2009–2010 Toyota vehicle recalls
Encyclopedia
Three separate but related recall
s of automobile
s by Toyota Motor Corporation occurred at the end of 2009 and start of 2010. Toyota initiated the recalls, the first two with the assistance of the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA), after reports that several vehicles experienced unintended acceleration
. The first recall, on November 2, 2009, was to correct a possible incursion of an incorrect or out-of-place front driver's side floor mat into the foot pedal
well, which can cause pedal entrapment. The second recall, on January 21, 2010, was begun after some crashes were shown not to have been caused by floor mat incursion. This latter defect was identified as a possible mechanical sticking of the accelerator pedal causing unintended acceleration, referred to as Sticking Accelerator Pedal by Toyota. The original action was initiated by Toyota in their Defect Information Report, dated October 5, 2009, amended January 27, 2010. Following the floor mat and accelerator pedal recalls, Toyota also issued a separate recall for hybrid anti-lock brake software in February 2010.
As of January 28, 2010, Toyota had announced recalls of approximately 5.2 million vehicles for the pedal entrapment/floor mat problem, and an additional 2.3 million vehicles for the accelerator pedal problem. Approximately 1.7 million vehicles are subject to both. Certain related Lexus
and Pontiac
models were also affected. The next day, Toyota widened the recall to include 1.8 million vehicles in Europe and 75,000 in China. By then, the worldwide total number of cars recalled by Toyota stood at 9 million. Sales of multiple recalled models were suspended for several weeks as a result of the accelerator pedal recall, with the vehicles awaiting replacement parts. As of January 2010, 21 deaths were alleged due the pedal problem since 2000, but following the January 28 recall, additional NHTSA complaints brought the alleged total to 37. The number of alleged victims and reported problems sharply increased following the recall announcements, which were heavily covered by U.S. media, although the causes of individual reports were difficult to verify. Government officials, automotive experts, Toyota, and members of the general public contested the scope of the sudden acceleration issue and the veracity of victim and problem reports. Various parties attributed sudden unintended acceleration reports to mechanical, electric, and driver error causes. Some US owners that had their recalled vehicles repaired still reported accelerator pedal issues, leading to investigations and the finding of improper repairs. The recalls further led to additional NHTSA and Toyota investigations, along with multiple lawsuits.
On February 8, 2011, the NHTSA, in collaboration with NASA
, released its findings into the investigation on the Toyota drive-by-wire throttle system. After a 10 month search, NASA and NHTSA scientists found no electronic defect in Toyota vehicles. Driver error or pedal misapplication was found responsible for most of the incidents. The report ended stating, "Our conclusion is Toyota's problems were mechanical, not electrical." This included sticking accelerator pedals, and pedals caught under floor mats.
On August 28, 2009, a two-car collision killed four people riding in a Lexus dealer-provided loaner ES 350 in San Diego, California
. The NHTSA released a safety investigation report on October 25, finding that the accident vehicle was wrongly fitted with all-weather rubber floor mats meant for the RX 400h
SUV, and that these mats were not secured by either of the two retaining clips. The brake hardware also showed signs of heavy braking consistent with a stuck accelerator pedal. The report stated that the accelerator pedal's hinge did not allow relieving obstructions, and the dashboard lacked directions for the three-second emergency press of the push button keyless ignition. NHTSA investigators also recovered the accident vehicle's accelerator pedal, which was still "bonded" to the SUV floor mat. The return spring action of the accelerator pedal was found to be "smooth and unencumbered."
Another investigation conducted by the San Diego County Sheriff's Department
found that three days prior to the crash another customer had complained to the dealership about the floor mat trapping the same loaner car's accelerator pedal while driving. The prior driver had switched to neutral and tugged on the floor mat, which released the accelerator.
On November 2, 2009, the NHTSA denied a petition to reopen previously closed unintended acceleration investigations of Toyota vehicles, stating they had already been thoroughly investigated making it unlikely for the NHTSA to reach any new conclusions. Later that day Toyota issued a voluntary recall of 3.8 million vehicles, with a letter sent to owners asking them to remove the driver floor mat and not replace it with any other type of mat. In its November 2, 2009 recall announcement, Toyota appeared to claim the floor mats were solely at fault, stating, "The question of unintended acceleration involving Toyota and Lexus vehicles has been repeatedly and thoroughly investigated by NHTSA, without any finding of defect other than the risk from an unsecured or incompatible driver’s floor mat", but the NHTSA issued another statement stating, "This matter is not closed until Toyota has effectively addressed the defect", the letter was “inaccurate and misleading", and that, "removal of the floor mats is simply an interim measure, not a remedy of the underlying defect in the vehicles."
Toyota UK states that the floor mat recall affects US models only.
vehicles sold in North America. Toyota will reconfigure the accelerator pedal, replace the all-weather floor mats with thinner mats, and install a brake override system to prevent unwanted acceleration. The brake override system, also called "brake to idle" and already a common design in German cars, allows the driver to override the accelerator by hitting the brakes. In a followup statement, the NHTSA announced the November 25, 2009 recall details as a "vehicle-based remedy" to address the floor mat pedal issue.
According to Toyota, the repair work done under the amended recall for floor mat incursion problems are as follows:
In its November 25, 2009 announcement, Toyota stated that dealers would be instructed first on how to reshape the accelerator pedal for
the repair. Installation of the brake override began in January 2010 on Toyota Camry and Lexus ES 350 models, the vehicles with the most units included in the recall.
A concurrent NHTSA press release identified the issue as the "Sticky Pedal Recall" and described the problem and remedy as follows:
The January 21 recall announcement for the accelerator pedal problem covered 2.3 million vehicles sold in the U.S. Toyota then widened the recall to include 1.8 million vehicles in Europe and 75,000 in China.
On January 26, Toyota announced that until they had finalized an appropriate remedy to address the potential for sticking accelerator pedals, sales would be suspended for selected vehicles.
On January 31, 2010 the Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. regulators cleared Toyota's proposed repair for the pedals and the company would resume production by February 8.
On February 1, 2010 Toyota said that its dealers should get parts to fix the sticky accelerator pedal by the end of the week.
On January 27, 2010, Toyota USA issued an expanded list of vehicles under recall including:
On January 29, 2010, the Toyota recall was extended to Europe
and China
. The number of vehicles likely to be affected in Europe was unconfirmed but Toyota said it may reach up to 1.8 million. At the time of recall there had been 30 incidents involving the accelerator pedal problem in Europe.
The vehicles affected in Europe are:
On January 30, 2010, PSA Peugeot Citroën
announced it was recalling cars built in a Czech plant, a joint venture
with Toyota. Although the company did not say when it would begin the recall, nor how many cars were affected, the plant in question, which produces the Peugeot 107
, Citroën C1
and the Toyota Aygo, produces 200,000 cars a year. On February 2, 2010, Toyota announced that the recalls could extend to Africa
, Latin America
, and the Middle East
, where Toyota said it had sold a total of 180,000 vehicles, although the company did not specify how many might be affected by a recall. On February 3, 2010, Toyota Australia announced that its accelerator pedals are made by a different supplier and that there is no need for a recall of Australian made vehicles.
by mechanical linkages or a Bowden cable
. With the advent of electronic throttle control
, accelerator pedals consist of a spring-loaded pedal arm connected to an electronic transducer
. This transducer
, typically a potentiometer
or
Hall effect sensor
, converts the position of the pedal arm to an electronic signal which is sent to an electronic control unit
(ECU).
The older mechanically designed accelerator pedals not only provided a spring return, but the mechanism inherently provided some friction
. This friction introduced mechanical hysteresis
into the pedal force versus pedal position transfer function
. Put more simply, once the pedal was set at a specific position, the friction would help keep the pedal at this setting. This made it easier for the driver to maintain a pedal position. For example, if the driver's foot is slightly jostled
by a bump in road, the accelerator pedal would tend to stay at its setting. While these old purely mechanical designs did have some
friction, the return spring force was always designed to overcome this friction with a considerable safety margin. The return spring force ensured that throttle returned to zero if the pedal force applied by the driver was reduced or removed.
With electronic accelerator pedals, there was little inherent friction because of the simplicity of the mechanical design. The tactile pedal response of only a spring force with no hysteresis can make it more difficult for a driver to maintain an accelerator pedal position. Manufacturers of electronic accelerator pedals designed their pedals with additional parts to recreate the tactile response of the older mechanical accelerator pedals. To quote from CTS Corporation's 2004 US patent application:
The Toyota electronic accelerator pedals contain a special friction device made of nylon 4/6 or polyphenylene sulfide within the pedal assembly to recreate the tactile response of older pedals. According to the Toyota recall information, it is this device, which in some instances, has been preventing the accelerator pedal from returning to zero. To quote from the Toyota recall
FAQ:
According to Toyota, the tactile response friction device in the affected Toyota electronic accelerator pedals sometimes creates too much friction. This excess friction either slows the pedal return or completely stops it. In the worst case, once a pedal is pushed to a specific setting, it stays at the setting even if the driver removes their foot from the pedal. Early reports, in
March 2007, involved the Tundra pickup truck, which used nylon 4/6 in the friction lever.
Some questions and confusion exist if the Toyota explanation fully accounts for all instances of the unintended acceleration involving Toyota vehicles. CTS Corporation, the American manufacturer of the electronic accelerator pedals that Toyota claims are at fault, has announced that:
In June 2010, Chrysler
also recalled 35,000 Dodge
and Jeep
models for sticky gas pedals made by CTS Corporation. Chrysler stated that the CTS pedals have pivot bushings that may dislodge, causing the accelerator to become stuck or slow to return to idle.
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On whether braking alone may fail to stop affected vehicles, a driver account in the Los Angeles Times claimed that the attempt to stop a 2005 Camry was unsuccessful with both the brake
and emergency brake
. However, tests of the Camry by Car and Driver in 2009, attempting to use the brakes to stop acceleration of a purposely-stuck throttle at 70, 100, and 120 mph, found that the test driver was able to reduce speed to 10 mph in all instances, and in the 70 and 100 mph tests, stop the car completely. The Camry's braking distances with a purposely-stuck accelerator were also shorter than that of the Ford Taurus' regular stopping distance. Car and Driver concluded that, based on their emergency stopping tests, the Camry's brakes could overcome the accelerator in all cases even without a brake override, and that stopping distances with a wide-open throttle were largely indiscernible from regular braking.
In 2010, Edmunds.com also tested the stopping distances of a Toyota Camry SE V6 with a purposely stuck wide-open throttle. Their tests found that the car's brakes could override a stuck accelerator and bring the car to a stop. Although the transmission downshifted and the engine continued to propel the car, stopping distance compared "favorably to a normal panic stop on wet asphalt." Edmunds.com did note that switching to neutral was the best option, given that average drivers may not press the brakes as firmly, and lighter presses will simply wear the brakes down. The German Commission on Technical Compliance (TÜV
) of Rheinland also tested the stopping distance of Toyota iQ, Aygo, Yaris, Auris, Verso, Avensis and RAV4 models. With the accelerator purposely jammed to 80% of maximum speed, each vehicle was able to brake safely to a halt. The TÜV findings indicated that each model met the legal requirements for deceleration and stopping distances, and that all Toyota models tested had brakes which could override a stuck accelerator.
