News story about Toyota's recall. Watch at your own risk.

Complaints about unintended acceleration ignored?

As the U.S. Congress gears up to delve into Toyota Motor Corp's massive global vehicle recall, the question they face is whether the automaker and regulators misread or ignored rising consumer complaints, which rose sharply from model years 2002 to 2007, a period when Toyota expanded its use of electronic throttle controls, according to an analysis of data compiled by Safety Research and Strategies.

Potentially more worrying for regulators and consumers is that more than half of the 2,262 complaints compiled by Safety Research do not involve the more than 8 million vehicles that Toyota has recalled for problems with either floor mats, which can trap a gas pedal, a mechanical glitch in the accelerator, which can cause the pedal to become stuck, or a problem with the electronic braking system.

Safety advocates and lawyers for a Michigan woman killed in a high-speed wreck in April 2008 argue that evidence suggests electronic throttle controls are at fault, not floor mats or sticky pedals. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in early February it would review the past probes that found no problems with electronic throttle systems even though complaints had grown steadily during times of those reviews.

What appears crucial is the role of Toyota and U.S. regulators in narrowing the focus of earlier safety investigations. In one case Chris Santucci, a former U.S. safety regulator hired by Toyota in 2003, played a role in discussions with NHTSA during a 2004 probe in which the agency sharply narrowed the scope of its inquiry, according to his deposition in a lawsuit seeking damages from the Michigan crash. The substance of the discussions between the Toyota representatives and NHTSA investigators was unclear. In that instance, NHTSA agreed to exclude from consideration reports of uncontrolled acceleration in Toyota vehicles where the incident lasted more than a few seconds or the driver hit the brakes.

As a result, Toyota did not provide information to the U.S. government about reports it had taken about such cases. Under the narrower scope of the investigation, NHTSA eliminated nearly all of the 260 complaints it received and closed the investigation without taking action in July 2004. Toyota defended Santucci, saying "Mr. Santucci has an exemplary professional reputation that he earned by working diligently on safety issues at NHTSA as well as here at Toyota," spokeswoman Martha Voss said in a statement.

"Industry professionals across the spectrum who know Mr. Santucci would agree that any insinuation that he violated federal ethics laws or that he did not live up to the highest professional standards is reckless and without merit." Critics say NHTSA has a number of tools that have gone unused. Supporters say regulators are overwhelmed by 30,000 complaints per year and a mandate that forces them to confront deep-pocketed automakers loaded with engineers, technical analysts, lawyers and political muscle.

Two U.S. House of Representatives committees want to examine the government's response to the Toyota recalls and get a better understanding of what is behind unintended acceleration. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, NHTSA Administrator David Strickland and Toyota's top North American executive Yoshi Inaba are due to testify at one hearing on February 24. The second is also expected to draw a heavyweight witness list.

Toyota recalling Prius for brake problem

TOYOTA CITY, Japan (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp, which has recalled more than 8 million vehicles around the world for problems with unintended acceleration, has decided to recall its new Prius hybrid in Japan to fix a braking software glitch, a dealer said Sunday.

I didn't know there was such a thing as "braking software." Shouldn't the brakes just work when, you know, you hit the brake pedal? Why does this now require a computer to intervene?

Safety regulators in both the United States and Japan, the biggest markets for Toyota's Prius, are investigating braking problems with the car that is a top seller in Japan and an icon of green design that has lifted the public image of Toyota. Well, at least it used to. Toyota said last week it planned to make a final decision on whether to issue a recall or voluntary repair as soon as possible. Such a recall could come in the next few days. Toyota's president apologized Friday for safety problems.

"I would like to take this opportunity to apologize from the bottom of my heart for causing many of our customers concern after the recalls across several models in several regions," Akio Toyoda, the grandson of Toyota's founder, told a news conference in Nagoya. He said the company would make an announcement on the Prius soon.

U.S. automaker Ford Motor Co last week decided to roll out a software patch for consumers to address similar problems with braking on the Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan models. It said it notified its dealers of the problem in October, but not the public because it did not believe the glitch represented a brake failure. I guess they think what we don't know can't hurt us. Toyota officials were not immediately available to comment.

