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.