2010 Toyota Prius
, while an additional 14 such reports had been received in Japan. Three of these reports claimed that brake problems had led to the car crashing, with one accident in July 2009 occurring when a Prius crashed head on into another car injuring two people. The Prius was not involved in Toyota's second recall, although it had been involved in the first recall involving floor mats. Toyota said that it was investigating the reports, and that it would be "premature to comment." On February 3, 2010 the Japanese Transport Ministry began conducting an investigation on the redesigned Prius, and Toyota said that it was aware of 77 Prius brake complaints in Japan. On February 4, 2010, the NHTSA announced it had opened an investigation into the issues with the Prius's brakes, which Toyota said was caused by a software glitch. The company said it was looking into the best way to solve the problem. An internal NHTSA memo indicated that the issue was the "short delay" in regenerative braking when hitting a bump, resulting in increased stopping distance.
On February 6, 2010, Toyota said that it had fixed the braking problem on Prius models built since late January 2010 via a software update for the ABS system to improve brake response. On the same day, a Japanese newspaper reported that Toyota had contacted dealers in Japan about their intent to recall all affected vehicles. While it was unclear if the same step would be taken elsewhere, American dealers had been told that Toyota was planning on repairing the vehicles. On February 8, Toyota announced a voluntary global recall of MY
2010 Prius models produced through late January 2010. The affected vehicles will receive a software update for the brakes and its ABS
system. In total, Toyota recalled three hybrid vehicles to reprogram the anti-lock braking (ABS) software. In February 2010, a US federal court in New York began the process of determining if there is probable cause to charge Toyota criminally for the way it has handled the Prius' brake recall, and a civil class action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of 2010 Prius hybrid owners. A total of 133,000 Prius vehicles in the U.S. and 52,000 in Europe are to receive the same software update. Guardian.co.uk
reports that this affects the third-generation Prius built before January 27, 2010.
On February 3, 2010 Toyota recalled approximately 153,000 vehicles from model years 2005 to 2011 for failing to comply with requirements of FMVSS 110, "Tire Selection and Rims", due to missing load carrying capacity labels.
On February 12, 2010 Toyota recalled approximately 8,000 2010 model year 4WD Tacoma trucks for potential front drive shaft issues. The recall involves inspecting a drive shaft component which if cracked will be replaced. The Tacoma pickups were built between mid-December 2009 and early February 2010. Most affected vehicles have not been sold.
Another recall for frame corrosion recall was confined to the following model(s): MY 2000–2003 Toyota Tundra
. According to Toyota USA, frame corrosion could allow spare tires or the fuel tank to fall off the vehicle.
On July 7, 2010 Toyota recalled 270,000 Lexus and Crown vehicles worldwide for improperly manufactured valve springs. According to Toyota, the condition can cause rough idling and potential engine stalling.
On October 21, 2010 Toyota announced a recall of 1.53 million vehicles (740,000 in the U.S, 599,000 in Japan, and 191,000 in Europe and other markets) worldwide; the recall effects MY 2005 and 2006 Avalon, MY 2004 to 2006 Highlander (non-hybrid) and Lexus RX330 and MY 2006 Lexus GS300, IS250 and IS350; the models affected in Japan and elsewhere (except the U.S) include MY 2002 to 2006 Toyota Crown, Crown Majesta, Harrier, Mark X, Alphard, Kluger and Lexus GS350, IS250 and IS350. The recall concerns brake fluid leakage from the master cylinder (U.S market and non U.S marketed Toyota Crown and Lexus GS350) and an electrical problem with the fuel pump, which would cause engine stalling (all markets except the U.S).
reported that similar accidents have rarely occurred outside North America, and although there have been some reports of stuck Toyota gas pedals in Germany, all drivers braked successfully without loss of life.
In another U.S. incident, on December 26, 2009, four people died in Southlake, Texas
, a suburb of Dallas
, when their 2008 Toyota Avalon
sped off the road and through a fence, landing upside down in a pond. The car's floor mats were found in the trunk of the car, where owners had been advised to put them as part of the recall. According to the police report, the driver suffered from epilepsy
, but investigators could not rule out either a vehicle defect or the possibility that the driver had suffered a seizure
.
On Feb 17, 2010, US safety regulators launched an investigation into Corolla steering complaints. Following the widespread media publicity of the recalls, several media publications suggested that investigations of subsequent reports would have consider the possibility of "copycat complaints" and hoax
es, with potential complainants seeking to capitalize on possible settlement money, or affected by the psychological bandwagon effect
of the mass publicity.
On March 14, 2010, the Norwegian government considered whether to ban Priuses from roads in Norway pending an investigation after a near fatal incident involving a senior citizen. On March 29, after receipt of technical and other information, police indicted
the driver involved in the Prius incident for making "a false emergency call to police".
The use of vehicle event data recorders and video surveillance also proved beneficial to investigators, with findings of driver error in a March 9, 2010 Prius alleged sudden acceleration crash, where a 56-year-old housekeeper claimed to have braked but was recorded pressing the wrong pedal, and also in a March 29, 2010 Camry alleged sudden acceleration crash, where a 76-year-old driver claimed to have braked, but was filmed not doing so until after impact.
In 2004, the NHTSA launched a probe of throttle control systems on around 1 million Lexus and Toyota sedans. Upon that probe, Toyota urged the NHTSA to define the issues as quick bursts where the engine surged to "something less than a wide-open throttle." The company compared the complaints to previous sudden unintended acceleration cases the NHTSA deemed "driver error." It also said the computer could not open the throttle without the accelerator pedal pressed, and, the brakes would be able to stop the car anyway.
After several months of investigating, the NHTSA said it found no evidence of a defect and there was no data indicated any bad parts. Christopher Santucci, an employee of Toyota's Washington, D.C.
office and a NHTSA employee until he was hired by Toyota in 2003, testified that he was informed by the NHTSA in March 2004 about pending investigation over unintended acceleration complaints. According to Santucci in his deposition, his former NHTSA colleagues decided not to investigate some incidents involving acceleration lasting longer than 1 second. The decision to exclude certain incidents from the investigation apparently reduced the significance of the issue to the NHTSA at least on paper. However, in 2005, 2006 and 2008, Toyota customers again asked the NHTSA to investigate uncontrolled acceleration from electronic throttle controls and power steering issues. Although there were hundreds of complaints, the NHTSA found no evidence of defects; and in every case, Toyota provided data it said showed no such evidence.
On November 2, 2009, the NHTSA denied a petition to reopen previously closed unintended investigations of Toyota vehicles, stating they were unlikely to reach any new conclusions.
In February 2010, however NHTSA was again looking into the electronic throttle control systems on Toyota vehicles. In February 2010, State Farm
insurance revealed that it had warned NHTSA in late 2007 on an increased trend of Toyota accidents related to the recalled models; other insurers stated however that they had not seen such a trend. On June 1, 2010, the NHTSA opened an investigation into reports that floor mats were jamming accelerators in Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan
sedans. On June 30, 2010, NHTSA reported on its latest broad study of unintended acceleration on all car makes, including Toyota, in conjunction with NASA
and the National Academy of Sciences
. NHTSA stated that it was unable to find electronic throttle defects, but identified floor mat entrapment and pedals that were slow to return to idle as two causes of Toyota complaints. NHTSA also stated it could only verify one Toyota unintended acceleration accident caused by a vehicle defect. On July 14, 2010, the Wall Street Journal reported that NHTSA investigations of 75 accidents alleged to sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles had found driver error as the primary cause in all but one case attributed to floor mats. Black box recorder data found that during these crashes, the throttle was open and brakes not pressed. On July 30, the Wall Street Journal quoted the former head of NHTSA's Recall Management Division stating that the investigation "has become very political", with Department of Transportation
officials "hoping against hope that they find something that points back to a flaw". Although the NHTSA study finding driver error was reportedly complete, DOT officials had blocked its release.
On February 8, 2011, NASA and the NHTSA announced the findings of a ten-month study concerning the causes of the Toyota malfunctions of 2009. According to their findings, there were no electronic faults in the cars that could have caused the sudden-acceleration problems.
"The jury is back, the verdict is in: There is no electronic-based cause for unintended
high-speed acceleration in Toyotas, period," Transportation Department Secretary Ray LaHood declared in the LA Times.
In a February 2010 letter to Toyota, US congressional investigators "said a review of consumer complaints produced by Toyota shows that company personnel identified sticking pedals or floor mats as the cause of only 16 percent of the unintended acceleration reports". Several media reports later claimed that Toyota had announced that the recalls will not completely solve the gas pedal problems. On February 24, 2010, Toyota responded that it "has rigorously tested its solutions" and are "confident" with the recall repairs, but that it would continue to monitor other possible contributing factors for unintended acceleration, including mechanical, electronics, and driver error. Akio Toyoda
, the president and CEO of Toyota, issued the following statement in regards to the recalled vehicles:
In early 2010, the US government began considering requiring all vehicles sold in the US to have accelerator override built into their brake systems.
Research groups have questioned whether Toyota would "get off easily" because of its large investment in lobbying in Washington, with close ties to the congressional representatives who will lead inquiries into the company's string of safety problems. Other publications noted that half the Democratic congressional members involved in the hearings had received campaign contributions from the United Auto Workers
union, a major stockholder of Toyota's top U.S. rival, General Motors.
February 1, 2010, to assess and coordinate activities. The North
America vehicle production facilities affected were located in
Cambridge
and Woodstock, Ontario
,
Canada
, (where Corolla, Matrix, and RAV4 models are produced),
Princeton, Indiana
(Sequoia and Highlander), Georgetown, Kentucky
(Camry and Avalon), and San Antonio, Texas
(Tundra). In addition to recalled vehicles, Toyota announced that it would install brake override systems on all Toyota, Lexus, and Scion vehicles by the end of 2010.
On February 3, 2010, United States Transportation
Secretary Ray LaHood
advised owners of vehicles affected by the
recall to "stop driving" their vehicles until it can be fixed by a
dealer. LaHood later retracted his statement stating it was "obviously,
a misstatement." Secretary La Hood's statement was criticized by some media columnists for suspected conflict-of-interest due to the U.S. government's auto bailout partial ownership of Toyota's domestic rivals, General Motors
and Chrysler
.
recession and had already suffered from a resultant decrease in sales and the low exchange rate
from yen to US dollar. On the day that the recall was announced
in the US, it was announced that 750 jobs will be cut at Toyota's
British plant at Burnaston
, near Derby
.
to a month in revenue, a
total loss of across the country from the entire
incident. Additionally, Toyota Motors as a whole
announced that it could face losses totaling as much as from
lost output and sales worldwide. Between 25 January
and 29 January 2010 Toyota shares fell in value by 15%.
