for personal injury and wrongful death.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Court filings accuse Toyota of repurchasing defective vehicles

The current recall applies to Avalon models made from 2005 to 2006, non-hybrid Highlanders manufactured from 2004 through 2006, the Lexus RX330 crossover SUV, and 2006 model-year Lexus GS300, IS250, and IS350.

According to Toyota, the brake master cylinder can leak when a braking fluid other than the brand manufactured by Toyota is used. The leak causes the brake warning signal on the vehicle’s control panel to light. If not treated, the driver may first notice the brakes have a spongy feel to them. Gradually, the ability to brake will deteriorate, requiring greater braking effort and distance to come to a complete stop.

Toyota says that its brand of braking fluid contains lubricating polymers that prevent such a leak from occurring. To correct the problem, Toyota and Lexus dealers will replace the brake master cylinder cup at no charge to the vehicle owners.

This latest recall applies to an additional 760,000 vehicles sold in other countries, including Canada.

Toyota’s recent recalls encompass about 8.5 million vehicles in the U.S. Many vehicles are covered by two separate recalls, such as several model-year Camrys and Corollas, which are subject to both the sudden unintended acceleration / floor mat entrapment recall and the sticking accelerator pedal recall. 2005-2006 Avalons are subject to both the acceleration-related recalls and the current brake recall.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Braking problems prompt another Toyota recall

Allstate

Allstate’s lawsuit alleges that “certain of Toyota’s cars and trucks have a defect that causes sudden uncontrolled acceleration to speeds of up to 100 miles per hour or more,” and that the problem was enhanced by “defective electronics and the absence of a fail-safe, such as a brake-to-idle override system.”

The insurance company’s spokeswoman Christina Loznicka told the Los Angeles Times the lawsuit was “a last resort” after claims negotiations with Toyota failed in court. The Los Angeles Times says that Allstate’s subrogation with Toyota appears to be the first, but that several other insurance companies are currently involved in negotiations with Toyota to recoup money paid out to victims of sudden unintended acceleration crashes.

In 2004, State Farm sent a letter to Toyota requesting the automaker assume responsibility for accident claims that resulted from defects in Toyota vehicles. Farmers Insurance has also made similar requests.

The lawsuit Allstate filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Oct. 1 accuses Toyota of ignoring the defects and other problems evident in its vehicles. Had the automaker responded to sudden acceleration complaints, Allstate says it would have avoided paying many claims by drivers of the defective vehicles.

Like most plaintiffs suing Toyota over sudden acceleration damages, Allstate claims that Toyota’s electronic throttle system is faulty and that a brake override system would have prevented many vehicles from speeding out of control and crashing.

Toyota adamantly denies the existence of an electronic defect and instead blames the problem on floor mat entrapment or driver error.

Toyota’s quality crisis peaked last year as more and more reports of sudden, unintended acceleration flooded into the company’s corporate offices and the National Highway Traffic Safety Adminstration. In the last 13 months, Toyota has issued recalls on about 11 million vehicles. Of that number, 8.5 million were recalled for sudden acceleration problems.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Allstate takes Toyota to court for sudden acceleration claims

Toyota customers have also filed thousands of complaints with federal regulators, but not nearly as many as they have called in directly to the manufacturer. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that out of the complaints it has received, 93 deaths can be linked to Toyota’s sudden acceleration defects.

Toyota blames the defects on a faulty floor mat and gas pedal configuration and throttle assemblies that cause gas pedals to function slowly or stick in position.

According to Toyota, its dealerships have repaired more than 80 percent of the 2.3 million vehicles recalled for sticking accelerator pedals and 58 percent of the 5.4 million cars and trucks recalled for gas pedal entrapment.

“Toyota has made significant progress in recent months to help ensure that our customers can have complete confidence in the quality, safety and reliability of their vehicles, and our latest initiatives build on those accomplishments,” said Steve St. Angelo, Toyota’s chief quality officer, in a statement.

Of course, winning back the public’s trust wasn’t hindered by Toyota’s uncharacteristically aggressive sales incentives. The automaker has extended its zero-percent auto loan rate deals through October, offering no payments for 90 days and no down payment on top of zero interest.

Deals such as these have effectively seduced buyers and helped Toyota withstand the crippling blows to its reputation for quality and safety dealt by the massive recalls. The company reported it sold 147,162 vehicles in the U.S. last month, up from 126,015 last year and falling 0.8 percent from August.

Interestingly, amidst all of Toyota’s generous lease options, the 2011 Camry is the only model that has a sign-and-drive lease, meaning the customer pays just the first month’s lease payment of $269 at signing. Not only has the Camry been the top-selling car in the U.S., it is also the vehicle most often blamed in sudden acceleration incidents.

Sales anlayses also show that the Camry spends about 238 days on the dealership lot awaiting sale, longer than any other car model, foreign or domestic — another sign that American buyers may still be worried about that model’s potential to accelerate without warning.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › 150 Toyota drivers continue to report sudden acceleration every week

TrueCar.com uses data it obtains directly from car dealers, respected dealer management system (DMS) providers, and other reputable automotive industry data aggregators to determine regional price margins for new vehicles. A couple of years ago, Camrys and other mid-sized and small sedans flew off the lots while SUVs languished under the threat of ever-growing gas prices. Now that picture has reversed.

The 2010 model spending the least time at the dealership before sale is the Chevy Equinox, followed by the GMC Terrain. Both vehicles are smaller crossover SUVs that families view as more economical, gas friendly alternatives to full-scale SUVs. By comparison, the 2010 Camry spends the better part of a year – 238 days – on the lot before selling. In second place is the Camry Hybrid, which spends 223 days on the lot before sale.

But of the 2010 Toyota models spending the least amount of time awaiting sale, the Toyota 4Runner, Highlander, and FJ Cruiser ranked third, fourth, and sixth consecutively. Interestingly, the 4Runner and FJ Cruiser were two of the very few Toyota models that weren’t affected by the massive sudden acceleration recalls, which encompassed about 8.5 million vehicles and about two dozen Toyota and Lexus models.

According to Jesse Toprak, TrueCar’s vice president of trends and insights, the Camry’s poor standing is “another indication that the recall troubles continue to have lingering negative impact on the best seller from Toyota.”

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Toyota Camry tops list of 2010 cars taking the longest time to sell

The Saylors were killed in August 2009 after their car sped out of control on a California freeway, careening off the road and exploding. Mark Saylor, a California Highway Patrol officer, was on the phone with 911 when the car crashed. He and his family are heard screaming “there’s no brakes!” on the recordings.

The crash called the nation’s attention to the potential for millions of Toyota vehicles to speed out of control unexpectedly and triggered the most extensive and expensive automotive safety recall in history.

Legal analysts say that Toyota’s defense against the dozens of sudden acceleration lawsuits it faces throughout the country would be better argued with the Saylor case out of the picture, which explains why it was settled so quickly and confidentially. Aside from being one of the most dramatic cases Toyota faced, the Saylor case supports the theory that the car’s electronics malfunctioned, leading to the sudden acceleration incident.

The Saylor suit also named Bob Baker Lexus, the dealership that loaned Mark Saylor the defective Lexus, in the lawsuit. The auto giant, however, seems to have thrown its dealer under the bus on the case by not including it in the settlement and therefore leaving it on its own to deal with the litigation.

The move angered the dealership, whose attorney told the Los Angeles Times that “Toyota has sought to protect only its own interests. They decided to cut out their own dealer.” The same attorney also asserts that the electronics, not the floor mats, in the Saylors’ rented Lexus caused the accident.

Another attorney involved in the Toyota lawsuits told the LA Times that “Until they got rid of this (the Saylors’) case, it was going to be something everyone pointed at Toyota for. Now they’re going to argue this was the dealer’s fault alone and their cars aren’t defective.”

Toyota’s decision to abandon Bob Baker Lexus sets the stage for a nasty fight with some of its 1,200 dealers over who is responsible for the sudden acceleration crashes.

The LA Times also quoted an attorney who specializes in representing the dealerships named in the Toyota lawsuits who said Toyota’s move exhibits a rare break in the relationship between manufacturer and dealer.

“There is usually a standard of cooperation, but Toyota is not fighting just one case. There is a lot of money at stake,” the attorney said. “It absolutely means that other dealers should be very careful going forward.”

Attorneys representing other families in lawsuits against Toyota are expected to oppose Toyota’s request for confidentiality in the Saylor case because it is relevant to the other sudden acceleration lawsuits against Toyota.

According to the LA Times, an individual who was involved in the mediation and who asked for anonymity said the plaintiffs had requested a $10 million settlement.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Toyota quietly settles Saylor case, abandons co-defendant dealership

Biller filed a federal racketeering lawsuit against Toyota in July 2009, claiming that during his tenure as managing counsel for Toyota Motor Sales USA, the auto maker withheld and destroyed evidence in more than 300 rollover and roof crush lawsuits.

Biller said he was “surprised and alarmed” when Toyota wouldn’t produce e-mails and other digital files it was legally bound to provide and that he complained to his supervisors repeatedly that evidence was routinely hidden and destroyed. The dilemma caused a stress-induced nervous breakdown, Biller says, forcing him to seek work elsewhere.

Toyota quickly filed a motion to conceal the complaint, saying it is “rife with privileged and confidential information.” Today, Retired federal judge Gary L. Taylor, who is arbitrating the case, ruled that the documents would be permitted because they fall under a “crime-fraud exception” to attorney-client privilege. Taylor did not allow the documents to go public and clarified that he did “not rule that a crime or fraud has taken place.”

The decision will enable Biller to use internal emails, test reports, memos, and other communications and documents to prove his case. The ruling also marks the second legal setback for Toyota in the last couple of weeks.

On August 27, the Supreme Court of Texas ruled that Toyota must face charges that it acted in contempt of court by hiding evidence from the plaintiff in a 2007 rollover lawsuit.

“I finally will be able to present my own story and hundreds of documents before the arbitrator,” Biller told the Los Angeles Times. “I’ve been fighting for this for a long time.”

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Plaintiff may use internal Toyota documents against the auto maker

Toyota pushed hard to climb to the top, instituting a number of radical changes that altered everything about the company, from its administrative structure to its vehicle designs and manufacturing processes. Critics of the changes – many of them longtime employees and other company insiders – warned that Toyota was sacrificing its solid reputation for quality and safety for sales rankings and profit. It appears they were right.

Toyota snagged the global sales lead from General Motors in the first quarter of 2008, selling 2.41 million vehicles worldwide compared to GM’s 2.25 million. But barely two years later, Toyota finds itself third.

According to CNBC, “Any buyers who were thinking of jumping over to Toyota and even a slice of current Toyota owners were spooked out of buying the Japanese brand” after the spate of sudden acceleration recalls.

Here are the vehicle sales numbers for this year so far:

Ford: 1,155,713
Chevy: 1,052,773
Toyota: 1,018,664

Compare that with how the brands finished last year:

Toyota: 1.55 million
Ford: 1.44 million
Chevy: 1.33 million

With one quarter left to go this year, there is still a chance Toyota could beat Chevy for the number-two slot, especially considering the company’s aggressive post-recall marketing and sales incentives. But most auto experts say such a leap is unlikely. With four months left to go, Toyota trails Ford by 135,000 vehicles after it beat Ford by 110,000 vehicles last year – a swing representing a quarter of a million vehicles.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Toyota slides to third in rankings after sudden acceleration recalls

Drivers of Toyota Corolla and Matrix cars have filed more than a thousand complaints with NHTSA and Toyota alleging their vehicles suddenly lost power while in motion. The problem has been reported in 2005, 2006, and 2007 model year Corollas and Matrixes.

In March, amidst the controversy surrounding Toyota’s widespread sudden acceleration defect, NHTSA received a letter from Toyota’s regulator manager Chris Santucci requesting a meeting with regulators to discuss investigating the possibility that electronic system flaws create a stall risk in about 1.2 million Corollas.