Toyota has come under intense scrutiny, with U.S. safety authorities and members of the Obama administration accusing it of responding too slowly on problems related to uncontrolled acceleration that have been linked to up to 19 crash deaths in the United States over the past decade. Japan's Transport Minister Seiji Maehara said Friday he believed Toyota would take a unified measure on the Prius across the world.

Japan's Yomiuri newspaper reported Sunday that Toyota had considered voluntarily fixing the cars but chose a recall instead in the hope of restoring public trust. Since its launch last May, Toyota has sold over 300,000 of the newest version of the Prius worldwide, including around 200,000 in Japan, 103,200 in the United States and 29,000 in Europe.

Quick video about Toyota Hybrids.

MoreToyotas to get fix for sudden acceleration

Toyota Says More Models Might Get Fix for Acceleration

Toyota said on Friday that it might expand the number of models that will receive a braking override system designed to prevent sudden acceleration, a problem that led the company to recall millions of cars.
Separately, Toyota announced that it planned to recall about 8,000 2010 model Toyota Tacomas to inspect the trucks’ front driveshaft. The trucks, equipped with 4-wheel drive, might contain a cracked part that could become more damaged when the vehicle is driven.

The disclosure about the brake override system came in a letter from Theodore M. Hester, a lawyer representing Toyota, to the House Oversight and Government Affairs Committee, one of three Congressional panels that plans to hold hearings on the recalls. The House committee originally planned a hearing this week on Toyota’s problems, but it was rescheduled for Feb. 24.

Last week, the committee’s chairman, Representative Edolphus Towns, Democrat of New York, sent Toyota a list of questions about a series of recalls that have expanded to cover more than nine million Toyota vehicles worldwide. That includes 2.3 million vehicles recalled because their accelerator pedals could stick. Toyota also has recalled millions of vehicles because their floor mats could become entangled in the pedals, and has recalled its 2010 Prius and other hybrids for problems with their antilock brakes.

Toyota had said it would install a brake override system on some Camry, Avalon and Lexus cars that automatically reduces an open throttle, meant as a safeguard against unintended acceleration. The system is scheduled to be standard equipment on most Toyota and Lexus vehicles next year. Again, a day late and a dollar short. Thanks, Toyota!

Toyota says it is “actively identifying” more models that could be reprogrammed and might expand the models involved. Toyota also said it had hired Exponent, an engineering consulting firm, to examine whether the electronic systems on its vehicles were responsible for sudden unintended acceleration. Some analysts, dealers and customers think the systems might be at fault, which Toyota has denied. (Unsurprisingly, I might add.) Toyota reported that Exponent’s engineers found that its vehicles “performed as designed”. Which begs the question, what exactly were they designed to do?

Lawsuits Over Accidents and Lost Value Could Cost Toyota Billions

(Newser) – The legal circus surrounding Toyota’s admitted safety issues has just begun, and could end up tacking billions more onto the final cost of the recall. Lawsuits are rolling in, and mainly fall into two camps: those seeking damages for accidents that may have been preventable, and those seeking compensation for value lost because of Toyota’s admissions. “You don't think you're damaged, try to sell your Toyota,” the leader of a class-action suit says.

The lawyer tells the Los Angeles Times that a survey of recently amended Kelley Blue Book values, compared with the number of Toyotas recalled, puts the company’s liability at around $2.1 billion. Damages for accidents could soar as well, and in both cases a payout would be increased if the company was proved to have known about the issues. Add hostile juries, and the legal situation gets bleaker. Still, a professor says, “$1 billion or $2 billion or even $3 billion” is “not catastrophic” to a firm of Toyota’s size.

Lawsuits Over Accidents and Lost Value Could Cost Toyota Billions

NPR: Previous Toyota Complaints Being Scrutinized

Here's a transcript of the story. The report of a woman's power steering not working properly, sending her Toyota off the road, was particularly alarming. You can listen to the story here.