According to analysts, Toyota owners (including owners of cars not recalled) may also be economically affected by the recall, as the damage to Toyota's reputation could negatively affect the resale value of used cars.
usage and readers, third-party quality consultation, and increased driver safety education initiatives. Industry analysts noted that the recall response was a challenge for the The Toyota Way
manufacturing philosophy, because the recalled parts were not due to factory errors or quality control problems, but rather because of design issues leading to consumer complaints. As a result, better communication of consumer issues with management was needed; the global quality committee aimed to be more responsive to consumer concerns.
and Hyundai
were offering similar incentives.
man, Koua Fong Lee, who, in 2008, was sentenced to eight years in jail for rear-ending a car, killing three of the five occupants and injuring the other two. This happened in June 2006 when he was driving home from church with his family and exiting the highway. Koua insists that his 1996 Toyota Camry sped up to between 70 and 90 mph despite heavy braking. In May 2010, a vehicle inspector hired by attorneys for the convicted man reported finding problems with the car's accelerator system.
At least two of the jurors from the 2008 trial have questioned the guilty verdict, and one of the injured survivors has filed suit against Toyota and the local dealership that sold the car, stating he believes that the imprisoned man should be set free. In June 2010, the County Prosecutor opposed a new trial, stating that she sees no evidence that Koua's Camry experienced "sudden unintended acceleration", and a US District Court Judge has until September 2010 to decide whether or not Koua should be re-tried In August, 2010, the judge ruled that Koua would be re-tried but the prosecutor declined to prosecute. Prior to the ruling, the prosecutor offered release but with the condition that he would still have a felony conviction on his record, barring him from driving privileges for ten years, and that he would be jailed if arrested for anything else. Koua did not agree to such conditions. In August 2010, a Minnesota judge freed Koua from prison and the local prosecutor says she would immediately drop the charges.
, Car and Driver
, Motor Trend
, and Popular Mechanics
ran editorials criticizing alleged disproportionate coverage of the recalls, with the sentiment echoed in Automotive News
, BusinessWeek
, and the National Post
. In February 2010, Car and Driver executive editor Mike Dushane wrote that the "media circus
" overlooked the fact that "the numbers don't reveal a meaningful problem", with the alleged fatality risk at about 1 in 200,000 recalled Toyota vehicles, versus a 1 in 8,000 risk of a fatal car accident in any car in the U.S., and that "it's critical to note that the lack of such a throttle kill isn't a defect. It isn't Toyota's responsibility to account for every possible stupid thing people might do in a car." On February 10, AutoWeek executive editor Wes Raynal noted that following the recalls, U.S. media reports focused on any Toyota-related complaint as a manufacturer defect, without regard for the actual prevalence and the possibility of alternative explanations, such as driver inattentiveness or erroneous perceptions. Motor Trend editor-at-large Arthur St. Antoine also wrote that the recalls had become the "panic du jour" and faulted CNN
's reporting for not asking about driver skills, being on the cellphone, or texting as causes of accidents.
On February 4, 2010, Consumer Reports
director of automobile testing David Champion also suggested that the media coverage was disproportionate to the problem, stating that "When you look at the statistics we are putting an awful lot of effort on a very small risk," noting that the frequency of unintended acceleration complaints was approximately 1 in 10,000 out of 20 million Toyotas on the road. On February 10, Toyota dealers in the five-state Southeast region pulled all advertising from ABC stations in protest of "excessive" reporting on the Toyota recalls. According to news analysis by the Project for Excellence in Journalism
, the Toyota recalls were the #5 most reported story on U.S. news for the week of January 25–31, 2010, at 4% of all coverage; the following week of February 1–7, 2010, the story reached #2, at 11% of all news coverage. The Associated Press reported on March 5, 2010 that "relentless media coverage" of the Toyota recalls may lead to mass hysteria and an increase in alleged crashes and complaints. Further analysis of the NHTSA complaint database also revealed that many acceleration complaints featured multiple factors, including DUI
and reckless driving
, which were typically not disclosed in news reports. In July 2010, Forbes faulted the Los Angeles Times for inaccurately reporting on an alleged Toyota runaway crash by failing to mention that the involved driver was indicted for vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence
of marijuana.
. Sikes stated he wanted a new car as compensation for the incident. Analyses by Edmunds.com
and Forbes
found Sikes' acceleration claims and fears of shifting to neutral implausible, with Edmunds concluding that "in other words, this is BS", and Michael Fumento in Forbes analyzing Sikes's claims related to the mechanics of his Prius and his own contradictions, such as saying he didn't want to take his hands off the steering wheel to shift into neutral even though he held a cell phone in his hand almost the entire time, comparing it to the balloon boy hoax. Further government investigator tests on Sikes's Prius reportedly showed that the brake wear were consistent with intermittent braking, not constant hard braking as he claimed. Sikes also reportedly had a history of false police reports, suspect insurance claims, theft and fraud allegations, and television aspirations. These findings raised questions about "the credibility of Mr. Sikes' reporting of events" in a Congressional memo.
poll released on February 8, 2010, Toyota is viewed favorably by 59% of Americans with 22% viewing Toyota very favorably. Another 29% view Toyota unfavorably. The poll also found 72% of Americans have followed the recent Toyota news stories "somewhat closely" including 31% who are following them "very closely". A second Rasmussen poll released on February 12 found 23% of Americans believe the federal government is criticizing Toyota to aid General Motors of which it is the majority owner, 38% disagreed, and 39% were unsure.
quoted Sean Kane, head of the for-profit firm Safety Research & Strategies, stating that he had uncovered hundreds of "non-floor mat sudden acceleration cases" which the floor mat recall did not address. Kane, who works with attorneys suing Toyota, said his firm had discovered over 2,000 Toyota sudden acceleration cases involving 16 deaths and 243 injuries, publishing its most comprehensive report on the issue on Feb 5th, 2010. Kane alleged that the problem was not with the accelerator pedals, but with the electronic throttle control
systems (ETC). An electronic throttle control system is a drive-by-wire
system, in which the accelerator pedal and the engine are indirectly linked electronically, instead of directly linked mechanically. This means that input from the accelerator pedal is just one input used to decide how wide the throttle is opened. On Feb 13, 2010, The Wall Street Journal reported that Kane's company was "controversial" because its income comes from lawsuits against auto manufacturers, which was not disclosed in media reports; auto journalists noted that the firm had a "vested interest" in blaming manufacturer defects while avoiding operator error. The Los Angeles Times
reported that since Toyota and Lexus began installing electronic throttle control systems in 2001, complaints of unintended acceleration with vehicles from both those brands rose sharply. Electromagnetic interference
with the electronic throttle control system is another possible cause of unintended acceleration. The Detroit Free Press reported on March 16, 2010 that cosmic rays, or radiation from outer space
, was a possible source for alleged electronic malfunctions.
The Wall Street Journal obtained a copy of a preliminary study dated on February 4, 2010 by the California based engineering research firm Exponent
. The initial study commissioned by Toyota beginning in December 2009 concluded "Exponent has so far been unable to induce, through electrical disturbances to the system, either unintended acceleration or behavior that might be a precursor to such an event, despite concerted efforts toward this goal." For the study Exponent purchased six Toyota and Lexus vehicles which were analyzed by "engineers and technicians specializing in mechanical, electrical, and automotive engineering." According to Exponent, Toyota "didn't limit the scope or budget of its investigation" which is being shared with Toyota and lawmakers. The study will continue for several more months. According to the Los Angeles Times
, Exponent's research has been criticized as being relied upon by companies in need of public defense, although the firm has defended its impartiality towards clients ranging from firms to the U.S. government. A University of California
cardiologist was quoted saying, "I would have picked a firm with more of a reputation of neutrality" citing as an example their determination that secondhand smoke
isn't carcinogenic. Toyota subsequently asked Stanford University
's Center for Automotive Research, a facility partly funded by multiple automakers including Toyota, to also evaluate the electronics claims. The center's J. Christian Gerdes PhD, professor of mechanical engineering, rejected several electronics claims as implausible, and said that his findings were independent and that he received no compensation from Toyota for his evaluation.
On Feb. 8, 2010 the NHTSA and NASA concluded the electronics were not to blame after reviewing the electronics and electromagnetic interference. The finding was based on studying over 280,000 lines of software coding on nine vehicles involved in earlier sudden acceleration incidents. And studying the throttle systems at NASA's Langley Research Center and Chrysler's Auburn Hills headquarters.
in the throttle control. In the segment, Dave Gilbert, a PhD engineer and professor of automotive technology at Southern Illinois University Carbondale
, was shown in a late-model Avalon with ABC News reporter Brian Ross
. By "inducing a short" in an unspecified circuit, Gilbert was able to cause the Avalon to accelerate dramatically. After the car was stopped, a diagnostic tool connected to the car's ECU displayed no fault code. According to Dr. Gilbert, proper design of the ETC should not have permitted a short like the one he induced to open the throttle; the ECU should have detected a fault and cut the throttle. Tests on GM vehicles, Gilbert said, did not expose a similar flaw. Autoblog
s analysis queried the test's real-world
accuracy, noting that the short circuit method was not disclosed outside of wiring normally independent sensors together, the ECU could not be expected to detect unrealistic scenarios, and questioning ABC News' and Brian Ross
's objectivity. Autoblog also uncovered that Gilbert was being paid by parties in lawsuits against Toyota. Automotive analyst John McElroy on Autoline Detroit
pointed to network news' history of "rigged" car demonstrations, including the 60 Minutes acceleration demo and the Dateline NBC exploding truck scandal, and noted that ABC News' report did not include opposing views or disclose interviewee's financial ties. Toyota responded by inviting ABC News to be present at its evaluation of the test.
On March 8, 2010, Toyota held a live news conference where its engineers demonstrated the same short circuit method on Ford, Chevrolet
, Chrysler
, and BMW
vehicles. In each case, engineers were able to induce the same dramatic acceleration with no ECU fault code. Stanford's Center for Automotive Research stated that ABC News' demo was unrealistic and misleading. A study by Exponent Inc. finding that the short circuit "would be highly unlikely to occur naturally” and could “only be contrived in the laboratory" was also issued. Toyota further demonstrated how Gilbert had allegedly shaved away wiring insulation
, cut wires in the ETC, re-spliced them in a particular sequence, and added a control switch. Gilbert's financial motive, being paid by Sean Kane, was also questioned. AutoWeek, Edmunds.com, and other automotive sources saw the conference as debunking ABC News' claims. On March 11, 2010, ABC News further admitted to faking part of its report after tachometer
screenshots were posted online. The freeze-frames showed the parking brake, open-door, and seat belt
warning lights on while the car was allegedly "accelerating" to 6,000 RPM, indicating that the car was actually not moving. Media blog Gawker.com
posted the photos and stated, "the tachometer footage is faked". ABC News claimed that it was "impossible to get a good picture of the tachometer" during the actual test, and re-edited the footage. Gawker.com responded that the edited video was even more "staged". The Associated Press added that the falsified footage "created ethical questions".