NHTSA reported that it hasn’t found a link between Toyota’s sudden acceleration defect and its electronic controls, but the agency has not ruled out the possibility that such a link exists. Many automotive and safety experts caution that an electronic flaw may never be found, especially if the defect involves the electromagnetic interference compromising the electronic throttle controls.

Although NHTSA hasn’t correlated its two Toyota investigations, it’s possible that the agency may be stepping up its probe of Corolla and Matrix electronic systems to shed more light on the sudden acceleration mystery. Whatever the case, the new investigation could lead to another round of safety recalls. Toyota has already recalled nearly 9 million cars, trucks, and SUVs this year for potential safety defects.

Toyota faces a more than 200 lawsuits over sudden acceleration incidents that have been blamed for 70 deaths and hundreds of crashes.

In one high-profile case, Minnesota resident Koua Fong Lee was sentenced in October 2007 to eight years in prison for vehicular homicide after his Camry crashed into another vehicle, killing the driver and his two young passengers. A new inspection of Lee’s car was ordered after Toyota’s sudden acceleration issues gained publicity. That inspection found a cable actuator in the cruise-control mechanism stuck in the open position. Lee was released from prison and exonerated of charges while the family of the victims says it intends to sue Toyota for damages.

Meanwhile, a New York City grand jury is actively investigating charges that Toyota covered up problems in some of it vehicles.

Toyota’s recalls are estimated to cost the company more than $2 billion. Toyota has repaired nearly half of the 5.4 million vehicles it recalled for pedal entrapment by floor mats, which the auto maker says is the root cause of the sudden unintended acceleration problems.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Toyota probe turns from sudden acceleration to sudden stalling

According to a report prepared by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, of the 58 cases of sudden unintended acceleration studied, 35 recorders showed that brakes were not applied, 14 cases involved partial braking, and one incident involved a case of pedal entrapment.

While Toyota promotes the conclusion that driver error played a role in most of the sudden acceleration cases, NHTSA actually hasn’t dismissed electronic throttle controls as the problem. They have only said that black box data show brakes were not applied before impact.

But the accuracy of Toyota’s black box data has been questioned by automotive experts and even Toyota itself, and NHTSA has been careful to point out that this potentially flawed data represents just one piece of the sudden acceleration puzzle. It should not, the agency says, be interpreted as “problem solved.”

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration director David Strickland told members of Congress in a briefing earlier this month that the agency had drawn “no conclusion” on the causes of sudden acceleration. They also said that investigations conducted by NHTSA, NASA, and the National Academy of Sciences are still active. Results of those tests are not expected for at least another year.

“NHTSA and NASA are continuing to study whether there are potential electronic or software defects in these vehicles,” the regulators told the congressmen.

Some independent researchers say that if sudden acceleration is caused by  outside electronic interference, then a “glitch” in Toyota’s electronic controls may never be found.

Toyota has recalled more than 11 million of its vehicles since last fall to address problems of quality and safety, many of which involve cars unexpectedly speeding out of control and crashing.

The automaker agreed to pay a record $16.4 million fine to NHTSA in April for failing to issue a recall of sticking pedals in accordance with U.S. law. The company also faces hundreds of lawsuits citing electronics and software problems as a potential cause of sudden acceleration, which NHTSA says has been linked to at least 90 deaths.

Toyota agreed in February to conduct tests on its electronic systems but denies that a potential problem exists.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › NHTSA’s sudden acceleration findings are inconclusive

Ramsey County District Court Judge Joanne Smith ordered Lee free from prison on Thursday pending a new trial. Ramsey County Prosecutor Susan Gaertner, however, immediately announced she would drop the charges against Lee.

“Mr. Lee will be a free man,” Gaertner said in a written statement.

Lee, 32, has steadfastly maintained his innocence all along, saying that his Camry accelerated suddenly and unintentionally and all attempts to stop the vehicle failed. Lee was traveling along Interstate 94 in St. Paul on his way home from church in June 2006 when the sudden acceleration occurred. In the car with him were his expectant wife, 4-year-old daughter, brother and father. Just before exiting, Lee’s Camry accelerated drastically to speeds of 70-90 miles per hour, ultimately colliding with other cars.

The crash killed Javis Trice Adams, 33, and his 10-year-old son Javis Adams, Jr. Adams’ 6-year-old niece was critically injured and paralyzed from the neck down but died after Lee’s conviction, about a year after the accident. Two others were severely injured.

After being released, Lee asked the family of the victims to forgive him and pleaded with them to believe that he did nothing wrong. But the family had already become convinced that Lee’s Camry was defective and joined in the efforts to free him. The families of Javis Adams and his niece have filed lawsuits against Toyota seeking compensation for their losses.

“It’s a bittersweet victory,” Bridgette Trice, whose daughter died of injuries suffered in the crash, told KARE-TV. “I’m happy for the Lee family, that they’re getting their justice. We want answers, and they’re coming slowly but they’re coming surely.”

Mae Adams, whose nephews died in the accident, told KARE, “Our day is yet to come. … We couldn’t let this man sit in jail, no matter how much we wanted to know what happened.”

Once news broke about Toyota’s widespread sudden acceleration problems, an inspector examined Lee’s car again and concluded that Lee was indeed braking at the time of the crash, just as he had claimed in his trial. The inspector also found sticking problems in the car’s accelerator system.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Minnesota man freed from prison in Camry sudden acceleration case

Toyota has reviewed about 2,000 reports of sudden acceleration in its cars and trucks, including analyses from event-data recorders (vehicular “black boxes”) from the incidents that resulted in crashes, and says the devices reveal in nearly all cases the accelerator to be at full throttle without the brakes being engaged at the time of the crash. Toyota interprets this to mean that all those drivers stepped on the gas when they meant to step on the brakes.

However, safety advocates aren’t buying it. Ms. Claybrook, who now serves as president of watchdog group Public Citizen, says that Toyota’s conclusions are wrong.

“They should be looking at the electronics in their cars and everyone knows it.”

Ms. Claybrook’s assertion is actually supported by most independent research. To satisfy his own curiosity about the sudden acceleration problem and acting without any affiliation with or endorsement from outside groups and special interests, Southern Illinois University automotive technology professor David Gilbert ran some simple tests on a Toyota Avalon. He found flaws in the cars’ electronic throttle controls.

Without much difficulty, Professor Gilbert found that he could he could create a sudden acceleration event without triggering trouble codes in the car’s computer – a finding that the professor said he found “startling.”

As for the black box data, we can only take Toyota’s word for the information present on it. Only one laptop computer with the ability to read the black boxes exists, and that lone black box reader is always accompanied by a Toyota representative who extracts and processes the data. The process is unlike that of most other car manufacturers, whose event data recorders can be read by law enforcement officials and other investigators.

April Yergin, a Houston-based accident reconstruction expert, told Newsweek that “even when they do perform a download, it’s usually not that useful.” Yergin investigated the acceleration crash in Southlake, Texas that left four people dead in an overturned Avalon the day after Christmas last year. But the only black box data Toyota shared in this case was that the car was traveling 44 mph when it crashed.

No laws currently exist requiring black boxes in passenger vehicles. As such, there are no laws governing the information recorded by the black boxes.

Considering Toyota’s culture of secrecy and its systematic, documented disregard for U.S. regulations, isn’t it odd that anyone would be quick to embrace Toyota’s findings?

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Toyota blames sudden acceleration incidents on driver confusion

The judge’s order will allow the first phase of discovery to begin, which means attorneys for the plaintiffs and the automaker can begin exchanging documents and taking depositions. Each side will have 100 days for this process. The purpose of establishing an MDL is so lawyers, judges and plaintiffs can share evidence for cases in state courts nationwide. This will eliminate the need to interview the same witnesses multiple times, helping to speed up the process.

The next court date is set for Sept. 20.

Beasley Allen has taken an active role in investigating Toyota SUA. Miles has filed a total of six consumer class actions in four states to date – Alabama, California, Florida and Georgia. Beasley Allen attorney Graham Esdale also has filed two wrongful death cases involving Toyota SUA, in state courts in Alabama and Oklahoma. Beasley Allen attorneys attended Congressional hearings on Capitol Hill in February as government leaders examined the automaker’s response to the safety threat posed by its vehicles.

Toyota has blamed the sudden acceleration problem on sticky accelerator pedals, improperly installed or defective floor mats, and even driver error, while independent investigations show a link to the vehicle electrical system.

Source: MSNBC

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Discovery moves forward in Toyota MDL

In April, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration hit Toyota with a record $16.375 million civil penalty for its failure to promptly inform the agency of problems with the accelerator pedal assemblies in millions of its U.S. cars and trucks. The new subpoena, issued by a grand jury in the Southern District of New York, is likely linked to an NHTSA investigation into whether Toyota promptly notified federal regulators about the steering rod defect as required by law.

The same grand jury, together with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, subpoenaed Toyota in February for documents relating to sudden acceleration and braking problems. Although neither Toyota nor any of its executives have been charged, the probes raise the possibility of criminal liabilities.

In 2004, Toyota launched a recall in Japan for Hilux trucks containing steering relay rods susceptible to fatigue, cracking, and breaking, potentially causing a loss of steering control. Toyota said at the time the steering defect was limited to vehicles in Japan and that the company had not received complaints about the problem in the U.S.

However, Toyota informed NHTSA in 2005 that the steering relay rod defect was indeed present in several U.S. models. The company then launched a recall of nearly one million pickup trucks to replace the steering rods.

Toyota’s delay in notifying U.S. regulators mirrors the way the company handled the sticking accelerator problem in the U.S., for which it received the record NHTSA fine.

Internal Toyota documents obtained by NHTSA revealed that the company knew of the defective pedal assemblies since September 29, 2009. On that day, Toyota sent repair procedures to distributors in 31 European countries and Canada to address complaints of sticking gas pedals, arbitrary engine revving, and sudden acceleration. Despite knowing that customers in the U.S. also experienced the same problem, Toyota waited months before informing NHTSA.

“In recall investigation after investigation Toyota has been less than candid,” Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety in Washington, told the Wall Street Journal. “The government is looking at Toyota in a more serious light.”

According to the Wall Street Journal report, Mr. Ditlow and other safety experts believe federal prosecutors may be using the subpoenas to examine an incident last year when Toyota reported a 2004 California rollover crash to NHTSA but used inappropriate coding in the report. Toyota listed the cause of the crash as a “power train” problem, not a “steering rod relay fracture” problem. Federal coding for power train issues is “10″ and for steering rod issues is “01.”

According to Safety Research & Strategies, Inc., the driver in that accident filed a claim with photos that showed a severed relay rod. If internal Toyota documents reveal that Toyota willfully misled investigators, the company could be held criminally liable.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Grand jury expands Toyota safety investigation

In testimony before the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Toyota’s top executives insisted that the problem causing many of its vehicles to speed out of control was a mechanical one, not electronic as Professor Gilbert found. However, the company also promised the panel that its engineers would review Gilbert’s findings and probe the electronic throttle controls further.

Gllbert’s testimony before Congress was touchy because Southern Illinois University’s auto tech program has been a beneficiary of substantial Toyota contributions over the years. The auto company has donated thousands of dollars in revenue, automobiles, and equipment to the school’s vocational program. However, as a research university, SIU’s faculty are permitted to independently research and publish their findings within established ethical and conflict-of-interest guidelines.

Indeed, after hearing so much news about Toyota’s defective vehicles and its massive recalls, Gilbert began probing the sudden acceleration problem to satisfy his own curiosity. Without much difficulty, he found that he could manipulate the electronics in a Toyota Avalon to reproduce an acceleration event without triggering any trouble codes in the vehicle’s computer. Gilbert testified that he told Toyota of his “startling discovery” and that Toyota’s engineers “listened attentively” but after the meeting he never heard back from the company.

Gilbert then told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and made plans to tell Congress. He told the AP “I didn’t feel I could just be passive in this.”

Messages obtained by the AP show that Toyota, growing more and more agitated with Gilbert’s work, expressed its concerns with Gilbert’s bosses at the university. Then, two Toyota executives who sat on the school’s auto technology advisory board quickly resigned and the car manufacturer withdrew its offers to fund valuable internships.