RENEE MONTAGNE, host:

This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Im Renee Montagne.

STEVE INSKEEP, host:

And Im Steve Inskeep. Toyotas admission of safety problems with its cars is now prompting more reports of safety problems. Its another sign of an automakers shifting reputation. The company was known for reliable vehicles. Now all the negative attention has prompted a lot of people to question their cars. In a moment, we'll ask about the safety of sophisticated electronics in cars.

We start with NPRs Chris Arnold.

CHRIS ARNOLD: Reports of sticky gas pedals and other problems have a lot of people worried about driving their Toyotas. But the odds are you have a much greater chance, for example, of getting hit and killed by a school bus than by dying in a crash due to a stuck accelerator in a Toyota. Still, a glitch that appears to have sent even a very small number of cars careening off the road at high speed is serious and scary and it definitely got this countrys attention.

(Soundbite of news broadcast)

Unidentified Man: Toyota has a problem. The cars of those so called runaway Toyotas, cars taking off on their own, up to a 100 miles an hour, was still under

(Soundbite of news broadcast)

Unidentified Woman: Becky Lane(ph) was coming down Main Street here, her car speeding out of control. She turned in here

ARNOLD: Toyota is not the only company to have complaints about whats called sudden unintended acceleration. Ford has had complaints too. Honda is now facing a safety issue involving air bags. With 300 million people in the U.S., all kinds of complaints have been filed about all the major carmakers. Federal safety regulators have 40 active investigations; only three of those 40 involved Toyota, but now everybody is watching Toyota, and all the scrutiny will undoubtedly turn up some more problems.

Ms. REBECCA LINDLAND (IHS Global Insight): There is definitely more that could be coming out.

ARNOLD: Thats Rebecca Lindland, an auto analyst at IHS Global Insight. She says more people are now digging through Toyota-related complaints filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or NHTSA.

Ms. LINDLAND: We just received an alert from Automotive News, saying that NHTSA is fielding complaints about 2009 and 2010 Toyota Corolla power steering issues.

ARNOLD: Earlier this week, this article on the auto trade press had federal safety regulators fielding lots of calls from reporters. The article found some very dramatic sounding complaints from Corolla drivers about the power steering.

Ms. LINDLAND: And so there's a woman that wrote on - this is the most terrifying thing that has ever happened to me in my life as well as my grandchildren. She said her Corolla veered on its own to the right, hurtling down a cliff and hit a tree and a fence. So again, this is just coming out now. We havent even really had time to fully investigate.

ARNOLD: But when you dig into the complaints some more, the problem doesnt sound quite as dramatic. David Champion is the director of automobile testing for Consumer Reports.

Mr. DAVID CHAMPION (Consumer Reports): Yes, I think the, you know, that one complaint does sound very alarmist. But I read through all the complaints last night.

ARNOLD: After reviewing the 83 complaints about Corollas, Champion says it does sound like there is probably some kind of an issue. Many of the Corolla drivers said it was basically hard to keep the car from drifting out of its lane on the highway.

Mr. CHAMPION: When we tested the vehicle in 2009, we thought the steering was a little vague on center and overly light, which may not fit everybodys liking. Although there may be some variability that causes some vehicles to be more prone to this wander and uneasy feeling driving down the highway.

ARNOLD: Champion says Toyota should look into this, but he says it doesnt sound particularly more serious than lots of other issues that all the automakers deal with.

Mr. CHAMPION: The average car today is a very, very complex vehicle. You know, its supposed to work perfectly well in the, you know, the streets of Phoenix in the middle of the summer. Its supposed to work extremely well in, you know, really cold climates up in Alaska and everything in between. And its amazing in some ways that we dont have more problems.

ARNOLD: Champion says Toyota has always built high quality and safe vehicles. Still, there are plenty of people who think that there are more shoes to drop at Toyota. One outstanding question is whether the company has recalled enough cars. One safety groups says it believes that the recalls so far do not include some models and years where drivers have reported acceleration problems.

Chris Arnold, NPR News.

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