had suggested that faulty software may be part of the problem. However, in a subsequent CNN interview, Wozniak stated, "I haven't really said those things. They have put those words in my mouth". Instead, Wozniak said his comments were about a "minor" cruise control issue on one of his several Priuses, and regarding other recalls, "whether it was mats, whether it was a sticky accelerator pedal, whatever – I believe they found the right solution. If Toyota says it's not electrical, then I'm sure they're right." When asked to describe his cruise control problem, Wozniak said, "It's a little more of a procedure of upping the speed, upping the speed, and then suddenly it just sort of went like it thought you told it to go to infinity." As for alternative explanations, Wozniak said "If you're panicked and your car takes off, you don't think of these things." He also clarified that his comments were "to a group of teachers for a discovery museum and talking about an issue of customer support, how hard it is sometimes to get to the people that can really deal with your problems". Automotive journalist John Voelcker's analysis of Wozniak's description blamed the issue on user error, and not being familiar with the design differences of the adaptive cruise control system. In the Prius, unlike some other cars, holding down the accelerate button increases speed in 5 mph increments continuously; Voelcker suggested Wozniak was holding down the button for longer than necessary, setting the cruise to a high set speed, and thus resulting in the "smooth" acceleration to high speed he experienced. Some Prius users have also suggested erroneous user input explanations. Others have come forward with their own stories about erratic vehicle behavior while using their cruise control. In March 2010, Ward's Auto reported that user unfamiliarity with the faster response of laser- and radar-based cruise control systems was a likely factor according to AAA
, NHTSA, and manufacturer findings.
noted that NHTSA investigations over past years have found that the majority of sudden unintended acceleration cases are due to driver error. In such cases, accidents are the result of drivers mistakenly stepping on the gas pedal instead of the brake. On November 29, 2009, the Los Angeles Times quoted a motor skills consultant stating that the fault in sudden acceleration cases "almost always lies with drivers who step on the wrong pedal." In February 2010, Car and Driver suggested that the alleged accident rate of 1 in 200,000 recalled Toyotas was "highly unlikely" to result from vehicle defects, pointing to an increased danger for drivers who "aren't smart or calm enough to shift to neutral". The same month, Forbes
referred to auto industry experts as "skeptical" of defect explanations, suggesting that "driver error and panic account for many reported problems" with recalled Toyotas. On February 4, Leonard Evans, author of Traffic Safety, claimed that driver behavior was the main factor in Toyota accidents, and that the consensus of 70 years of scientific research is that driver error is the prominent explanation for automotive fatalities. In March 2010, Forbes
Michael Fumento
, The Atlantics Megan McArdle
and attorney Ted Frank
argued that the fact that most of the incidents of sudden acceleration in Toyota occur in elderly drivers strongly suggest that there is not an electronics problem as opposed to one of pedal misapplication. Fumento's article was titled: "Why Do Toyotas Hate the Elderly?", and McArdle noted that immigrants were also twice as likely to be involved. However, lawsuits filed regarding sudden unintended acceleration cases, along with related third-party investigation reports, have typically avoided the driver error explanation.
In August 2010, the Wall St. Journal reported that experts at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had examined the "black boxes" of 58 vehicles involved in sudden-acceleration reports. The study found that in 35 of the cases, the brakes weren't applied at the time of the crash. In nine other cases in the same study, the brakes were used only at the last moment before impact.
, lack of experience with the car, and short stature. In addition, unexplained sudden acceleration events were most frequently reported as occurring from low speed or fully stopped. Typically, the driver was intending to press the brake, and did not consciously confuse the pedals; however, because of advanced age and neuromuscular irregularities, short stature and difficulty reaching the pedals, a slight misalignment in seating position, or unfamiliarity with the car model, the driver's foot contacted the accelerator by mistake. The resulting unexpected sudden acceleration would lead to panic
, with the driver thinking that the acceleration system had failed. The immediate response would be to brake hard, but not knowing that their foot was on the accelerator, pressing down caused greater acceleration. In such panic situations, the driver would think that the brakes were not responding, and continue pressing on the gas pedal until they crashed. Switching to neutral or turning off the ignition was typically not contemplated. Incidents occurred exclusively in automatic transmission
-equipped cars with driver complaints involving rental cars being far more frequent. All factors point to reduced driver familiarity and sophistication.
On March 12, 2010, Autoline Detroit argued that searches for additional vehicle defects were likely fruitless, as driver error was the primary cause of the 0.009 per million rate of Toyota sudden acceleration incidents from 1999 to 2009, with "demographics and psychographics", namely elderly drivers and pedal misapplication as factors. Also noted was that drivers with Type II diabetes (adult onset), which is more common among the elderly, are subject to reduced sensation in their lower extremities (peripheral neuropathy
) with related impairment in positional knowledge of foot placement (proprioception
). Wired
wrote that since investigators have been "unable to find evidence supporting drivers’ claims their Toyotas suddenly raced out of control" operator error is the most likely explanation. However, victims and relatives of sudden acceleration cases are commonly unwilling to suspect involved loved ones, and blame the vehicle instead. Analysis of alleged Toyota acceleration reports in The Atlantic and other sources have found the highest distribution of involved drivers between 70 and 80 years old, with the average age skewing over 55; with elderly susceptibility to "neuronal misfiring" and pedal misapplication as a possible cause. While many alleged cases lack exact details, over half of reported incidents occurred from a complete stop or low speed, providing a window for the pedal misapplication to occur. A prior GM study found that 60 and 70 year olds were six times more likely to experience sudden acceleration than 20 to 30 year olds. In the New York Times, Richard Schmidt concluded that a brake override system could prevent acceleration cases where a vehicle defect existed, but would not prevent sudden acceleration cases caused by pedal misapplication.
accused the Audi 5000 sedan of unintended acceleration defects, which was followed by numerous reports of tragic accidents and media expert commentary. At the time, Audi was reported to have the highest rate of acceleration complaints. However, the NHTSA later determined all complaints to be due to driver error.
The Detroit News
documented previous sudden unintended acceleration cases dating back to August 1978 when the NHTSA opened an investigation into General Motors for sudden acceleration, concluding eight years later driver error was the likely culprit. By 1986, more than 2,000 injuries had been blamed on sudden acceleration with sudden acceleration complaints totaling over 10 percent of complaints filed to the NHTSA. In 1986 the NHTSA launched an investigation of the 1981-84 Toyota Cressida
and an additional five other automakers. By 1989 the NHTSA determined driver error was "the most probable explanation" for the complaints.
models. The study was requested by the US Congress and "enlisted NASA engineers with expertise in areas such as computer controlled electronic systems, electromagnetic interference and software integrity". The most common problem was drivers hitting the gas when they thought they were hitting the brake, which the NHTSA called "pedal misapplication.” Of the 58 cases reported, 18 were dismissed out of hand. Of the remaining 40, 39 of them were found to have no cause; the remainder being an instance of “pedal entrapment.” One investigator says most of the cases involved “pedal misapplication” – that is, “the driver stepped on the gas rather than the brake or in addition to the brake.” The report concluded that the two mechanical safety defects that were originally identified by NHTSA are known causes of dangerous unintended acceleration.
the electronic throttle control system (ETC) and alleging Toyota's negligence.
As of February 26, 2010, there were at least 72 lawsuits pending in U.S. federal courts
against Toyota or its subsidiaries as a result of the 2009-10 recalls. Plaintiffs are seeking damages for personal injury or wrongful death resulting from accidents in the defective Toyota vehicles (in other words, product liability
), loss of resale value, or a drop in the value of shares held by Toyota shareholders. Toyota has retained the law firm
of Alston & Bird
to defend most of these cases.
On April 9, 2010, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation
ordered consolidation of all federal actions into the Central District of California
before Judge James V. Selna
for all pretrial motions and discovery. In doing so, the Panel noted that "these cases have
attracted an unusual amount of publicity to the Panel’s work." Although only 11 cases were directly before the JPML, it also noted that the parties had notified it of more than 100 potentially related cases, which can also be consolidated as so-called "tag-along" cases. As to why Judge Selna, the Panel explained, "Judge Selna’s 28 years of private law practice at the very highest levels and in some of the most complex cases leaves him well prepared for a case of this magnitude." Under federal multidistrict litigation
law, any cases that are not dismissed or settled during the consolidated pretrial process will be remanded to their original district court for trial.
The following week, Judge Selna set a May 13 initial scheduling conference at his courtroom in Santa Ana, California
. He also appointed Cari Dawson, chairwoman of Alston & Bird's class action department, as lead counsel for defendants.
On May 14, after reviewing submissions from dozens of plaintiffs' attorneys, Judge Selna issued an order establishing which attorneys would be granted the potentially lucrative positions of lead counsel for the plaintiffs. First, he named nine attorneys as lead counsel for the economic loss cases and nine attorneys as lead counsel for the personal injury and wrongful death cases. He then named nine of the attorneys from these two panels to form a core discovery committee. Three additional attorneys were named as liaisons to coordinate discovery with pending state court actions and other related federal litigation in progress outside of the MDL, like shareholder litigation. Finally, one additional attorney was named as a consultant on behalf of international Toyota consumers. Prominent attorneys appointed on the plaintiffs' side included Steve Berman
of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro (on the personal injury and wrongful death committee) and Elizabeth Cabraser of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein (on the economic loss committee).
Selna also clarified the roles of defense counsel by appointing Cari Dawson and Lisa Gilford of Alston & Bird as lead counsel in the economic loss cases and Vince Galvin and Joel Smith of Bowman and Brooke as lead counsel in the personal injury and wrongful death cases. Gilford and Galvin were also appointed to serve as lead defense liaisons to other related cases in federal and state courts.
On June 1, 2010, Judge Selna issued another order setting out a discovery schedule. He ordered both sides to make initial discovery disclosures by July 2, 2010, and set out a briefing schedule for motions with regard to the consolidated complaints, with oral arguments set for November 19, 2010 at 9:00 a.m. In a separate order on that same date, he also ordered that all motion-related documents filed by any attorney would now have to be co-signed by lead counsel for that attorney's side, and that lead counsel were to act as gatekeepers, so as to cut down on the number of documents being filed with the court. On July 1, 2010, Judge Selna appointed two retired Presiding Justices of the California Court of Appeal
as special master
s: John K. Trotter and Steven Stone.
On June 10, 2011, after the parties had completed some discovery, Judge Selna issued an order setting trial dates of February 19, 2013 and May 21, 2013 for the first two "bellwether" trials, and designated a Utah wrongful death/personal injury case as the first one (of 300 in progress) to go to trial.
Toyota has also been sued for not having a brake override system on older models. Attorney Robert Nelson, representing Jacquelyn Donoghue of Holder, Nebraska, the 67-year-old widow of man killed in an accident in which her model year 2006 Prius allegedly suddenly accelerated into another vehicle, killing the man and seriously injuring her, alleged that Toyota's failure to include a brake override on their models played a "direct role" in the death of John Donoghue". Edgar Heiskell, an attorney involved with one of the lawsuits, contends
that electromagnetic interference
with the electronic throttle control system is to blame for acceleration cases. Heiskell contends that Toyota models as old as 2002 are also affected. According to him,
"Toyota can't tell you that the '07 Camry they are recalling is any different from the '06 or the
'03 that has the same throttle control in it." According to the Wall Street Journals Holman W. Jenkins, Jr., "trial lawyers love the electronic gremlin theory because it's impossible to disprove in any individual case."
had the highest rate of unintended acceleration complaints in 2009 and 2008 (11.5 and 21.6 per 100,000 vehicles respectively), while Suzuki had the highest rate in 2007 and 2006 (27.4 and 24.9 per 100,000 vehicles respectively). Toyota had 7.5, 6.8, 15.2, and 9.7 complaints per 100,000 vehicles in those years. According to NPR's analysis of the NHTSA database, Jaguar, Volvo, and Honda also had high complaints depending on year.