A Toyota attorney and other company executives also requested a meeting with Gilbert to discuss the use of vehicles the company had donated to SIU’s auto program and “other related matters.” Gilbert agreed, but told the AP that the meeting “was meant to maybe intimidate me.”

Toyota also asked Gilbert to fly to California for a demonstration at Exponent, Inc., the consulting firm hired by Toyota to bolster its claims that electronics weren’t triggering the sudden acceleration episodes. Gilbert agreed to go, although he said he “wasn’t really sure what the point of the trip was.” He remained unconvinced by Exponent’s research, telling the AP that Toyota seemed to be going to extremes to dispel his findings.

On March 8, Mark Thompson, a Toyota Motor Sales employee and SIU alum, sent an email to the university’s chancellor Sam Goldman, expressing his “great concern and disappointment” about Gilbert. Thompson said he was “deeply disturbed” that Gilbert was making false accusations against Toyota and reminded Goldman that the company was a significant benefactor of the university’s automotive technology program.

“I ask you why your organization allows such activities to be performed by one of your professors and most importantly allowed to be reported to the media in a false manner,” Thompson wrote. “I believe he should not be an employee of our fine university.”

Goldman assured Thompson that the university took his concerns seriously and that he had a strong desire to maintain the relationship with Toyota.

Professor Gilbert remains at SIU’s Carbondale campus and he also stands by his analysis of Toyota’s sudden acceleration defect.

“I didn’t really set out to take on Toyota. I set out to tell the truth, and I felt very strongly about that,” Gilbert told the AP.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Toyota lashed out at professor for sudden acceleration research

On June 10, 2006, Lee was traveling along Interstate 94 in St. Paul on his way home from church. In the car with him were his expectant wife, 4-year-old daughter, brother and father. Just before exiting, Lee’s Camry accelerated drastically to speeds of 70-90 miles per hour, ultimately colliding with other cars.

The crash killed Javis Trice Adams, 33, and his 10-year-old son Javis Adams, Jr. Adams’ 6-year-old niece was critically injured and paralyzed from the neck down but died after Lee’s conviction, about a year after the accident. Two others were severely injured.

Lee insisted he did everything possible to stop his Camry before it crashed, but the jury didn’t believe him. He was found guilty on two counts of criminal vehicular homicide and three counts of criminal vehicular operation and was sentenced to eight years in a Minnesota state prison.

In her order for a hearing, Ramsey County District Judge Joanne Smith cited a report by a defense expert who re-inspected Lee’s totaled car for evidence that it may have accelerated suddenly and unintentionally. When Lee was placed on trial for the accident, Toyota’s sudden acceleration problem wasn’t widely known. It wasn’t until after Toyota’s record recall of more than 8 million vehicles for acceleration-related defects that Lee’s case and many others like it were cast in a new light.

After Toyota’s sudden acceleration defects became known, the inspector who examined Lee’s car concluded that Lee was braking at the time of the crash, just as he had claimed in his trial. The inspector also found sticking problems in the car’s accelerator system.

Judge Smith wrote that it “is the Court’s intent to hear and decide this matter as expeditiously as possible.”

Lee’s attorney said that the judge’s order was good news for his client, but that it was just the first step. He said that he still needs to persuade the court that Lee deserves a new trial, but he remains hopeful that testimony and affidavits from 26 Toyota drivers who have experienced sudden unintended acceleration in their Toyota vehicles will help pave a path out of prison for Lee.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Imprisoned man close to new hearing for fatal sudden acceleration crash

Models that could be involved in the recall are model year 2007 and 2008 GS 350 and 450h, 2008 GS 460, 2006 through 2008 IS 350, 2007 and 2008 LS 460 and LS 460L and the 2008 LS 600hL.

Toyota has not received any reports of injuries or fatalities related to this defect. Owners of affected vehicles will receive a recall notice in the mail, and should take their vehicle to a Lexus dealer for replacement of the valve springs.

This is just the latest in a long string of woes for Toyota, which earlier this year recalled some 8 million vehicles worldwide for problems with sudden unintended acceleration and brake problems. The manufacturer has been quick about reporting new suspected problems to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) after being fined just over $16 million for its delay in reporting the sudden unintended acceleration problems.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Toyota announces recall of Lexus luxury sedans for engine stalling

Toyota said in a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that it is recalling about 17,000 2010 model-year HS250h sedans.

The problem deals another painful blow to a company whose image and reputation are already battered by reports of sudden, unintended acceleration in its vehicles. The problem led to a sales suspension of some of its most popular car models, a record safety recall of more than 8 million vehicles, and a series of federal and congressional investigations.

In an interview with BusinessWeek, Toyota Spokesman Brian Lyons called the safety problem a “noncompliance” with federal standards and said that the company was “working intently to duplicate” it. Lexus Group vice president Mark Templin said that so far Toyota has not been able to duplicate NHTSA’s results.

NHTSA found the problem when the vehicle was struck from behind at 50 mph in a rear-end collision simulation. The agency discovered the fuel leak after the vehicle lifted off the ground. Uncontained fuel will start on fire and possibly explode if it comes into contact with an ignition source, NHTSA warns.

Toyota says that it hasn’t received any reports of accidents or injuries involving the HS hybrid-model cars. 12,588 of the cars have been sold in the U.S. Lexus is the top-selling luxury brand in the country. Its reputation for quality and safety came under fire last August when California Highway Patrol officer Mark Saylor died along with 3 family members when the rented Lexus he was driving on a California freeway sped out of control and crashed.

Toyota announced a recall of the Lexus GX 460 sport-utility vehicle in April after Consumer Reports tests revealed a serious handling flaw that made the vehicles prone to skid and roll over. The magazine called the SUV a “safety risk” when its vehicle stability controls failed to operate as intended.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Toyota suspends Lexus HS250h sales after NHTSA finds gas leak

Legislators on the Senate Commerce Committee, led by West Virginia Democrat John D. Rockefeller, say that the top executives of auto manufacturing corporations need to be held responsible when they knowingly withhold information or deceive regulators in dealing with auto safety problems. They argue that the new measure would force executives to be more honest and forthright about defects and other problems.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration hit Toyota with a record $16.375 million civil penalty in April for its failure to promptly notify U.S. regulators about a known safety defect. The auto manufacturer notified Canada and several European nations in September 2009 about an accelerator pedal defect, but waited until January 2010 to inform U.S. regulators of the same problem.

Under the new law, Executives who knowingly violate federal safety standards would be fined up to $10 million and face imprisonment of up to a year in addition to whatever criminal penalties may be incurred under other laws.

Former NHTSA director Joan Claybrook, who pioneered the country’s first vehicle safety laws, gave the provision her support, saying that pressuring the top executives would force them to establish a culture of honesty and accuracy. Many lawmakers across the political spectrum expressed their frustration with Toyota’s executives during congressional hearings, blaming the company for engaging in deceptive, highly secretive and self-serving business practices while the lives of millions of Toyota drivers and their passengers were at risk.

“You want to have personal responsibility. That’s the only thing that’s really going to change the way these companies behave,” said Ms. Claybrook.

The auto lobby is fighting the proposed bill, arguing that executives can’t know everything that is happening within the company and that it would turn executives into public scapegoats while failing to address the underlying causes of safety problems.

The House and Senate bills have cleared committees and could face a full vote of each chamber this summer.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Bill to hold auto execs responsible for deceptive business practices

Prior to January 27, 2010, NHTSA had on record 17 complaints of acceleration-related Toyota crashes involving 21 deaths between 2000 and 2009. An additional 13 deaths and 10 injuries linked to sudden acceleration accidents since 2005 were subsequently reported to the agency, bringing the total number of people killed to 34.

The auto giant now faces at least 228 federal lawsuits and 99 state lawsuits over loss of value, personal injury, and wrongful death – all relating to a defect that is causing many Toyota models to race out of control. Toyota maintains that the problem stems from improperly installed or mismatched driver-side floor mats, which the company says can jam the accelerator pedal in an open throttle position. Many survivors, safety experts, and attorneys argue that the problem is more systemic, likely involving the vehicles’ electronic throttle controls.

Acceleration problems prompted sweeping recalls of more than 8 million vehicles in the U.S., amounting to the largest automotive recall in U.S. history. Toyota’s recall repairs, which involve trimming the gas pedal and adjusting the throttle assembly, have failed to stop many drivers from experiencing post-repair acceleration incidents.

In April, NHTSA ordered Toyota to pay $16.4 million in fines — the maximum allowable under federal law — for its handling of the sudden acceleration problems. Investigators found that the company did not promptly inform the U.S. government of the problem.

Toyota says that it will install advanced brake-override systems in all new models starting next year. The company will also retrofit seven current models with a software fix, which slows a vehicle if it receives signals both to accelerate and brake. Toyota considers the brake override fix “an extra measure of confidence.” It is available for the following models:
2005-2010 Tacoma trucks, 2009-2010 Venza crossovers, 2008-2010 Sequoia SUVs, 2007-2010 Camrys, 2005-2010 Avalons, 2007-2010 Lexus ES 350s, 2006-2010 Lexus IS 350s, and 2006-2010 Lexus IS 250 models.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Deaths linked to sudden acceleration climb to 89

Toyota installs the black boxes in all of its cars and trucks. However, unlike most other companies, Toyota goes to great lengths to safeguard the information recorded by the devices. Whereas the black boxes in Ford, GM and Chrysler vehicles can be read by law enforcement and any other investigators, only one laptop in the U.S. is equipped to read Toyota’s data recorders, and that laptop comes attached to a Toyota representative.

Toyota performs an information download only when ordered by the court or federal investigators. And even then the readings are typically shrouded in further secrecy.

According to Sean Kane, head of the consumer safety group Safety Research & Strategies, Inc., Toyota’s system is both alarming and frustrating.

“Every time Toyota downloads these things, they say there’s no indication of a problem,” Kane told Newsweek. “It’s the most opaque system I’ve ever seen.”

April Yergin, an accident reconstruction expert based in Houston, told Newsweek that “even when they do perform a download, it’s usually not that useful.”

Yergin recently witnessed a Toyota official download the data from the black box of the sudden unintended acceleration accident that left four people dead in Southlake, Texas, on the day after Christmas last year. The car apparently sped out of control before landing upside-down in a pond, killing all four occupants. Investigators found the car’s floor mats in the trunk, where the owner had stored them following Toyota’s precautionary advice. According to Toyota, removing the driver’s side floor mat would also remove the chance of being involved in a sudden-acceleration incident.

According to Yergin, the only bit of information the Toyota rep revealed in the Southlake incident was that the car was traveling at 44 mph when it struck a tree. But is it really any surprise that Toyota didn’t reveal more? Many auto and safety experts believe that  Toyota’s sudden acceleration problems stem from something more systemic, such as a defective or vulnerable electronic throttle.

An Associated Press investigation found that “Toyota has been inconsistent — and sometimes even contradictory — in revealing exactly what the devices record and don’t record, including critical data about whether the brake or accelerator pedals were depressed at the time of a crash.”

Understandably, NHTSA wants more transparency from car manufacturers such as Toyota. The agency will standardize automotive “black box” recorders beginning in 2012.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › The secret life of a Toyota black box

On June 10, 2006, Lee was traveling along Interstate 94 in St. Paul on his way home from church. In the car with him were his expectant wife, 4-year-old daughter, brother and father. Just before exiting, Lee’s Camry accelerated drastically to speeds of 70-90 miles per hour, ultimately colliding with other cars.

Javis Trice Adams, 33, and his 10-year-old son Javis Adams, Jr. died when Lee’s car struck them from behind. Adams’ 6-year-old niece survived, but was paralyzed from the neck down and died about a year later.

The tragedy left many people with a hunger for justice, and Lee was charged with criminal vehicular homicide. He pleaded with the court, claiming that he tried to stop the car but the brakes wouldn’t work.

“I know 100 percent in my heart that I took my foot off the gas and that I was stepping on the brakes as hard as possible,” Lee told the Associated Press in an interview last week.

A mechanic who examined the Camry after the crash told the court that the brakes worked fine, and others testified that Lee simply mistook the gas pedal for the brakes. Lee was found guilty and sentenced to 8 years at a Minnesota prison in Lino Lakes.

Meanwhile, Lee’s wife and four young children have had to go on welfare to get by. While Lee studies for his high school equivalency exam in prison, his wife goes to school. As a convicted felon with a minimal education, Lee will likely struggle to support his family even after his release.

Lee’s attorney requested another trial for Lee when Toyota’s sudden acceleration problems led to extensive recalls. Investigators examined Lee’s Camry again and found that the filaments in the Camry’s brake lights proved Lee had been stepping on the brakes at the time of impact, just as he had claimed in court.

Now, the Toyota defect that ruined Lee’s life could also be the defect that restores his freedom.

The family of Javis Adams now believes that Lee is innocent after all and has begun preparing a lawsuit against Toyota.

Lee’s case is just one of many similar cases defense attorneys and prosecutors alike are re-opening in light of Toyota’s troubling defects, including sudden unintended acceleration and brake failure. An attorney for the victims in the Lee crash says that evidence gathered by federal regulators indicates an engine control module defect is present in Toyota makes and model years beyond those that have been recalled officially.

Whether Lee will be vindicated of the vehicular homicide charges is uncertain. Phil Carruthers, the attorney who prosecuted Lee, said that several factors from the original trial could work against the defendant.

According to the Associated Press, “Lee testified his brakes didn’t work, not that his car suddenly accelerated. And two experts – a city mechanic and an engineer hired by Lee’s insurance company – didn’t identify sudden acceleration as a problem with the car.” Meanwhile, Lee’s current attorney has said that sudden acceleration is the only reasonable explanation for the crash.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Toyota sudden acceleration defect may exonerate imprisoned man

The Sienna recall will include model-year 1998-2010 Siennas with two-wheel drive sold in 20 northern states and Washington D.C. According to Toyota, the cables holding the spare tires in place are prone to corrosion and rust after repeated exposure to the road salts used to melt snow on roads in the northern states.

Last November, Toyota announced a recall of 2002 – 2003 Tundra pickup trucks in the same 20 states and D.C. over the risk that the trucks’ frames could fall apart from road salt corrosion. That recall was later expanded to all 50 states.

Toyota says that rust may cause the Sienna’s spare tire carrier cables to break, allowing the spare to fall onto the road, which could create a serious traffic obstacle and endanger the lives of other motorists.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that it has received six reports of spare tires falling off of Sienna minivans. Toyota says that it has received no complaints.

The recall involves Siennas in the District of Columbia and the following states: Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont, Wisconsin and West Virginia.

Toyota has not yet announced a repair for the problem, but it has begun notifying customers of the recall.

The recall comes as House of investigators announced they will hold another congressional hearing next month for a review of evidence that electronic problems may cause Toyota vehicles to accelerate suddenly and unexpectedly – not floor mat entrapment or sticky accelerator pedals as the car maker claims.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Toyota says it is recalling 600,000 Sienna Minivans to fix rust defect

Once in his new role at NHTSA, however, Strickland hit the ground running working to defend the administration’s role in the investigation into eight separate reports of sudden and unintended acceleration incidents in Toyota vehicle since 2003. The issue moved into high gear last fall when Toyota initiated its first of several recalls of vehicles due to sticky gas pedals and defective floor mats. In February, Toyota added  its Prius models to the recall list, and just last week, its new Lexus GX460 was pulled from the market for safety issues.

“I knew stuff for Toyota was going to be prevalent, but I had no idea,” Strickland told The Detroit News.

Strickland flies to Japan next month with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to meet with Toyota officials there. But he is walking a fine line between protecting automakers and consumers alike. “There is a due process right of automakers. We can’t simply say ‘You’re guilty until proven innocent,’” he said. But he does expect automakers to be truthful. “You will have no issues with NHTSA if you disclose timely and in a thorough fashion. We will be fair.”

Meanwhile, Toyota faces a steep fine and mounting lawsuits for not acting fast enough to protect American consumers.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › New NHTSA chief consumed with Toyota woes

According to NHTSA, if it weren’t for the $16-million-plus statutory cap, which was enacted in 2006, Toyota would have owed the federal government $13.8 billion for its failure to comply with U.S. regulations.

That’s because under federal law, car manufacturers should be fined $6000 per violation. With each vehicle representing one violation of NHTSA’s rules, the amount the agency could have claimed if it weren’t for the cap would have been nearly $14 billion.

Previously, the largest fine NHTSA gave an automaker was to General Motors for failing to recall defective windshield wipers in 2002-2003 vehicles. That fine was $1 million.

NHTSA levied its record fine against Toyota after a review of the company’s internal documents revealed that that the automaker waited months to inform U.S. regulators of a safety defect it had found in the accelerator pedal assemblies in several Toyota models.

In September 2009, Toyota notified Canada and several European nations that accelerator pedals could stick or return too slowly to idle position, but it did not notify U.S. regulators until January 2010, four months later. U.S. law requires car manufacturers to alert federal officials within five days of finding a safety defect.

NHTSA’s April 5 letter to Toyota also warns that the company could face a second fine after a review of documents showed that the recalled accelerator pedals involved two separate defects requiring two separate remedies.

“Here, the gravity of Toyota’s apparent violations is severe and potentially life-threatening,” NHTSA Chief Counsel O. Kevin Vincent said in the letter.

Toyota has until Monday to respond.

To view a copy of NHTSA’s letter to Toyota, click here.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › NHTSA says Toyota’s violations amount to $13.8 billion, may face second fine

Consumer Reports’ team of engineers discovered the problem while conducting routine emergency handling tests. In one of the tests called “lift-off oversteer,” in which the driver abruptly removes his foot from the accelerator pedal in a sweeping turn, the GX 460 slid out until the vehicle was almost sideways before the ESC could regain control.

In the real world, drivers making a long, steady turn such as on a highway exit, may encounter an obstacle in the road or they may find that the turn is too tight for the vehicle’s speed. The natural impulse for the driver in those situations is to remove the foot from the gas pedal. At that time, ESC normally kicks in to keep the vehicle stable. It was at this point, however, that test drivers lost control of the GX 460.

To confirm the results, Consumer Reports obtained a second GX 460. It also experienced the same problem.

“We believe that in real-world driving, that situation could lead to a rollover accident, which could cause serious injury or death,” Consumer Reports said.

“And because the GX is a tall SUV with a high center of gravity, our concern for rollover safety is heightened,” the report added.

Consumer Reports almost never gives automobiles a “don’t buy” designation. The last time was in 2001 when it deemed the performance of the Mitsubishi Montero Limited unacceptable. Consumer reports says that its current auto ratings include 95 SUVs and none have slid out as far as the GX 460 in tests, including its Toyota cousin, the 4Runner.

Consumer Reports shared its findings with Toyota and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

In an e-mail statement to Consumer Reports, Toyota spokesman Joe Tetherow said, “We’re concerned with the results of Consumer Reports testing on the Lexus GX 460 and their suggested buyer recommendation. Our engineers conducted similar tests during the development of the new GX and had no issues. However, we will try to duplicate the Consumer Reports’ test to determine if appropriate steps need to be taken.”

Despite its assurances about quality and customer satisfaction, Toyota continues to experience a breakdown in the fundamental safety of its vehicles. The problems plaguing Toyota vehicles now were predicted by a group of veteran Toyota employees in Japan, who in a 2006 memo to senior executives warned that systemic problems in the vehicles were being created in the planning and design stages.

“We are concerned about the processes which are essential for producing safe cars, but that ultimately may be ignored, with production continued in the name of competition,” the memo warned.

If only Toyota’s top executives had listened to their production employees.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Lexus GX460 flunks Consumer Reports safety test, Toyota suspends sales

The AP reviewed dozens of lawsuits that involve a range of allegations. The records show that in addition to sudden acceleration claims, Toyota has been sued for vehicle rollovers and poor roof strength, defective air bags, faulty transmissions, and braking problems.

Many of the verdicts that favored Toyota in the past were likely made on the basis of false or concealed information, the AP report found. Had Toyota played by court rules, the outcome of several trials likely would have swung in the plaintiffs’ favor.

According to the AP report, Toyota “has hidden the existence of tests that would be harmful to its legal position and claimed key material was difficult to get at its headquarters in Japan. It has withheld potentially damaging documents and refused to release data stored electronically in its vehicles.”

The report provides a number of specific examples, including one case in which Robert Elmes, 76, claims the electronic throttle controls caused his 2002 Camry to surge forward suddenly. The 2006 crash landed Elmes in the hospital for well over a month. Since 2008, his attorney has tried repeatedly to obtain Toyota documents concerning the car’s electronic controls, but without success.

Elmes filed his lawsuit more than a year before Toyota’s sudden acceleration recalls were launched and the electronic throttle controls fell into the spotlight as the likely culprit.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has linked 52 deaths to Toyota’s sudden acceleration defects. Toyota currently faces nearly 100 wrongful death and personal injury lawsuits in federal court, filed by plaintiffs who blame sudden unintentional acceleration for their devastating crashes.

Another 130 potential class-action suits have been filed by drivers who say Toyota’s recent sudden acceleration recalls caused a steep decline in the value of their Toyota vehicles.

It’s uncertain what legal strategies Toyota will employ in defending itself against customers and their families who have been injured or killed in sudden-acceleration crashes, but the company’s past record of handling complaints and its persistent denial that electronics aren’t responsible indicate it isn’t straying from the course that has worked well in the past.

Beasley Allen attorney Graham Esdale, who represents the family of a woman killed in a sudden-acceleration crash, told the AP that Toyota also uses its geographical advantage to obscure evidence.

“They’ve used the Pacific Ocean as a great defense to producing documents,” Esdale told the AP. “If Ford or General Motors tells you something and you don’t believe that it’s right, you can get a court order to go get access to the documents instead of relying on them. We can just go there and start poring through documents. We don’t have that with the Japanese manufacturers,” Esdale said.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › AP investigation finds Toyota uses dishonest legal defense tactics

State Farm Insurance

Since 2007, State Farm has alerted federal safety regulators numerous times about a rise in the number of sudden acceleration reports involving Toyota vehicles. The insurer based its warnings on information culled from its massive 40-million-customer database and submitted its findings to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration more than a year before the agency pressured Toyota to issue the first of its acceleration-related recalls.

The total number of Toyota vehicles recalled for possible sudden acceleration defects currently approaches 8 million.

If Toyota agrees to compensate State Farm, the insurance company would refund deductibles customers paid in certain cases.

“If we didn’t incur any risk, we get our part back and you get your part back,” State Farm spokesman Dick Luedke told USA Today.

If Toyota refuses to pay for the accidents State Farm has linked to sudden acceleration, the cost would ultimately be absorbed by customers. Currently, insurance on Toyota vehicles is a relative bargain because the vehicles have had a record of safety and reliability. That could change, however, if Toyota’s sudden acceleration woes carry on.

“That’s when we would see an impact on insurance rates,” Peter Moraga, spokesman for the Insurance Information Network of California, told USA Today. “It really depends on what Toyota does in terms of fixing the problem.”

This isn’t the first time State Farm has sought repayment from Toyota over a sudden acceleration claim. In 2007, it asked Toyota to pay for damages that occurred after a crash involving a 2005 Camry. In that case, the driver reported sudden acceleration problems to her mechanic twice before her vehicle crashed. State Farm sent a duplicate of the letter to NHTSA, but Toyota never reimbursed the company.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › State Farm seeks repayment from Toyota for sudden acceleration claims

Toyota

Toyota first addressed the problem last fall by gradually recalling more than 9 million vehicles worldwide to replace floor mats, replace and modify brake pedals, and remove floor padding. On some models, the carmaker also added brake override software to automatically reduce the engine to idle when both the brake and the accelerator are depressed. But the Department of Transportation’s review of 70,000 pages of documents found Toyota “knowingly hid a dangerous defect for months from U.S. officials and did not take action to protect millions of drivers and their families.”