In February 2010, Edmunds.com
released its findings on a review of all NHTSA complaints from 2001 to the present day, conducted in light of the Toyota recall crisis. The review found that despite the recall, during the previous decade Toyota ranked 17th among the 20 major car makes in number of complaints per vehicles sold, with a lower rate of customer complaints from its U.S. customers than the Detroit Big Three, along with Honda, Subaru, Hyundai, Nissan, Isuzu, Suzuki, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Volvo, Volkswagen, and BMW. Edmunds.com also noted that any individual can file a NHTSA complaint without providing a Vehicle Identification Number
(VIN), which can lead to misleading statistics as "not all NHTSA complaints are created equal" and range from legitimate to nonsensical. On June 5, 2010, NHTSA shut down online access to its complaint database following revelations of redundant, unverifiable entries and improperly secured personal data.
Product recall
A product recall is a request to return to the maker a batch or an entire production run of a product, usually due to the discovery of safety issues. The recall is an effort to limit liability for corporate negligence and to improve or avoid damage to publicity...
s of automobile
Automobile
An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
s by Toyota Motor Corporation occurred at the end of 2009 and start of 2010. Toyota initiated the recalls, the first two with the assistance of the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is an agency of the Executive Branch of the U.S. government, part of the Department of Transportation...
(NHTSA), after reports that several vehicles experienced unintended acceleration
Sudden unintended acceleration
Sudden Unintended Acceleration is the unintended, unexpected, uncontrolled acceleration of a vehicle from a stationary position, low initial speed or at cruising speed, often accompanied by an apparent loss of braking effectiveness...
. The first recall, on November 2, 2009, was to correct a possible incursion of an incorrect or out-of-place front driver's side floor mat into the foot pedal
Automobile pedal
An automobile may have two to four foot pedals. The arrangement is the same for both right- and left-hand traffic. From left to right:* normally operated by the left foot:**clutch pedal, not in the case of automatic transmission...
well, which can cause pedal entrapment. The second recall, on January 21, 2010, was begun after some crashes were shown not to have been caused by floor mat incursion. This latter defect was identified as a possible mechanical sticking of the accelerator pedal causing unintended acceleration, referred to as Sticking Accelerator Pedal by Toyota. The original action was initiated by Toyota in their Defect Information Report, dated October 5, 2009, amended January 27, 2010. Following the floor mat and accelerator pedal recalls, Toyota also issued a separate recall for hybrid anti-lock brake software in February 2010.
As of January 28, 2010, Toyota had announced recalls of approximately 5.2 million vehicles for the pedal entrapment/floor mat problem, and an additional 2.3 million vehicles for the accelerator pedal problem. Approximately 1.7 million vehicles are subject to both. Certain related Lexus
Lexus
is the luxury vehicle division of Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corporation. First introduced in 1989 in the United States, Lexus is now sold globally and has become Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. The Lexus marque is marketed in over 70 countries and territories worldwide, and has...
and Pontiac
Pontiac
Pontiac was an automobile brand that was established in 1926 as a companion make for General Motors' Oakland. Quickly overtaking its parent in popularity, it supplanted the Oakland brand entirely by 1933 and, for most of its life, became a companion make for Chevrolet. Pontiac was sold in the...
models were also affected. The next day, Toyota widened the recall to include 1.8 million vehicles in Europe and 75,000 in China. By then, the worldwide total number of cars recalled by Toyota stood at 9 million. Sales of multiple recalled models were suspended for several weeks as a result of the accelerator pedal recall, with the vehicles awaiting replacement parts. As of January 2010, 21 deaths were alleged due the pedal problem since 2000, but following the January 28 recall, additional NHTSA complaints brought the alleged total to 37. The number of alleged victims and reported problems sharply increased following the recall announcements, which were heavily covered by U.S. media, although the causes of individual reports were difficult to verify. Government officials, automotive experts, Toyota, and members of the general public contested the scope of the sudden acceleration issue and the veracity of victim and problem reports. Various parties attributed sudden unintended acceleration reports to mechanical, electric, and driver error causes. Some US owners that had their recalled vehicles repaired still reported accelerator pedal issues, leading to investigations and the finding of improper repairs. The recalls further led to additional NHTSA and Toyota investigations, along with multiple lawsuits.
On February 8, 2011, the NHTSA, in collaboration with NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
, released its findings into the investigation on the Toyota drive-by-wire throttle system. After a 10 month search, NASA and NHTSA scientists found no electronic defect in Toyota vehicles. Driver error or pedal misapplication was found responsible for most of the incidents. The report ended stating, "Our conclusion is Toyota's problems were mechanical, not electrical." This included sticking accelerator pedals, and pedals caught under floor mats.
Recall timeline
- Sep 26, 2007 – US: 55,000 Camry and ES 350 cars in "all-weather" floor mat recall.
- Nov 02, 2009 – US: 3.8 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles again recalled due to floor mat problem, this time for all driver's side mats.
- Nov 26, 2009 – US: floor mat recall amended to include brake override and increased to 4.2 million vehicles.
- Jan 21, 2010 – US: 2.3 million Toyota vehicles recalled due to faulty accelerator pedals (of those, 2.1 million already involved in floor mat recall).
- Jan 27, 2010 – US: 1.1 million Toyotas added to amended floor mat recall.
- Jan 29, 2010 – Europe, China: 1.8 million Toyotas added to faulty accelerator pedal recall.
- Feb 08, 2010 – Worldwide: 436,000 hybrid vehicles in brake recall following 200 reports of Prius brake glitches.
- Feb 08, 2010 – US: 7,300 MYModel yearThe model year of a product is a number used worldwide, but with a high level of prominence in North America, to describe approximately when a product was produced, and indicates the coinciding base specification of that product....
2010 Camry vehicles recalled over potential brake tube problems. - Feb 12, 2010 – US: 8,000 MY 2010 4WD Tacoma pick-up trucks recalled over concerns about possible defective front drive shafts.
- Apr 16, 2010 – US: 600,000 MY 1998–2010 Sienna minivans for possible corrosion of spare tire carrier cable.
- Apr 19, 2010 – World: 21,000 MY 2010 Toyota Land Cruiser Prado and 13,000 Lexus GX 460 SUV's recalled to reprogram the stability control system.
- Apr 28, 2010 – US: 50,000 MY 2003 Toyota Sequoia recalled to reprogram the stability control system.
- May 21, 2010 – Japan: 4,509, US: 7,000 MY 2010 LS for steering system software update
- July 5, 2010 – World: 270,000 Crown and Lexus models for valve springs with potential production issue.
- July 29, 2010 – US: 412,000 Avalons and LX 470s for replacement of steering columnSteering columnThe automotive steering column is a device intended primarily for connecting the steering wheel to the steering mechanism or transferring the driver's input torque from the steering wheel.-Secondary functions:...
components.
- August 28, 2010 – US & Canada: approximately 1.13 million Corolla and Corolla Matrix vehicles produced between 2005 and 2008 for Engine Control Modules (ECM) that may have been improperly manufactured.
- February 8, 2011 – US: NASA and NHTSA inquiry reveals that there were no electronic faults in Toyota cars that would have caused acceleration issues. However, accelerator pedal entrapments remains a problem.
- February 22, 2011 – US: Toyota recalls an additional 2.17 million vehicles for gas pedals that become trapped on floor hardware.
Floor mat recall
On September 26, 2007, Toyota recalled 55,000 sets of heavy-duty rubber floor mats from the Toyota Camry and ES 350 sedans. The recalled mats were of the optional "all-weather" type. NHTSA stated that the recall was due to the risk that unsecured mats could move forward and trap the gas pedal.On August 28, 2009, a two-car collision killed four people riding in a Lexus dealer-provided loaner ES 350 in San Diego, California
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
. The NHTSA released a safety investigation report on October 25, finding that the accident vehicle was wrongly fitted with all-weather rubber floor mats meant for the RX 400h
Lexus RX 400h
The Lexus RX is the second generation of the Lexus RX series of crossover SUVs that was sold by Lexus from 2003 to 2009. First introduced in 2003 at the North American International Auto Show, the initial RX 330 models went on sale later that year...
SUV, and that these mats were not secured by either of the two retaining clips. The brake hardware also showed signs of heavy braking consistent with a stuck accelerator pedal. The report stated that the accelerator pedal's hinge did not allow relieving obstructions, and the dashboard lacked directions for the three-second emergency press of the push button keyless ignition. NHTSA investigators also recovered the accident vehicle's accelerator pedal, which was still "bonded" to the SUV floor mat. The return spring action of the accelerator pedal was found to be "smooth and unencumbered."
Another investigation conducted by the San Diego County Sheriff's Department
San Diego County Sheriff's Department
The San Diego County Sheriff's Department, commonly known as the SDSO, is the primary and largest law enforcement agency in San Diego County, California. It is composed of approximately 4,000 sworn deputies and civilian support personnel...
found that three days prior to the crash another customer had complained to the dealership about the floor mat trapping the same loaner car's accelerator pedal while driving. The prior driver had switched to neutral and tugged on the floor mat, which released the accelerator.
On November 2, 2009, the NHTSA denied a petition to reopen previously closed unintended acceleration investigations of Toyota vehicles, stating they had already been thoroughly investigated making it unlikely for the NHTSA to reach any new conclusions. Later that day Toyota issued a voluntary recall of 3.8 million vehicles, with a letter sent to owners asking them to remove the driver floor mat and not replace it with any other type of mat. In its November 2, 2009 recall announcement, Toyota appeared to claim the floor mats were solely at fault, stating, "The question of unintended acceleration involving Toyota and Lexus vehicles has been repeatedly and thoroughly investigated by NHTSA, without any finding of defect other than the risk from an unsecured or incompatible driver’s floor mat", but the NHTSA issued another statement stating, "This matter is not closed until Toyota has effectively addressed the defect", the letter was “inaccurate and misleading", and that, "removal of the floor mats is simply an interim measure, not a remedy of the underlying defect in the vehicles."
Affected vehicles for floor mat recall
According to Toyota USA, the floor mat recall is confined to the following models:- MYModel yearThe model year of a product is a number used worldwide, but with a high level of prominence in North America, to describe approximately when a product was produced, and indicates the coinciding base specification of that product....
2005–2010 Toyota AvalonToyota AvalonThe Toyota Avalon is a full-size car produced by Toyota in the United States, and is the flagship sedan of Toyota in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the Middle East. It was also produced in Australia from 2000 until July 2005 when it was replaced in November 2006 by the Toyota Aurion... - MY 2007–2010 Toyota CamryToyota CamryThe Toyota Camry is a series of mid-size automobiles manufactured by Toyota since 1982, and sold in the majority of automotive markets throughout the world...
- MY 2009–2010 Toyota CorollaToyota CorollaThe Toyota Corolla is a line of subcompact and compact cars manufactured by the Japanese automaker Toyota, which has become very popular throughout the world since the nameplate was first introduced in 1966. In 1997, the Corolla became the best selling nameplate in the world, with over 35 million...