Industry Week says it has obtained a letter from NHTSA to Toyota saying it is considering penalizing the carmaker even more. The car company is already facing at least 97 lawsuits from consumers who were injured or killed when their Toyota vehicles ran out of control.

The company also is facing 138 class action lawsuits from customers who want the company to reimburse them for losses in the resale value of Toyota vehicles as a result of the recalls and widely publicized brake problems.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Toyota may face more penalties

Beasley Allen Attorney W. Daniel “Dee” Miles, head of the firm’s consumer fraud section, had predicted California as the front-runner to hear the cases. Miles has filed a total of five consumer class action lawsuits in four states – Alabama, California, Florida and Georgia – related to Toyota sudden unintended acceleration (SUA). The class action lawsuits allege Toyota owners have been negatively impacted because SUA problems have caused their vehicles to be devalued. Beasley Allen also has filed a wrongful death case involving Toyota SUA in state court in Alabama.

“The MDL Panel’s decision to send these cases to Judge James V. Selna in the Federal Court for The Central District of California makes logical sense and is a good choice,” Miles said. “That court has the most advanced set of cases in the country currently. Judge Selna is a proven jurist with vast experience in complex litigation and is the perfect Judge for this litigation.”

Nearly 200 lawsuits related to Toyota sudden unintended acceleration have been filed in federal and state courts throughout the country. This decision will consolidate consumer and personal injury suits in one jurisdiction.

Toyota’s U.S. Headquarters is located in Torrance, Calif. More than 8 million Toyota vehicles have been recalled worldwide for sudden unintended acceleration problems. Toyota has blamed the problems both on defective or improperly installed floor mats, and sticky accelerator pedals. Toyota also has recalled vehicles for problems with the anti-lock brakes.

Read the MDL Transfer Order.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Toyota unintended acceleration cases to be consolidated in California

Toyota faces at least 177 lawsuits seeking class-action status, and at least 56 individual lawsuits. All claim that Toyota vehicles sped out of control despite drivers’ efforts to stop them. At least 43 fatal crashes have been linked to sudden and unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles.

“We now have proof that Toyota failed to live up to its legal obligations,” LaHood said. “Worse yet, they knowingly hid a dangerous defect for months from U.S. officials and did not take action to protect millions of drivers and their families.”

The proposed fine came after reports that sales of Toyota rose 41 percent last month aided by no-interest loans and discount leases, showing that despite claims of sudden and unintentional acceleration from Toyota vehicle owners and recalls of more than 8.5 million vehicles in the past several months, sales of the company’s cars is on the rebound.

Toyota has two weeks to either accept or contest the proposed fine. If Toyota contests the penalty and a settlement isn’t reached, the matter would likely be settled in court.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Toyota facing steep fine, but lawsuits may hurt more

Toyota

“Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) received notice from NHTSA on April 5 (in the United States) that NHTSA is seeking a civil penalty. TMC is now considering its response,” a statement on Toyota’s website said.

“Toyota has and will continue to practice its philosophy of satisfying consumers with high quality vehicles that are safe and reliable, and responding to consumer feedback with honesty and integrity,” the statement concluded, touching on NHTSA’s charge that the company failed to promptly disclose its knowledge of a sticky accelerator defect to U.S. regulators, which put American drivers at risk.

NHTSA has given Toyota 2 weeks to respond to the penalty notice. The penalty is the maximum allowable by law and the largest fine NHTSA has ever levied against an auto manufacturer. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, whose agency has been under fire for being too soft and possibly complicit in Toyota’s sudden acceleration debacle, has turned up the pro-consumer rhetoric by telling some sources that he wishes NHTSA’s penalty could be higher.

For Toyota, NHTSA’s record fine is more symbolic than anything. According to CNBC correspondent Phil LeBeau, Toyota has “between $25 and $30 billion in cash on hand. $16 million to them is like $100 speeding ticket to the rest of us. Annoying? Yes. Crippling? No.”

Although the fine could put a damper on Toyota’s efforts to salvage its reputation for quality and customer satisfaction, at least theoretically, there is no evidence that the massive recalls have hurt Toyota sales.

Last month, zero-percent financing and discount loans and leases helped Toyota boost deliveries by 41 percent after two consecutive declines in January and February. The strategy has been so effective that Toyota is extending its specials to May 3.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Toyota acknowledges NHTSA’s record civil penalty

NHTSA charges Toyota with failing to notify the government about the dangerous “sticky pedal” defect for at least four months, “despite knowing of the potential risk to consumers.” U.S. law requires automakers to notify regulators of defects within five business days after being uncovered.

Internal Toyota documents obtained by NHTSA revealed that the company knew of the defect since September 29, 2009. On that day, Toyota sent repair procedures to distributors in 31 European countries and Canada to address complaints of sticking gas pedals, arbitrary engine revving, and sudden acceleration. Despite knowing that customers in the U.S. also experienced the same problem, Toyota waited months before informing NHTSA.

“We now have proof that Toyota failed to live up to its legal obligations,” said Secretary LaHood. “Worse yet, they knowingly hid a dangerous defect for months from U.S. officials and did not take action to protect millions of drivers and their families. For those reasons, we are seeking the maximum penalty possible under current laws.”

NHTSA Administrator David Strickland said that the agency continues to investigate how Toyota handled acceleration-related recalls involving nearly 9 million cars and would hold the company accountable for any further violations that may turn up.

Toyota has two weeks to accept NHTSA’s penalty or dispute it. a Transportation spokeswoman told the New York Times Monday that the company had not yet received NHTSA’s letter announcing the fine.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › NHTSA will hit Toyota with largest possible civil penalty

Toyota has adamantly insisted that electronic problems aren’t why so many of its vehicles to accelerate suddenly. To support this claim, the company points to tests carried out by its own engineers, federal regulators, and consultant engineering firms – none of which have been able to replicate the mysterious acceleration problems.

If all the experts can’t duplicate the problem in lab tests, then according to Toyota, the problem either doesn’t exist or it lies somewhere else, such as in a poorly designed floor mat or gas pedal.

Supporting this rationale, Newman says that Toyota “has found no verifiable problems with the electronic throttle controls on more than 40 million vehicles it sold over the last decade.”

But that isn’t true. By its own admission, Toyota said electronics were to blame for some sudden acceleration incidents in 2002. In August of that year, the auto manufacturer issued a Technical Service Bulletin warning every dealership in the country that Camrys were reportedly surging out of control and that recommended adjustments to the electronic controls could fix the problem.

Newman acknowledges in his editorial that an electronic problem may still exist, but at the same time he seems to dismiss the idea. He says that “complaints about sudden acceleration have surged since the crisis began drawing attention, creating the impression that there’s a deeper problem that Toyota hasn’t acknowledged. So some critics (and class-action lawyers) are blaming the electronics.”

It doesn’t seem Newman is aware that Toyota has received nearly 40,000 consumer complaints involving sudden acceleration in the last ten years, so the problem has been understated rather than exaggerated. Also, the 52 sudden-acceleration deaths Newman cites are only what have been reported to the federal government. Many more may likely come to light as federal investigators scrutinize Toyota’s internal documents.

Moreover, there may have been a recent surge in the number of sudden unintended acceleration incidents reported, but there has also been a recent slip in vehicle quality, according to some long-time Toyota workers in Japan.

In 2006, a group of factory workers sent a memo to Toyota’s executive leaders expressing dire concern that systemic problems were being created in Toyota vehicles during the planning and design stages, not in the manufacturing process.

“We are concerned about the processes which are essential for producing safe cars, but that ultimately may be ignored, with production continued in the name of competition,” the memo warned as it boldly accused Toyota’s leaders of sacrificing quality for higher profits.

There’s also the fact that 52 deaths have been linked to sudden acceleration incidents in Toyota vehicles, which is higher than all other auto manufacturers combined. And those deaths come from the public record. They don’t take into account any fatalities that could be linked to the 37,900 complaints of sudden acceleration Toyota received directly from customers.

But the most egregious claim cited by Newman comes from Mike Jackson, CEO of AutoNation, “a Florida-based dealer group that’s the top Toyota seller in the United States.”

Jackson argues, “Ninety-eight percent of the time it’s pedal misapplication,” adding that Toyota drivers “genuinely think they’re pressing the brake but they’re really pressing the gas. Then they panic and press the gas even harder.”

The other 2 percent of cases are probably due to floor mats, he says.

This attitude may explain why people continue to become hurt in sudden acceleration incidents even after the recall repairs have been made to their cars. Drivers who live to tell about their experience of being trapped in a runaway car typically take their cars to their dealership to be checked. But because mechanics can’t replicate the acceleration problem, they give the car a clean bill of health and tell the owner all is fine.

The fact is that bugs do exist in Toyota’s electronic code; they’re just exceedingly difficult to replicate. According to electrical engineer Dr. Keith Armstrong, even NASA’s Space Shuttle software, the most error-free software in the world, has one undetected error in every 10,000 lines of code. A typical car has 20 million lines of software code, so in all probability Toyota has at least a couple thousand things wrong with its electronic controls.

But the odds of finding the bug responsible for sudden acceleration in a controlled environment are very remote, according to Dr. Armstrong. It would take about 3,120,000 hours and 200 million miles of driving to reproduce the acceleration incident.

“Even if you had 36 cars, no matter what the brand, they would have to be driven around the clock for 10 years to replicate one instance of unintended acceleration,” says Consumer Reports.

“For reference,” Consumer Reports says, it “tests about 80 new cars a year, and puts an average of around 7,000 miles on each of them, for about 560,000 miles a year. At that rate, it would take us 357 years to experience one unintended acceleration episode.”

Just because these electronic flaws are difficult to find doesn’t mean they aren’t there. But until a definitive link is made between Toyota’s electronic throttle controls and sudden acceleration, drivers may have to shoulder the blame for any accidents resulting from their runaway cars.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Toyota sudden acceleration may never be replicated in lab

Marseilles told authorities that she had her foot on the brake when the car shot forward. She claimed to have a witness that her brake lights were on at the time of the accident. Although the Camry collided with a wall, her car’s air bags did not deploy and Marseilles was taken to a local hospital reportedly with a fractured sternum.

Marseilles told investigators that her car had received repairs under Toyota’s recalls.

An estimated 3,306 unintended acceleration incidents involving Toyota vehicles have occurred between 1999 to the present, resulting in 1,159 crashes, 469 injuries, and 39 deaths. However, the actual number of incidents and injuries is almost certainly much higher as these numbers do not include incidents that have been reported directly to Toyota.

Consumers who are injured by a defective product typically report the incident directly to the manufacturer, in this case Toyota. Corporate databases normally have a larger volume of consumer complaints than those maintained by federal agencies such as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, from which the above numbers were derived.

According to documents obtained by the congressional committees investigating Toyota, the company received 37,900 customer contact reports of incidents potentially related to sudden unintended acceleration.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Toyota investigates new sudden acceleration crash in Wisconsin

Although Toyota continually insists that its acceleration problems aren’t linked to the electronic controls, many industry experts and engineers aren’t so certain. Some researchers say that Toyota’s electronic circuits are flawed and easily corrupted while others maintain electromagnetic interference from high voltage power grids or neutrons blasted from the sun could on occasion compromise Toyota’s electronic throttle controls and cause vehicles to accelerate unexpectedly.

NHTSA has just begun a formal review of Toyota’s electronic controls. Its call on NASA indicates the agency is responding to criticism that it failed to adequately regulate safety concerns in the past.

A 2002 Toyota Technical Service Bulletin recently surfaced, revealing that both the car maker and NHTSA knew that Toyota’s sudden acceleration incidents were linked to a glitch in the vehicles’ electronic system.

The document warned every dealership in the country that Camrys were reportedly surging out of control and recommended adjustments to the electronic controls as a fix for the problem. Toyota also sent the bulletin to NHTSA, but no recalls of the affected vehicles resulted.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has defended NHTSA’s handling of Toyota’s acceleration problems, but like Toyota, NHTSA will likely undergo a dramatic overhaul that will enable it to respond to consumer complaints and safety issues more effectively.

Part of NHTSA’s shortcomings fall in the realm of electronics analysis say some critics who claim the agency hasn’t had enough manpower or expertise to tackle Toyota’s elusive acceleration problems.

The nine NASA scientists, therefore, will “bring expertise in electronics, electromagnetic interference, software integrity and complex problem solving to the Toyota review,” according to a Reuters report.

The NHTSA review is scheduled to conclude by late summer. If it finds a conclusive link between Toyota’s sudden, unintended acceleration problems and the electronic throttle or software, another recall could result.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › NHTSA calls on NASA rocket scientists to study Toyota’s electronics

“Electronics have weaknesses and can go wrong in many ways. Many electronic throttles are not safe enough, but it is easier to blame drivers, floor mats and sticky pedals,” said Euring Keith Armstrong.

But Toyota officials disagree with those findings. “Six times in the past six years NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) has undertaken an exhaustive review of allegations of unintended acceleration on Toyota and Lexus vehicles and six times the agency closed the investigation without finding any electronic engine control system malfunction to be the cause of unintended acceleration,” Toyota said, according to the Epoch Times.

Finding no defect in the vehicles’ electronic system does not automatically rule out a problem with the electronics, Armstrong said. Most electronic defects don’t leave any evidence “especially after the ignition is turned off…. In most instances it recovers, leaving no trace.”

Meanwhile, Toyota is standing by its decision to replace and modify brake pedals and override software to automatically reduce the engine to idle when both the brake and the accelerator are depressed on its more than 8.5 million recalled vehicles.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Panel of engineers says Toyota problem is electronic, not mechanical

Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), whose family has been close friends with the Toyoda family for decades, is one of the lawmakers leading the charge to reform NHTSA.

“We know that something has gone terribly wrong. The system meant to safeguard against faulty vehicles has failed and it needs to be fixed immediately,” Rockefeller said in the Senate’s Toyota hearing.

“NHTSA did not fulfill its responsibility in the past and has more to do in the present, and needs greater resources and authority in the future. NHTSA’s actions and inactions in the years leading up to today are deeply troubling,” Rockefeller added.

To put the problem in perspective, Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) noted that the number of cars on America’s roads has doubled since 1980 to 256 million, yet in the same period of time NHTSA’s staff has been slashed in half to 57 workers.

NHTSA’s 57 employees must respond to more than 30,000 consumer complaints and manage some 500 recall campaigns every year – on top of numerous other responsibilities.

Complicating matters further, some high-ranking Toyota executives are former NHTSA employees. Former NHTSA regulators Chris Tinto and Chris Santucci, who work in Toyota’s D.C. offices, helped stop at least four federal investigations into unintended acceleration. In doing so, they successfully helped Toyota fend off as many sudden-acceleration-related recalls.

To help bring NHTSA back in line with its purpose of protecting the American public from unsafe automobiles and hopefully avert another epic disaster like the Toyota recalls, Senator Rockefeller has joined Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA) to draft legislation that would enhance NHTSA’s regulatory powers and authority.

Likely to make auto lobbyists descend on Washington in droves, the bills also seek to increase NHTSA staffing, require “black box” data recorders and brake override systems in all vehicles, and prohibit former NHTSA employees from working in the auto industry for at least 2 years after leaving federal employment.

Preliminary bills may be introduced to the House and Senate by the end of the month. Final legislation would likely take several months before becoming law.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Legislators seek sweeping overhaul of NHTSA

Almost all of the complaints report that the vehicle was taken to the local dealership after the sudden acceleration incident / accident. The majority of these reports say that the dealership could not re-create the acceleration problem in the shop, and so the vehicles were released back to their owners without additional repairs being made, usually with a clean bill of health and an assurance that the vehicle would be safe to drive.

One driver of a 2009 Camry said that his car began racing while he was commuting to work on the interstate. He reported that he had the car serviced under three recalls before the acceleration incident occurred.

“To all that have a recall model from Toyota I recommend that you be very cautious of the repairs done and drive even safer than before.”

Some of the drivers who submitted reports to the NHTSA claim that their vehicle operated normally until they brought it to the dealership for recall repairs. Only then did they begin to experience unnerving incidents of sudden, unintended acceleration.

According to Randy Whitfield of Quality Control Systems, Toyota’s recall repairs have amounted to a “failed experiment.”

“And it is a kind of experiment, Whitfield told Safety Research & Strategies, Inc. “It is based on a hypothesis that there are no electronic issues. These complaints seem to show that (the current recall remedies) are not the answer to all the problems these vehicles are experiencing with sudden unintended acceleration.”

Mr. Whitfield’s hypothesis is particularly generous because it’s based on the assumption that Toyota has handled the sudden acceleration issue and customer complaints truthfully. However, mounting evidence points to the likelihood that Toyota knew about the sudden acceleration problem and its link to the electronic controls for years and actively worked to conceal what it knew. And, based on that assumption, Toyota’s recall repairs are not so much an experiment but a public relations strategy gone horribly wrong.

Source: Safety Research & Strategies, Inc.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Driver complaints to NHTSA reveal Toyota recall repairs aren’t working

The problem is that some of the advice contradicts the Prius owner’s manual, as Safety Research & Strategies, Inc. points out. For instance, in its press release, Toyota Prius Vehicle Throttle and Brake Systems: Myth VS Fact, Toyota says:

“Myth: In the event you encounter a runaway vehicle, the first thing you should do is to turn off the ignition.”

The release then states:

“Although turning off the ignition is a possible course of action, the first thing a driver should do is to put the transmission in Neutral. This separates the driveline from the wheels, and gives the driver instant speed control over the vehicle, and allows the driver to time to assess what is happening.”

Toyota adds that shifting to neutral will preserve the power steering and brake systems for easier operation of the vehicle.

However, on page 155 of the 2010 Prius owner’s manual, Toyota’s instructions are completely different:

“Do not under any circumstances shift the shift lever to ‘R’, ‘N’ or push the ‘P’ position switch while the vehicle is moving. Doing so can cause significant damage to the transmission and may result in a loss of vehicle control.

“Do not shift the lever to ‘N’ while the vehicle is moving. Doing so may cause the engine brake not to operate properly and lead to an accident,” the Prius manual instructs.

Toyota’s memo also says that “Pressing the start/stop button to turn off the ignition can be done as the next step.”

“This will shut down power assist to the brakes and steering system … but the driver can still brake and steer the vehicle manually in this condition.”

However, the Prius manual says “Do not turn the hybrid system off while driving. The power steering and brake actuator will not operate properly if the hybrid system is not operating.”

These instructions demonstrate how Toyota’s dishonesty can be so utterly dangerous to public safety. By failing to respond to consumer complaints of sudden, unintended acceleration with an honest an appropriate course of action, Toyota instead created a labyrinth of misleading information and confusing contradictions.

Toyota’s press release also says it’s a myth that the Prius brake system “is not able to stop the car at speed with a wide-open throttle,” calling it fact that “the brake system on each Toyota model is capable of overpowering the driveline to stop the vehicle – even with the throttle in a wide-open condition.”

“Apply firm, steady pressure on the brake pedal – use two feet if needed, to bring the vehicle to a halt,” Toyota instructs.

However, according to Safety Research and Strategies, “This doesn’t always work.” The firm cites the case of Elizabeth James of Eagle, Colorado, who tried to stop her 2005 Prius from speeding out of control by using both the floor and the emergency brakes. Her efforts were unsuccessful, and the Prius plowed through the woods, hit a shed, and plunged into a river, leaving James with long-term injuries to her back, legs, and abdomen.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Toyota gives contradictory and confusing advice to Prius drivers

Toyota

Toyota agreed to offer replacement pedals after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration logged more than 60 sudden acceleration complaints from drivers whose cars had been repaired.

Toyota recalled approximately 2.3 million cars and trucks in January after announcing that accelerator pedal performance could be compromised by condensation development inside the pedal mechanism. Although Toyota said this defect would not be responsible for any of the high-speed sudden acceleration incidents that continue to be occur throughout the country, it nonetheless is offering the full pedal replacement as a token gesture to drivers who claim their vehicles still accelerate unexpectedly.

Toyota’s memo instructed its dealers, service managers, and parts managers that “Accelerator pedal replacement is based on specific customer request only.”

“Dealers are not to solicit pedal replacement,” the memo said.

“Although we believe that the majority of customers will be satisfied with the operation and/or the feel of the accelerator pedal after the reinforcement bar has been installed, a few customers may request pedal replacement,” Toyota said.

“Therefore, if a customer is not satisfied with the operation and/or the feel of the accelerator pedal after the reinforcement bar has been installed, please assist us by assuring a replacement pedal is provided at no charge to these customers.”

According to Toyota, its dealers have already repaired 1.3 million vehicles recalled for sticky accelerator pedals.

Vehicles included in the recall for “sticky” accelerator pedal are:

• certain 2009-2010 RAV4
• certain 2009-2010 Corolla (not inc. VINs beginning with “J”)
• 2009-2010 Matrix
• 2005-2010 Avalon
• certain 2007-2010 Camry (not inc. hybrids or VINs beginning with “J”)
• certain 2009 Camry Hybrid
• certain 2010 Highlander (not inc. hybrids or VINs beginning with “J”)
• 2007-2010 Tundra
• 2008-2010 Sequoia
• 2009-2010 GM Pontiac Vibe (manufactured by Toyota)

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Some Toyota drivers may get complete pedal replacement

Glenda Whitfield

Whitfield’s story is frightening, but what’s more disturbing is that stories of sudden and unintended acceleration in some Toyota and Lexus vehicles are making headlines since the major car maker announced a recall of more than 8.5 million Toyota vehicles worldwide. The recall is to replace and modify brake pedals and override software to automatically reduce the engine to idle when both the brake and the accelerator are depressed.

According to Toyota of Albany owner Alan Murphy, Whitfield was one of 800 Toyota owners who had taken her car to the dealership and had the recall work performed. Toyota engineers will inspect her car’s computer for answers. “It will be able to … read exactly what happened to the vehicle, whether she put her foot on the gas or the brake, who’s responsible or what the fault is,” Murphy told Fox 31 News.

Last week, after examining the computer of a 2008 Prius that the owner says sped down a California freeway, Toyota Motor Corp. announced that the account relayed by the car’s owner, James Sikes, was inconstant with a series of tests conducted on the vehicle. The car maker claims the gas pedal of Sikes’ gas-electric hybrid tested normally and a backup safety system that slows the engine when the brakes are applied worked properly. Toyota says the computer indicates that Sikes repeatedly pressed the gas and brake pedals back and forth some 250 times. This report contradicts Sikes’ statement to the California Highway Patrol that he was frantically slamming the brakes, sometimes raising his body off the car seat, at speeds for up to 94 mph.

It may all come down to a he said-she said fight. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which is also investigating Sikes’ case of sudden and unintended acceleration, says it is difficult to investigate claims of runaway vehicles. “We may never know exactly what happened,” the agency told The Salt Lake Tribune.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › How reliable are investigations into runaway car claims?

On March 2, 2010, a Toyota executive sent a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration requesting a meeting with regulators to discuss investigating the possibility that electronic system flaws create a stall risk in about 1.2 million Corollas.

Chris Santucci, Toyota’s regulatory manager who used to work for NHTSA, told NHTSA officials in the letter that “Toyota does not believe that the alleged defect creates an unreasonable risk to motor vehicle safety.”

But if that’s the case, it seems unlikely that Toyota would preempt an investigation of potential defects, given its history of disregarding consumer complaints and evading U.S. regulators on sudden acceleration issues.

In its push to become the world’s number one automaker, Toyota abandoned its core principles of quality and integrity. After several years of making profits its top priority, the automaker ultimately achieved its goal when it claimed the top spot in global auto sales. At the same time, however, Toyota was earning another distinction for itself — the auto maker with the most recalls and the most recalled vehicles.

The company has recalled 8.5 million vehicles in just the last five months, and more are likely on the way, as this latest action suggests.