- MY 2008–2010 Toyota HighlanderToyota HighlanderThe Toyota Highlander is a midsize crossover SUV produced by Toyota. It is a taller, heavier version of the Toyota Camry.Announced in April 2000 at the New York Auto Show and arriving in late 2000 in Japan and January, 2001, in North America, the Highlander became the first car-based midsize SUV or...
- MY 2009–2010 Toyota MatrixToyota MatrixThe Toyota Matrix, sometimes officially referred to as the Toyota Corolla Matrix, is a compact hatchback manufactured by the Toyota Motor Corporation in Canada, to be sold in the United States, Canada, and Mexico...
- MY 2004–2009 Toyota PriusToyota PriusThe Toyota Prius is a full hybrid electric mid-size hatchback, formerly a compact sedan developed and manufactured by the Toyota Motor Corporation...
- MY 2005–2010 Toyota TacomaToyota TacomaThe Toyota Tacoma is a pickup truck produced and manufactured by the Toyota Motor Corporation since 1995. The Tacoma was a compact pickup until a model redesign in 2005 when it was reclassified to a mid-size...
- MY 2007–2010 Toyota TundraToyota TundraThe Toyota Tundra is a full-size pickup truck introduced by Toyota in the year 2000. It was widely considered to be the first full-size import-brand truck built with an American look and feel and a refined V8 engine. The Tundra was eventually nominated for the North American Truck of the Year...
- MY 2009–2010 Toyota VenzaToyota VenzaThe Toyota Venza is a mid-size crossover SUV produced by Japanese automaker Toyota and unveiled at the 2008 North American International Auto Show in Detroit...
- MY 2007–2010 Lexus ES 350Lexus ESThe Lexus ES series is a family of mid-size luxury sedans sold by Lexus since 1989. Now in its fifth generation, the series has been consistently built on the Toyota Camry platform with a V6 engine, automatic transmission, and front-wheel drive...
- MY 2006–2010 Lexus IS 250/350Lexus ISThe Lexus IS is a series of entry-level luxury cars / compact executive cars sold by Lexus since 1998. The IS was introduced as an entry-level sport model slotted below the ES in the Lexus lineup...
- MY 2009–2010 Pontiac VibePontiac VibeThe Pontiac Vibe is a compact hatchback car that was produced in Fremont, California, in the United States by NUMMI , a joint venture between General Motors and Toyota, and marketed under General Motors' Pontiac brand...
Toyota UK states that the floor mat recall affects US models only.
Amended recall to include accelerator pedal
On November 25, 2009 Toyota amended its floor mat recall involving the same 3.8 millionvehicles sold in North America. Toyota will reconfigure the accelerator pedal, replace the all-weather floor mats with thinner mats, and install a brake override system to prevent unwanted acceleration. The brake override system, also called "brake to idle" and already a common design in German cars, allows the driver to override the accelerator by hitting the brakes. In a followup statement, the NHTSA announced the November 25, 2009 recall details as a "vehicle-based remedy" to address the floor mat pedal issue.
According to Toyota, the repair work done under the amended recall for floor mat incursion problems are as follows:
- The accelerator pedal will be shaved to reduce risk of floor mat entrapment.
- All-weather floor mats will be removed and replaced with a newly designed mat.
- A brake override system, which cuts engine power if both the accelerator and brake are detected as pressed, will be installed.
- A replacement pedal with the same shape as the modified pedal would be made available at a later date.
- For drivers who have existing all-weather floor mat but do not need or want the newly designed all-weather floor mat, the existing mat will be removed and the owner reimbursed.
In its November 25, 2009 announcement, Toyota stated that dealers would be instructed first on how to reshape the accelerator pedal for
the repair. Installation of the brake override began in January 2010 on Toyota Camry and Lexus ES 350 models, the vehicles with the most units included in the recall.
Accelerator pedal recall
On January 21, 2010, Toyota initiated a second recall, this time in response to reports of accelerator pedals sticking in cars without floor mats. The company had received three such complaints in 2009. In its recall announcement, Toyota stated that:The condition is rare and does not occur suddenly. It can occur when the pedal mechanism becomes worn and, in certain conditions, the accelerator pedal may become harder to depress, slower to return or, in the worst case, stuck in a partially depressed position.
A concurrent NHTSA press release identified the issue as the "Sticky Pedal Recall" and described the problem and remedy as follows:
- The accelerator pedal becomes harder to depress or slower to return to the closed position.
- The accelerator pedal may become stuck in partially depressed position.
- Should the pedal become stuck while driving, drivers should switch to neutral and stop.
- A repair fix would be applied by the manufacturer to prevent the sticky pedal condition.
- A new pedal would later be made available to replace repaired pedals.
The January 21 recall announcement for the accelerator pedal problem covered 2.3 million vehicles sold in the U.S. Toyota then widened the recall to include 1.8 million vehicles in Europe and 75,000 in China.
On January 26, Toyota announced that until they had finalized an appropriate remedy to address the potential for sticking accelerator pedals, sales would be suspended for selected vehicles.
On January 31, 2010 the Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. regulators cleared Toyota's proposed repair for the pedals and the company would resume production by February 8.
On February 1, 2010 Toyota said that its dealers should get parts to fix the sticky accelerator pedal by the end of the week.
Affected vehicles and vehicle lines
According to the manufacturer, Toyota's accelerator pedal recall and suspension of sales in North America is confined to the following vehicles (vehicles affected are based on certain Vehicle Identification Numbers):- MYModel yearThe model year of a product is a number used worldwide, but with a high level of prominence in North America, to describe approximately when a product was produced, and indicates the coinciding base specification of that product....
2005–2010 Toyota AvalonToyota AvalonThe Toyota Avalon is a full-size car produced by Toyota in the United States, and is the flagship sedan of Toyota in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the Middle East. It was also produced in Australia from 2000 until July 2005 when it was replaced in November 2006 by the Toyota Aurion... - MY 2007–2010 Toyota CamryToyota CamryThe Toyota Camry is a series of mid-size automobiles manufactured by Toyota since 1982, and sold in the majority of automotive markets throughout the world...
(excludes Camry Hybrid and some other models) - MY 2009–2010 Toyota CorollaToyota CorollaThe Toyota Corolla is a line of subcompact and compact cars manufactured by the Japanese automaker Toyota, which has become very popular throughout the world since the nameplate was first introduced in 1966. In 1997, the Corolla became the best selling nameplate in the world, with over 35 million...
* - MY 2010 Toyota HighlanderToyota HighlanderThe Toyota Highlander is a midsize crossover SUV produced by Toyota. It is a taller, heavier version of the Toyota Camry.Announced in April 2000 at the New York Auto Show and arriving in late 2000 in Japan and January, 2001, in North America, the Highlander became the first car-based midsize SUV or...
* (excludes Highlander Hybrid) - MY 2009–2010 Toyota MatrixToyota MatrixThe Toyota Matrix, sometimes officially referred to as the Toyota Corolla Matrix, is a compact hatchback manufactured by the Toyota Motor Corporation in Canada, to be sold in the United States, Canada, and Mexico...
- MY 2009–2010 Toyota RAV4Toyota RAV4The Toyota RAV4 is a compact crossover SUV from Toyota. It was the first compact crossover SUV, introduced in Japan and Europe in 1994 and beginning sales in North America in 1996...
* - MY 2008–2010 Toyota SequoiaToyota SequoiaThe Toyota Sequoia is a full-size SUV produced by Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana in Princeton, Indiana. It is derived from the Toyota Tundra pickup truck but differs in its use of an independent rear suspension. It is priced between the mid-size 4Runner and Toyota's flagship Land Cruiser...
- MY 2007–2010 Toyota TundraToyota TundraThe Toyota Tundra is a full-size pickup truck introduced by Toyota in the year 2000. It was widely considered to be the first full-size import-brand truck built with an American look and feel and a refined V8 engine. The Tundra was eventually nominated for the North American Truck of the Year...
On January 27, 2010, Toyota USA issued an expanded list of vehicles under recall including:
- MY 2008–2009 Toyota HighlanderToyota HighlanderThe Toyota Highlander is a midsize crossover SUV produced by Toyota. It is a taller, heavier version of the Toyota Camry.Announced in April 2000 at the New York Auto Show and arriving in late 2000 in Japan and January, 2001, in North America, the Highlander became the first car-based midsize SUV or...
* (excludes Highlander Hybrid) - MY 2009–2010 Toyota VenzaToyota VenzaThe Toyota Venza is a mid-size crossover SUV produced by Japanese automaker Toyota and unveiled at the 2008 North American International Auto Show in Detroit...
- * vehicles built in Japan use DensoDENSOis a global automotive components manufacturer headquartered in the city of Kariya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. Established December 16, 1949 as , in 1996 the company became DENSO Corporation worldwide...
pedals and are not subject to the recall
On January 29, 2010, the Toyota recall was extended to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. The number of vehicles likely to be affected in Europe was unconfirmed but Toyota said it may reach up to 1.8 million. At the time of recall there had been 30 incidents involving the accelerator pedal problem in Europe.
The vehicles affected in Europe are:
- Feb 2005 – Aug 2009 Toyota AygoToyota AygoThe Toyota Aygo is a city car sold by Toyota in Europe since 2005. All Aygos are built at the new factory of the Toyota Peugeot Citroën Automobile Czech joint venture in Kolin, Czech Republic. The Aygo was first displayed at the 2005 Salon de l'Automobile de Genève...
(automatic models only) - Nov 2008 – Nov 2009 Toyota iQToyota iQThe Toyota iQ is a city car introduced at the 2008 Geneva Auto Show, with Japanese sales having begun in October 2008 and European sales in January 2009. The production iQ followed a concept vehicle presented at the 2007 Frankfurt Auto Show. A North American version of the iQ, branded as the Scion...
- Nov 2005 – Sep 2009 Toyota YarisToyota YarisThe Toyota Yaris is a subcompact car produced by Toyota since 1999. Between 1999 and 2005, some markets received the same vehicles under the Toyota Echo name...
- Oct 2006 – Jan 2010 Toyota AurisToyota AurisThe Toyota Auris is a compact 3 door and 5 door hatchback which shares the same E150 platform with the Toyota Corolla.In Europe, Toyota positioned the Auris as the replacement of Corolla hatchback, while the notchback Sedan continued with the Corolla nameplate...
- Oct 2006 – Dec 2009 Toyota CorollaToyota CorollaThe Toyota Corolla is a line of subcompact and compact cars manufactured by the Japanese automaker Toyota, which has become very popular throughout the world since the nameplate was first introduced in 1966. In 1997, the Corolla became the best selling nameplate in the world, with over 35 million...
- Feb 2009 – Jan 2010 Toyota VersoToyota VersoThe Toyota Verso is a 5-door estate compact MPV by the Japanese automaker Toyota. The Verso was revealed at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show in March 2009 as the successor of the Toyota Corolla Verso...
- Nov 2008 – Dec 2009 Toyota AvensisToyota AvensisThe Toyota Avensis is a large family car built in Derbyshire, United Kingdom by Japanese carmaker Toyota since 1997. It is the direct successor to the Carina E and is available as a four-door saloon, five-door liftback and estate...