NHTSA officials say that their agency has received 26 complaints of engine stall in 2005, 2006, and 2007 Corolla and Matrix model years. So far, investigations have pointed to failures in the electronic control unit, or ECU. Cracks in soldered joints or electrical shorts could cause the engines to shut down without warning or fail to start, Toyota said.

Federal investigators are trying to determine whether electronic controls are also responsible for some of the sudden, unintended acceleration incidents that led to Toyota’s massive recalls.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Toyota, NHTSA to investigate engine stall in Corollas

All cars manufactured these days rely less on mechanical systems for most of their functions and more on sophisticated electronic microcontrollers, which form the vehicle’s brains and govern basic functions such as throttle or speed. These complex devices, however, can be scrambled by radioactive particles from outer space.

The idea may sound like sound like science fiction, but the ability of these particles to hit the earth’s surface and interfere with many types of electronic equipment is a dangerous reality, often referred to as “single event upsets” (SEU).

These electronic disruptions are not easily detected, and historically they have occurred at high altitudes in aircraft or spacecraft, which have evolved to include highly redundant protection systems.

The auto industry, however, is still susceptible to cosmic radiation, especially since the electronic controllers in cars and trucks have become increasingly smaller and require less voltage to operate.

Researchers from Toyota, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and independent consulting firms are examining the electronic systems in Toyotas that have been involved in sudden acceleration incidents. So far nobody has been able to determine exactly how the electronic controls may be compromised in Lexus, Camry, Avalon, Corolla, and other popular Toyota vehicles.

Most of the testing has been focused on software logic or programming errors. Electromagnetic interference is another possibility that researchers are  investigating. Current tests aren’t being conducted for SEUs, but that may change as the theory gains wider recognition.

Toyota could very likely be using electronic components and/or software that is more prone to SEU interference than other auto makers. Scientists familiar with SEU say that it could explain the seemingly random nature of sudden acceleration incidents and the difficulty researchers have had so far in finding a glitch.

Read the NHTSA Submission on Sea-level SEU Phenomenon.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Can cosmic rays compromise Toyota’s electronic systems?

But now the veil is being pulled from the successful legacy Watanabe so proudly designed and showcased, exposing an alarming betrayal of all the very things that made Toyota great — its dedication to quality, the reliability and safety of its cars, and customer satisfaction. Toyota’s success had been solidly rooted in a distinctly Japanese brand of honor and integrity. But Watanabe changed all that.

Watanabe adopted a new model for Toyota, one that involved a lot of cost-cutting, streamlining, and shortcutting, a model that represented a radical departure from the company’s historical focus on quality. He implemented cost-cutting measures that squeezed $10 billion over a six-year period in an initiative called “Construction of Cost Competitiveness in the 21st Century.”

“Under CCC21 activities, which I led, Toyota realized cost reductions of more than 200 billion yen ($2.2 billion) a year on a consolidated basis,” Watanabe told investors.

But Watanabe didn’t stop there. He implemented an even more aggressive “Value Innovation” program that dramatically reduced costs across the board. He lowered development budgets by outsourcing key designs and he trimmed parts and production costs even further. Cutting costs to increase profits became Watanabe’s obsession.

Meanwhile, alarmed by the company’s abandonment of high standards, six Toyota employees mustered the courage to confront company executives with a memo stating their apprehension.

“We are concerned about the processes which are essential for producing safe cars, but that ultimately may be ignored, with production continued in the name of competition,” the Oct. 2006 memo read.

The employees warned Toyota that it was concocting what could quickly become its own demise.

Just weeks after Akio Toyoda assumed the company’s reigns in June, Toyota’s handling of reported sudden acceleration complaints became front-page news. First there was the horrific and publicly profiled death of California Highway Patrolman Mark Saylor and three of his family members in a rented Lexus that had accelerated out of control to 120 mph before crashing and burning.

After the Saylor incident, a number of other sudden acceleration incidents came to light as new incidents were being reported around the country. Recall after recall, Toyota’s problems began to snowball.

Perhaps Akio Toyoda was casting an eye at Watanabe when he told a press conference last August that the company his grandfather had founded in the 1930s was “capitulating towards irrelevance or death.” Those words seemed so strong at the time, perhaps a little too harsh. But now it’s easier to see why Toyoda chose them.

When Toyota started putting profits over the safety of its customers, it set in motion a trend that, as profitable as it once was,  has begun to unravel. And nobody really knows where it will stop.

Some analysts say that the $10 billion Watanabe saved Toyota will likely be paid back out and more in the form of costly recall repairs and safety upgrades, legal defense expenses, and court settlements, not to mention any costs incurred in car redesigns or reclaiming the old processes Toyota had in place before one president’s obsession to become number one led him to sacrifice quality and integrity.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Toyota sacrificed quality in its race to become number one

Toyota

Exposure to road salt caused the frames of some Tundras to corrode in the rear section. Rusting and general corrosion of the rear crossmember could cause spare tires and gas tanks to separate from the frame and fall off of the vehicles. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, not only can parts drop off the trucks and create a serious road hazard to other drivers, but rear brake lines and the proportioning valve could be affected as well, resulting in diminished braking capability.

Toyota representatives have not yet announced how many Tundras will be covered by the expanded recall. Owners of Tundras currently registered in the other 30 states will be contacted by Toyota beginning in the middle of March.

In its advice to owners of the Tundras included in the November 16 recall, Toyota recommended removing the spare tire from under the vehicle until a remedy could be found and implemented. Dealers in 20 states have been inspecting the rear crossmembers and the potentially affected components on the recalled Toyotas and replacing them when necessary. Any crossmembers that are not replaced are sprayed with a corrosion protection compound.

Repairs to a corroded frame could require multiple visits to the dealer and take as long as 7 hours.

Toyota hasn’t explained yet why it is now including all Tundras in the recall, but consumer complaints suggest that the problem persists in areas not included in the original recall.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Toyota expands Tundra recall to 30 more states

Police in the town of Harrison, New York, just north of New York City, say that the 2005 silver-gray Prius accelerated suddenly, shot across the street, and careened into a stone wall. According to police at the scene, the woman was fortunate to have escaped serious injury because damage to the car was extensive. Investigators haven’t been able to determine yet how fast the car might have been traveling when it collided with the wall.

Police at the scene said the woman was not disoriented in any way and nothing about the crash suggested driver error. The driver said that she had stepped on the gas pedal just a little as she was about to pull out of the driveway when the car suddenly took off.

According to the Associated Press, a regional Toyota official wanted to take possession of the car but the police weren’t prepared to release it. Captain Anthony Marraccini of the Harrison Police Department told the AP that he thought federal investigators should investigate first.

“This involved potentially a great safety hazard and could be something of national interest,” Capt. Marraccini told the AP.

The New York incident was just one of a growing number of sudden unintended acceleration incidents being reported by Toyota drivers, despite the recall repairs.

Last Friday, an employee of a San Diego dealership was driving his 2006 Lexus IS 350 when he tapped the gas pedal to hurry through a yellow light. When he removed his foot, however, the car continued to accelerate. The driver shifted to neutral and stepped on the accelerator pedal three times before the engine stopped racing. That car is being held until federal investigators can examine it next week.

On Monday, James Sikes was driving his 2008 Prius on Interstate 8 near San Diego Monday when the car suddenly accelerated to speeds approaching 100 mph. After 20 minutes of racing along the highway at harrowing speeds, Sikes was able to bring his car to stop with the help of a highway patrol officer who drove alongside him, suggesting ways to slow the vehicle through a loudspeaker. The floor mat was found properly secured in Sikes’ Prius and thus incapable of jamming the gas pedal.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Prius drivers continue to experience sudden acceleration

The documents reference “Books of Knowledge,” highly confidential data from Toyota engineers about the safety of the vehicles that includes references to reports of sudden and unintentional acceleration. Biller made the information public just as a U.S. House committee launched its investigation into the major car company. “The material, I must admit, is very, very disturbing,” Rep. Edolphus Towns told CNN.

The congressional investigation was launched earlier this year to determine whether Toyota responded quickly enough to reports from consumers that their Toyota vehicles were speeding out of control. At least 43 fatal crashes have been linked to sudden and unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles. Toyota first addressed the problem last fall and placed blame on floor mats which the car company said was causing gas pedals to stick. That alert was followed by a recall of 8.5 million Toyota vehicles worldwide to replace and modify brake pedals and override software to automatically reduce the engine to idle when both the brake and the accelerator are depressed.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Former Toyota lawyer claims car company covered up safety issues

According to news reports, a 56-year-old woman was pulling out of a driveway Tuesday morning when her 2005 Toyota Prius suddenly sped out of control, carrying her across a roadway until she crashed into a stone wall.  The woman, whose name has not been released, received minor injuries in the crash and was take to a local hospital for treatment.

Monday, 61-year-old James Sikes dialed 911 when his 2008 Toyota Prius suddenly began racing out of control on a California highway near San Diego. He reached speeds of 94 miles per hour before a California Highway Patrol officer was able to help him bring the car to a stop. The police officer pulled alongside the speeding vehicle and shouted instructions to Sikes to help him figure out how to stop the runaway car.

Finally, a combination of standing on the brakes and pulling the emergency brake slowed the car to about 50 miles an hour, and then Sikes was able to stop the vehicle. Thankfully, he was able to avoid a crash and was not injured.

Both crashes are the latest bad news in a string of woes for Toyota, which has recalled more than 9 million vehicles to date, most for problems with unintended acceleration. They have blamed a large portion of the problem on improperly fitting floor mats, which they say can trap the accelerator pedal. Other sudden unintended acceleration incidents are being blamed on a “sticky” accelerator pedal.

Model year 2004 through 2009 Prius vehicles are included in the floor mat recall. However, in the case in New York, news reports say investigators found the vehicle’s floor mats had been secured to the seat with plastic ties to prevent the mat from sliding under and entrapping the pedal. In the case in California, Mr. Sikes reports he was able to reach under the pedal during the acceleration incident, and it was not trapped by the floor mat. He had taken the vehicle to a dealer already as part of the recall, and was told the car was not on the recall list.

Toyota has sent investigators to examine both of the Prius vehicles involved in these incidents.

Independent investigators of sudden unintended acceleration incidents are skeptical of Toyota’s claims that floor mats or sticky pedals are to blame. They assert the fault lies with the cars’ electrical systems. The fact that sudden unintended acceleration incidents are still occurring, even in vehicles that have undergone the recall-required “fixes,” seems to support this suspicion.

Sources:
USA Today
New York Daily News
New York Times

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Second Prius runaway follows on heels of Monday incident

Just hours after Toyota executives finished a presentation Monday about how an electronic malfunction couldn’t be the cause of the sudden, unintended acceleration problems in its cars, another incident occurred that confirmed the opposite.

This time, 61-year-old James Sikes was driving his 2008 Prius on Interstate 8 near San Diego when the car suddenly accelerated to speeds approaching 100 mph.

“I pushed the gas pedal to pass a car and it did something kind of funny. It jumped and it just stuck there,” Mr. Sikes told reporters gathered for a news conference.

“I was trying the brakes … it wasn’t stopping. It wasn’t doing anything and it just kept speeding up,” Mr. Sikes said.

Sikes managed to call 911 while he continued to race along the highway at speeds of 94 mph. Twenty minutes later, a highway patrol officer pulled up next to Sikes and gave him instructions through a loudspeaker on ways he might be able to stop the car.

First the officer told Sikes to turn off the ignition and shift to neutral, but Mr. Sikes motioned to the officer that neither measure was working. The officer then told Sikes to apply the brakes simultaneously with the parking brake, which slowed the vehicle to about 50 mph. Sikes was then able to slow the Prius to a stop.

During the incident, Sikes was able to reach his hand to the gas pedal to determine whether the pedal was jammed, but there was no interference from the floor mat. Police did a visual inspection after the incident and confirmed the floor mat was securely in place.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Toyota both dispatched investigators and engineers to examine the car, which was held by the California Highway Patrol overnight and taken to a Toyota dealer in El Cajon on Tuesday.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › NHTSA, Toyota examining runaway Prius for electronic defects

Toyota owners

Under the recalls, Toyota is replacing floor mats, replacing and modifying brake pedals, and removing floor padding. On some models, the car maker also is adding brake override software to automatically reduce the engine to idle when both the brake and the accelerator are depressed simultaneously.