- Nov 2005 – Nov 2009 Toyota RAV4Toyota RAV4The Toyota RAV4 is a compact crossover SUV from Toyota. It was the first compact crossover SUV, introduced in Japan and Europe in 1994 and beginning sales in North America in 1996...
On January 30, 2010, PSA Peugeot Citroën
PSA Peugeot Citroën
PSA Peugeot Citroën is a French manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles sold under the Peugeot and Citroën marques. Headquartered in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, PSA is the second largest automaker based in Europe and the number eight in the world.-History:In December 1974 Peugeot S.A....
announced it was recalling cars built in a Czech plant, a joint venture
Toyota Peugeot Citroën Automobile Czech
Toyota Peugeot Citroën Automobile Czech is an automobile manufacturing company in Kolín, Czech Republic. It is a joint venture between Toyota Motor Corporation of Japan and PSA Peugeot Citroën of France. TPCA produces small cars for the European market. Production started in February, 2005,...
with Toyota. Although the company did not say when it would begin the recall, nor how many cars were affected, the plant in question, which produces the Peugeot 107
Peugeot 107
The Peugeot 107 is a city car produced by French automaker Peugeot since mid 2005.The 107 was developed by the B-Zero project of PSA Peugeot Citroën in a joint-venture with Toyota; the Citroën C1 and Toyota Aygo are badge engineered versions of the same car, although the Aygo has more detail...
, Citroën C1
Citroën C1
The Citroën C1 is a city car produced by the French manufacturer Citroën since 2005.The C1 was developed as part of the B-Zero project by PSA Peugeot Citroën in a joint-venture with Toyota. The Peugeot 107 is identical to the C1 other than the front bumper and front and rear lights, while the...
and the Toyota Aygo, produces 200,000 cars a year. On February 2, 2010, Toyota announced that the recalls could extend to Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, and the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, where Toyota said it had sold a total of 180,000 vehicles, although the company did not specify how many might be affected by a recall. On February 3, 2010, Toyota Australia announced that its accelerator pedals are made by a different supplier and that there is no need for a recall of Australian made vehicles.
History of accelerator pedal design
Automobile accelerator pedals have historically been mechanical assemblies which link the pedal to the engine throttleThrottle
A throttle is the mechanism by which the flow of a fluid is managed by constriction or obstruction. An engine's power can be increased or decreased by the restriction of inlet gases , but usually decreased. The term throttle has come to refer, informally and incorrectly, to any mechanism by which...
by mechanical linkages or a Bowden cable
Bowden cable
A Bowden cable is a type of flexible cable used to transmit mechanical force or energy by the movement of an inner cable relative to a hollow outer cable housing...
. With the advent of electronic throttle control
Electronic throttle control
Electronic throttle control is an automobile technology which severs the mechanical link between the accelerator pedal and the throttle. Most automobiles already use a throttle position sensor to provide input to traction control, antilock brakes, fuel injection, and other systems, but use a...
, accelerator pedals consist of a spring-loaded pedal arm connected to an electronic transducer
Transducer
A transducer is a device that converts one type of energy to another. Energy types include electrical, mechanical, electromagnetic , chemical, acoustic or thermal energy. While the term transducer commonly implies the use of a sensor/detector, any device which converts energy can be considered a...
. This transducer
Transducer
A transducer is a device that converts one type of energy to another. Energy types include electrical, mechanical, electromagnetic , chemical, acoustic or thermal energy. While the term transducer commonly implies the use of a sensor/detector, any device which converts energy can be considered a...
, typically a potentiometer
Potentiometer
A potentiometer , informally, a pot, is a three-terminal resistor with a sliding contact that forms an adjustable voltage divider. If only two terminals are used , it acts as a variable resistor or rheostat. Potentiometers are commonly used to control electrical devices such as volume controls on...
or
Hall effect sensor
Hall effect sensor
A Hall effect sensor is a transducer that varies its output voltage in response to a magnetic field. Hall effect sensors are used for proximity switching, positioning, speed detection, and current sensing applications....
, converts the position of the pedal arm to an electronic signal which is sent to an electronic control unit
Electronic control unit
In automotive electronics, electronic control unit is a generic term for any embedded system that controls one or more of the electrical systems or subsystems in a motor vehicle....
(ECU).
The older mechanically designed accelerator pedals not only provided a spring return, but the mechanism inherently provided some friction
Friction
Friction is the force resisting the relative motion of solid surfaces, fluid layers, and/or material elements sliding against each other. There are several types of friction:...
. This friction introduced mechanical hysteresis
Hysteresis
Hysteresis is the dependence of a system not just on its current environment but also on its past. This dependence arises because the system can be in more than one internal state. To predict its future evolution, either its internal state or its history must be known. If a given input alternately...
into the pedal force versus pedal position transfer function
Transfer function
A transfer function is a mathematical representation, in terms of spatial or temporal frequency, of the relation between the input and output of a linear time-invariant system. With optical imaging devices, for example, it is the Fourier transform of the point spread function i.e...
. Put more simply, once the pedal was set at a specific position, the friction would help keep the pedal at this setting. This made it easier for the driver to maintain a pedal position. For example, if the driver's foot is slightly jostled
by a bump in road, the accelerator pedal would tend to stay at its setting. While these old purely mechanical designs did have some
friction, the return spring force was always designed to overcome this friction with a considerable safety margin. The return spring force ensured that throttle returned to zero if the pedal force applied by the driver was reduced or removed.
With electronic accelerator pedals, there was little inherent friction because of the simplicity of the mechanical design. The tactile pedal response of only a spring force with no hysteresis can make it more difficult for a driver to maintain an accelerator pedal position. Manufacturers of electronic accelerator pedals designed their pedals with additional parts to recreate the tactile response of the older mechanical accelerator pedals. To quote from CTS Corporation's 2004 US patent application:
...drivers generally prefer the feel, i.e., the tactile response, of conventional cable-driven throttle systems. Designers have therefore attempted to address this preference with mechanisms for emulating the tactile response of cable-driven accelerator pedals.
The Toyota electronic accelerator pedals contain a special friction device made of nylon 4/6 or polyphenylene sulfide within the pedal assembly to recreate the tactile response of older pedals. According to the Toyota recall information, it is this device, which in some instances, has been preventing the accelerator pedal from returning to zero. To quote from the Toyota recall
FAQ:
The issue involves a friction device in the pedal designed to provide the proper “feel” by adding resistance and making the pedal steady and stable. This friction device includes a “shoe” that rubs against an adjoining surface during normal pedal operation. Due to the materials used, wear and environmental conditions, these surfaces may, over time, begin to stick and release instead of operating smoothly. In some cases, friction could increase to a point that the pedal is slow to return to the idle position or, in rare cases, the pedal sticks, leaving the throttle partially open.
According to Toyota, the tactile response friction device in the affected Toyota electronic accelerator pedals sometimes creates too much friction. This excess friction either slows the pedal return or completely stops it. In the worst case, once a pedal is pushed to a specific setting, it stays at the setting even if the driver removes their foot from the pedal. Early reports, in
March 2007, involved the Tundra pickup truck, which used nylon 4/6 in the friction lever.
Some questions and confusion exist if the Toyota explanation fully accounts for all instances of the unintended acceleration involving Toyota vehicles. CTS Corporation, the American manufacturer of the electronic accelerator pedals that Toyota claims are at fault, has announced that:
The problem of sudden unintended acceleration has been reported to have existed in some LexusLexusis the luxury vehicle division of Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corporation. First introduced in 1989 in the United States, Lexus is now sold globally and has become Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. The Lexus marque is marketed in over 70 countries and territories worldwide, and has...
vehicles and Toyota vehicles going back to 1999, when CTS did not even make this product for any customer, CTS believes that the rare slow return pedal phenomenon, which may occur in extreme environmental conditions, should absolutely not be linked with any sudden unintended acceleration incidents. CTS is also not aware of any accidents and injuries caused by the rare slow return pedal condition, to the best of its knowledge. CTS wishes to clarify that it does not, and has never made, any accelerator pedals for Lexus vehicles and that CTS also has no accelerator pedals in Toyota vehicles prior to model year 2005.
In June 2010, Chrysler
Chrysler
Chrysler Group LLC is a multinational automaker headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925....
also recalled 35,000 Dodge
Dodge
Dodge is a United States-based brand of automobiles, minivans, and sport utility vehicles, manufactured and marketed by Chrysler Group LLC in more than 60 different countries and territories worldwide....
and Jeep
Jeep
Jeep is an automobile marque of Chrysler . The first Willys Jeeps were produced in 1941 with the first civilian models in 1945, making it the oldest off-road vehicle and sport utility vehicle brand. It inspired a number of other light utility vehicles, such as the Land Rover which is the second...
models for sticky gas pedals made by CTS Corporation. Chrysler stated that the CTS pedals have pivot bushings that may dislodge, causing the accelerator to become stuck or slow to return to idle.
Field workaround for sudden unintended acceleration
Different "workarounds," user actions that ameliorate or prevent a negative, previously unforeseen circumstance, have been suggested as temporary fixes:- Putting the car's transmission in neutral during out-of-control acceleration disengages the gears;
name='Fresno'>
- Turning the ignition to the ACC (accessory) position, which, while cutting power to the engine, will also disable the power steering and the brake assist.
- Turning the ignition key to the OFF position, which will also cut power, but may cause lockage of the steering wheels and will also disable the power steering and the brake assist.
On whether braking alone may fail to stop affected vehicles, a driver account in the Los Angeles Times claimed that the attempt to stop a 2005 Camry was unsuccessful with both the brake
Brake
A brake is a mechanical device which inhibits motion. Its opposite component is a clutch. The rest of this article is dedicated to various types of vehicular brakes....
and emergency brake
Hand brake
In cars, the hand brake is a latching brake usually used to keep the car stationary, and in manual transmission vehicles, as an aid to starting the vehicle from stopped when going up an incline - with one foot on the clutch , the other on the accelerator In cars, the hand brake (emergency brake,...
. However, tests of the Camry by Car and Driver in 2009, attempting to use the brakes to stop acceleration of a purposely-stuck throttle at 70, 100, and 120 mph, found that the test driver was able to reduce speed to 10 mph in all instances, and in the 70 and 100 mph tests, stop the car completely. The Camry's braking distances with a purposely-stuck accelerator were also shorter than that of the Ford Taurus' regular stopping distance. Car and Driver concluded that, based on their emergency stopping tests, the Camry's brakes could overcome the accelerator in all cases even without a brake override, and that stopping distances with a wide-open throttle were largely indiscernible from regular braking.
In 2010, Edmunds.com also tested the stopping distances of a Toyota Camry SE V6 with a purposely stuck wide-open throttle. Their tests found that the car's brakes could override a stuck accelerator and bring the car to a stop. Although the transmission downshifted and the engine continued to propel the car, stopping distance compared "favorably to a normal panic stop on wet asphalt." Edmunds.com did note that switching to neutral was the best option, given that average drivers may not press the brakes as firmly, and lighter presses will simply wear the brakes down. The German Commission on Technical Compliance (TÜV
Tuv
Tuv may refer to the following geographical locations:*Töv Province in Mongolia*Tuv in Hemsedal municipality, Buskerud, Norway*Tuv in Bodø municipality, Nordland, NorwayTUV may also refer to the following:*Tuvalu, a Pacific Island nation...