NHTSA says it is investigating the reports and has already started contacting consumers about the complaints in order to “get to the bottom of the problem and to make sure Toyota is doing everything possible to make its vehicles safe,” says David Strickland, NHTSA administrator.

The investigation is of little comfort to one consumer, who filed an anonymous complaint with NHTSA about his Toyota. He says his vehicle was repaired on February 12, but five days later it accelerated up a snow bank. “Had the incident happened one minute earlier, I would have been in a high car/pedestrian area and would not have been able to avoid an accident,” the complaint read.

That consumer says his car received the special brake override software as part of the recall. “The fix done by Toyota is not the fix for the acceleration problem,” according to the complaint.

Source: Los Angeles Times

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Toyota owners say repairs didn’t fix their unintended acceleration problem

One such owner, Stewart Stogel of Mt. Vernon, New York, who did not file a complaint with the NHTSA, told the AP that his 2009 Camry accelerated suddenly five days after having the recall repairs made.

Stogel’s Camry had already experienced sudden acceleration twice before the repairs were made, and both times he took the car to his dealership to be fixed. After one incident, a corporate technician from Toyota inspected the car but found nothing wrong.

Stogel says that he nearly drove over an embankment and into a wall before the engine suddenly disengaged. After this latest incident, he left a message to Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. President Jim Lentz, who testified last week before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Lentz has publicly stated he is confident that Toyota vehicles have no problems with their electronic throttle controls.

Another Toyota driver, Carolyn Kimbrell, of Whitesville, Kentucky, told the AP that her 2006 Toyota Avalon accelerated suddenly while she was driving with her 9-year-old granddaughter in the car with her.

Just a week before, Kimbrell had taken her car to the dealership to have a metal shim installed in the throttle assembly – a measure taken to prevent pedals from sticking. Her car wasn’t covered by the floor mat recall, but her dealer agreed to perform that repair after Kimbrell reported the sudden acceleration incident, according to the AP story.

Kimbrell told the AP that she remains doubtful that either repair fixed the problem. “It just scares you,” she told the AP.

Also adding to Toyota’s woes is a wave of new acceleration complaints to federal regulators involving car models not covered under the current recalls. NHTSA has received more than 730 reports in the last six weeks of sudden unintended acceleration in these non-recalled vehicles, indicating that none of Toyota’s current “fixes” are solving the problem.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Toyota owners describe acceleration incidents after recall repairs

“If Toyota owners are still experiencing sudden acceleration incidents after taking their cars to the dealership, we want to know about it,” NHTSA Administrator David Strickland said in a statement Wednesday.

Like Toyota, the federal agency has come under fire for issues relating to poor quality and performance. The NHTSA is currently being investigated for its handling of Toyota defects and recalls. Many lawmakers and consumer advocates assert that the NHTSA failed in its mission to protect the American public, the sole purpose of its existence.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood appeared before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee last week to defend his agency’s handling of the reported defects affecting Toyota vehicles. Unfortunately, LaHood offered little more than hollow assurances that NHTSA had performed adequately when it hadn’t. LaHood’s defensive posturing helps explain why NHTSA has now shifted into overdrive in its overdue efforts to, as Strickland put it, “get to the bottom of the problem.”

Toyota has recalled nearly 9 million vehicles to make minor mechanical alterations to floor mats and gas pedals – parts that the company views as the culprits in the sudden acceleration incidents. However, NHTSA continues to receive reports of vehicles accelerating uncontrollably after the recall repairs have been performed – the same repairs in which Toyota executives publicly expressed such confidence.

NHTSA has received reports involving a 2007 Camry, a 2010 Camry, a 2009 Matrix, and a 2008 Avalon accelerating suddenly and unintentionally after, according to their owners, the vehicles had been been repaired by dealerships under the safety recalls. The agency now has on record 43 fatal crashes linked to sudden acceleration resulting in 52 deaths and 38 injuries. Two-thirds of the incidents have been reported since Toyota first launched recalls last fall for sudden acceleration.

NHTSA also announced that it has acquired the Lexus formerly owned by Rhonda and Eddie Smith. Mrs. Smith testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee last week about her sudden unintended acceleration experience while driving the Lexus, which at the time had less than 3,000 miles on it. The Smiths told committee members that the acceleration occurred without interference of the floor mat or a sticking accelerator pedal.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › NHTSA contacts Toyota drivers who report post-repair sudden acceleration incidents

Physically, Smith was fine, but there was never a resolution to the problem. The Smiths say they contacted the car maker but didn’t get any help from Toyota or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). “We were called liars,” Smith said during her testimony. “(Toyota) demonstrated an uncaring attitude and disregard for life.”

It wasn’t until last fall that Toyota began addressing complaints of sudden and unintended acceleration, placing the blame on floor mats that were causing the gas pedals to stick and issuing a recall of about 4 million vehicles to fix the problem. That alert was followed by a recall of millions more Toyota vehicles due to  what the manufacturer claimed were “sticky” accelerator pedals. To date, more than 8.5 million vehicles worldwide have been recalled. Many say the recall has come too late. At least 43 fatal crashes have now been linked to sudden and unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles.

Hearings on the Toyota sudden and unintended acceleration continue this week in the Senate, as Toyota officials assure lawmakers that they were taking steps to rectify the problem and to restore customer confidence.

Source, USA Today

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Lexus driver recalls terrifying day her car ran out of control

In a letter addressed to Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. president James Lentz, Committee chairman Henry Waxman and subcommittee chairman Bart Stupak accused the auto manufacturer of consistently dismissing the possibility that electronic failures could be at fault for sudden unintended acceleration incidents. The Committee said that Toyota based its conclusions on a recent report that contains “serious flaws” in its analysis of potential electronic causes.

The Committee also claims that Toyota “made misleading public statements concerning the adequacy of recent recalls to address the risk of sudden unintended acceleration.”

Legislators have demanded that Toyota provide internal communications and other documents pertaining to the sudden acceleration problem and recalls. Toyota complied by releasing 75,000 pages of documents.

In its letter to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, the Committee expressed concern that the NHTSA’s investigations were incompetent.

“It appears that N.H.T.S.A. lacks the expertise needed to evaluate defects in vehicle electronic controls, and its response to complaints of sudden unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles appears to have been seriously deficient,” the letter states.

Interestingly, in one of the documents Toyota furnished to Congress, the auto manufacturer said that it faced a “more challenging” regulatory environment under the Obama administration. The statement seems to indicate that the company braced itself, knowing that the new administration would not be as willing to overlook potentially fatal defects.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing today, Feb. 23, at 11 a.m. ET. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will begin its hearing on February 24 at 11 a.m. ET. Beasley Allen attorney Graham Esdale, who has been a leader in the investigations into Toyota unintended acceleration, will attend the hearings. He is calling for an expanded recall to include earlier Toyota models not included in recent recalls.

The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee has planned a similar hearing for March 2.

Toyota’s sudden acceleration complaints are also being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › congress says Toyota deceptive and NHTSA incompetent

TrueCar says it is too early to fully measure the impact the Toyota recalls will have on the automotive industry, but meanwhile the service has been analyzing Web traffic patterns on its Web site TrueCar.com. Since visitors to the site are in the market for a new car, the service says it can identify trends that “give us clues about how shopping behavior is changing in the marketplace.”

TrueCar reports that Web traffic for the recalled Toyota models fell by 46 percent and traffic for all other Toyota models fell by 16 percent. Overall, visits to TrueCar’s Toyota pages are down 25 percent. The data shows that other car manufacturers are reaping the benefits of Toyota’s slide. Hundai showed a 35 percent increase; Kia, a 20 percent increase; and Ford, 14 percent increase in traffic since before the Toyota recalls. Honda and Nissan enjoyed a small increase of 4 and 3 percent, respectively.

Another car-trend follower, CarGurus, says that Ford and Chevrolet generated the most traffic on its sites for the 10 days following the main Toyota recall. It saw a drop of 6 to 16 percent on its Toyota vehicle sites.

Sources:
True Car
Fox News
CarGurus

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Consumers researching Toyota less, other brands more

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said yesterday that it has received 168 complaints from Corolla owners concerning steering problems. The drivers say that their Corollas became “unresponsive or loose while driving at highway speeds.” Eight crashes and 11 injuries tied to the Corolla’s alleged steering defect have been reported.

The investigation and possible recall encompass half a million Corollas – 363,000 Corollas from the 2009 model year and 136,000 from 2010.

Many of the 2009-2010 Corollas with the potential steering defect are also included in Toyota’s sticking accelerator pedal recall, and all of them are included in the floor mat / gas pedal entrapment safety recall.

Once Toyota’s poster child for quality and affordability, the Corolla now seems to represent everything that can wrong with the brand. Sudden, unintended acceleration, sticking gas pedals, and now a loss of steering all seem to represent an across-the-board breakdown of the quality and performance that has made millions of Americans loyal Toyota owners.

The NHTSA’s Corolla investigation represents its fifth active probe of Toyota vehicles. The size and scope of the Toyota recalls have also prompted a series of investigations and hearings on Capitol Hill. Legislators are trying to determine how adequately and honestly Toyota executives responded to reports of sudden, unintended acceleration while the NHTSA investigates possible electronic defects in the recalled models.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › New Corolla recall, investigation looms for Toyota

“The first thing you know is that when Exponent is brought in to help a company, that company is in big trouble,” environmental consultant Cindy Sage told the Los Angeles Times.

Sage specializes in electromagnetic interference, which many safety experts and industry professionals believe could be the cause of Toyota’s sudden, unintended acceleration problem.

According to its web site, Exponent prides itself on providing “in-depth scientific research and analysis” of a broad range of subjects such as terrorist bombs, hurricane damage, nuclear generator core failure, and secondhand smoke “in extremely short time frames.”

Faced with an escalating number of personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits that allege sudden, unintentional acceleration caused vehicular crashes, Toyota is starting to fortify its defense and cast doubt that electronics contribute to the widespread acceleration problems.

But many engineers, safety and industry experts, attorneys, and academics criticize Exponent’s work, asserting that the company “tends to deliver to clients the reports they need to mount a public defense,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

Stanton Glantz, a UC San Francisco cardiologist who keeps tabs on the tobacco industry, is familiar with Exponent’s work and is surprised that Toyota chose the company to compile a report on the alleged electronic throttle problems.

“If I were Toyota, I wouldn’t have picked somebody like Exponent to do analysis. I would have picked a firm with more of a reputation of neutrality,” Glantz told the Los Angeles Times.

Exponent has compiled a 56-page report that attempts to clear the electronic throttle from culpability in the sudden acceleration cases. Toyota steadfastly insists that the sudden acceleration accidents are isolated incidents caused by driver error, floor mat interference with the accelerator pedal, or faulty sticking gas pedal mechanisms. The company staunchly denies that electronics could play a role in the acceleration incidents.

Mike Gaulke, Exponent’s executive chairman and an 18-year veteran of the company, defended Exponent’s credibility, telling the Los Angeles Times that it often found results that clients did not want to hear, but could not mention any specific examples.

Gaulke also told the Times that 65% of the company’s revenue comes from materials for litigation.

Exponent’s Toyota study compared the performance of six 2002-2008 model year Toyota and Lexus vehicles to a Honda Accord, concluding that the electronic throttle behaved normally when researchers tried to disrupt its normal function.

The Exponent study did not include sophisticated tests for electromagnetic interference of the electronic system. It simply denies an electronic problem exists because it couldn’t be replicated in the test vehicles.

SOURCE: Toyota Recall › Critics question the credibility of new Toyota report

Toyota Motor Sales, USA,

In an effort to pacify angered dealers, Toyota apologized and says it plans to launch a flashy new ad campaign and possibly offer discounts or longer warranties to make the vehicles more appealing to reluctant buyers. The details of such programs have yet to be announced, but some say buyer incentives could be available as early as next month. �