) of Rheinland also tested the stopping distance of Toyota iQ, Aygo, Yaris, Auris, Verso, Avensis and RAV4 models. With the accelerator purposely jammed to 80% of maximum speed, each vehicle was able to brake safely to a halt. The TÜV findings indicated that each model met the legal requirements for deceleration and stopping distances, and that all Toyota models tested had brakes which could override a stuck accelerator.
Anti-lock brake software recall
On February 3, 2010, the NHTSA announced that it had received reports from 102 drivers of possible problems related to the braking system on the MYModel year
The model year of a product is a number used worldwide, but with a high level of prominence in North America, to describe approximately when a product was produced, and indicates the coinciding base specification of that product....
2010 Toyota Prius
Toyota Prius
The Toyota Prius is a full hybrid electric mid-size hatchback, formerly a compact sedan developed and manufactured by the Toyota Motor Corporation...
, while an additional 14 such reports had been received in Japan. Three of these reports claimed that brake problems had led to the car crashing, with one accident in July 2009 occurring when a Prius crashed head on into another car injuring two people. The Prius was not involved in Toyota's second recall, although it had been involved in the first recall involving floor mats. Toyota said that it was investigating the reports, and that it would be "premature to comment." On February 3, 2010 the Japanese Transport Ministry began conducting an investigation on the redesigned Prius, and Toyota said that it was aware of 77 Prius brake complaints in Japan. On February 4, 2010, the NHTSA announced it had opened an investigation into the issues with the Prius's brakes, which Toyota said was caused by a software glitch. The company said it was looking into the best way to solve the problem. An internal NHTSA memo indicated that the issue was the "short delay" in regenerative braking when hitting a bump, resulting in increased stopping distance.
On February 6, 2010, Toyota said that it had fixed the braking problem on Prius models built since late January 2010 via a software update for the ABS system to improve brake response. On the same day, a Japanese newspaper reported that Toyota had contacted dealers in Japan about their intent to recall all affected vehicles. While it was unclear if the same step would be taken elsewhere, American dealers had been told that Toyota was planning on repairing the vehicles. On February 8, Toyota announced a voluntary global recall of MY
Model year
The model year of a product is a number used worldwide, but with a high level of prominence in North America, to describe approximately when a product was produced, and indicates the coinciding base specification of that product....
2010 Prius models produced through late January 2010. The affected vehicles will receive a software update for the brakes and its ABS
Anti-lock braking system
An anti-lock braking system is a safety system that allows the wheels on a motor vehicle to continue interacting tractively with the road surface as directed by driver steering inputs while braking, preventing the wheels from locking up and therefore avoiding skidding.An ABS generally offers...
system. In total, Toyota recalled three hybrid vehicles to reprogram the anti-lock braking (ABS) software. In February 2010, a US federal court in New York began the process of determining if there is probable cause to charge Toyota criminally for the way it has handled the Prius' brake recall, and a civil class action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of 2010 Prius hybrid owners. A total of 133,000 Prius vehicles in the U.S. and 52,000 in Europe are to receive the same software update. Guardian.co.uk
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
reports that this affects the third-generation Prius built before January 27, 2010.
Affected vehicles for anti-lock brake software recall
- Toyota SaiToyota SaiThe Toyota Sai is a sister model sharing the same platform and hybrid drivetrain with Lexus HS. It was launched in Japan on October 20, 2009. Toyota received about 14,000 orders in one month after its introduction. It is a hybrid....
- MYModel yearThe model year of a product is a number used worldwide, but with a high level of prominence in North America, to describe approximately when a product was produced, and indicates the coinciding base specification of that product....
2010 Toyota PriusToyota PriusThe Toyota Prius is a full hybrid electric mid-size hatchback, formerly a compact sedan developed and manufactured by the Toyota Motor Corporation... - MY 2010 Lexus HS 250h
Other recalls
On February 8, 2009 Toyota announced a recall of approximately 7,300 early 2010 model year 4-cylinder Camrys due to the possibility of the power steering hose rubbing into the front brake line which may cause a brake fluid leak.On February 3, 2010 Toyota recalled approximately 153,000 vehicles from model years 2005 to 2011 for failing to comply with requirements of FMVSS 110, "Tire Selection and Rims", due to missing load carrying capacity labels.
On February 12, 2010 Toyota recalled approximately 8,000 2010 model year 4WD Tacoma trucks for potential front drive shaft issues. The recall involves inspecting a drive shaft component which if cracked will be replaced. The Tacoma pickups were built between mid-December 2009 and early February 2010. Most affected vehicles have not been sold.
Another recall for frame corrosion recall was confined to the following model(s): MY 2000–2003 Toyota Tundra
Toyota Tundra
The Toyota Tundra is a full-size pickup truck introduced by Toyota in the year 2000. It was widely considered to be the first full-size import-brand truck built with an American look and feel and a refined V8 engine. The Tundra was eventually nominated for the North American Truck of the Year...
. According to Toyota USA, frame corrosion could allow spare tires or the fuel tank to fall off the vehicle.
On July 7, 2010 Toyota recalled 270,000 Lexus and Crown vehicles worldwide for improperly manufactured valve springs. According to Toyota, the condition can cause rough idling and potential engine stalling.
On October 21, 2010 Toyota announced a recall of 1.53 million vehicles (740,000 in the U.S, 599,000 in Japan, and 191,000 in Europe and other markets) worldwide; the recall effects MY 2005 and 2006 Avalon, MY 2004 to 2006 Highlander (non-hybrid) and Lexus RX330 and MY 2006 Lexus GS300, IS250 and IS350; the models affected in Japan and elsewhere (except the U.S) include MY 2002 to 2006 Toyota Crown, Crown Majesta, Harrier, Mark X, Alphard, Kluger and Lexus GS350, IS250 and IS350. The recall concerns brake fluid leakage from the master cylinder (U.S market and non U.S marketed Toyota Crown and Lexus GS350) and an electrical problem with the fuel pump, which would cause engine stalling (all markets except the U.S).
Investigations
Numerous investigations have taken place, including those by the U.S. NHTSA and Japanese transport ministry. The difficulty of investigations is compounded by the fact that driver error can be a possibility in certain cases. The Wall Street Journal reported, "Even when dealers and auto makers suspect driver error, it is difficult for them to outright blame their customers for fear of alienating them or appearing insensitive", which USA Today also suggested. Questions about why cases are mainly in the U.S. have also been raised by international investigations; German publication Der SpiegelDer Spiegel
Der Spiegel is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. It is one of Europe's largest publications of its kind, with a weekly circulation of more than one million.-Overview:...
reported that similar accidents have rarely occurred outside North America, and although there have been some reports of stuck Toyota gas pedals in Germany, all drivers braked successfully without loss of life.
In another U.S. incident, on December 26, 2009, four people died in Southlake, Texas
Southlake, Texas
Southlake is a city in northeast Tarrant and southeast Denton counties, Texas. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 26,575. A suburb of Fort Worth and Dallas, Southlake is known for exemplary public schools, Southlake Town Square, and Carroll High School's 7-time state champion football...
, a suburb of Dallas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
, when their 2008 Toyota Avalon
Toyota Avalon
The Toyota Avalon is a full-size car produced by Toyota in the United States, and is the flagship sedan of Toyota in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the Middle East. It was also produced in Australia from 2000 until July 2005 when it was replaced in November 2006 by the Toyota Aurion...
sped off the road and through a fence, landing upside down in a pond. The car's floor mats were found in the trunk of the car, where owners had been advised to put them as part of the recall. According to the police report, the driver suffered from epilepsy
Epilepsy
Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by seizures. These seizures are transient signs and/or symptoms of abnormal, excessive or hypersynchronous neuronal activity in the brain.About 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, and nearly two out of every three new cases...
, but investigators could not rule out either a vehicle defect or the possibility that the driver had suffered a seizure
Seizure
An epileptic seizure, occasionally referred to as a fit, is defined as a transient symptom of "abnormal excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain". The outward effect can be as dramatic as a wild thrashing movement or as mild as a brief loss of awareness...
.
On Feb 17, 2010, US safety regulators launched an investigation into Corolla steering complaints. Following the widespread media publicity of the recalls, several media publications suggested that investigations of subsequent reports would have consider the possibility of "copycat complaints" and hoax
Hoax
A hoax is a deliberately fabricated falsehood made to masquerade as truth. It is distinguishable from errors in observation or judgment, or rumors, urban legends, pseudosciences or April Fools' Day events that are passed along in good faith by believers or as jokes.-Definition:The British...
es, with potential complainants seeking to capitalize on possible settlement money, or affected by the psychological bandwagon effect
Bandwagon effect
The bandwagon effect is a well documented form of groupthink in behavioral science and has many applications. The general rule is that conduct or beliefs spread among people, as fads and trends clearly do, with "the probability of any individual adopting it increasing with the proportion who have...
of the mass publicity.
On March 14, 2010, the Norwegian government considered whether to ban Priuses from roads in Norway pending an investigation after a near fatal incident involving a senior citizen. On March 29, after receipt of technical and other information, police indicted
Indictment
An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...
the driver involved in the Prius incident for making "a false emergency call to police".
The use of vehicle event data recorders and video surveillance also proved beneficial to investigators, with findings of driver error in a March 9, 2010 Prius alleged sudden acceleration crash, where a 56-year-old housekeeper claimed to have braked but was recorded pressing the wrong pedal, and also in a March 29, 2010 Camry alleged sudden acceleration crash, where a 76-year-old driver claimed to have braked, but was filmed not doing so until after impact.
NHTSA investigations
NHTSA data shows that there was an annual average of 26 abrupt acceleration reports in 1999–2001 Toyota Camry and Lexus ES models. This number increased by more than 400% to a total of 132 annually in 2002–2004 models, which were designed with new electronic throttles. Toyota responded by stating,Six times in the past six years NHTSA 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.
In 2004, the NHTSA launched a probe of throttle control systems on around 1 million Lexus and Toyota sedans. Upon that probe, Toyota urged the NHTSA to define the issues as quick bursts where the engine surged to "something less than a wide-open throttle." The company compared the complaints to previous sudden unintended acceleration cases the NHTSA deemed "driver error." It also said the computer could not open the throttle without the accelerator pedal pressed, and, the brakes would be able to stop the car anyway.
After several months of investigating, the NHTSA said it found no evidence of a defect and there was no data indicated any bad parts. Christopher Santucci, an employee of Toyota's Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
office and a NHTSA employee until he was hired by Toyota in 2003, testified that he was informed by the NHTSA in March 2004 about pending investigation over unintended acceleration complaints. According to Santucci in his deposition, his former NHTSA colleagues decided not to investigate some incidents involving acceleration lasting longer than 1 second. The decision to exclude certain incidents from the investigation apparently reduced the significance of the issue to the NHTSA at least on paper. However, in 2005, 2006 and 2008, Toyota customers again asked the NHTSA to investigate uncontrolled acceleration from electronic throttle controls and power steering issues. Although there were hundreds of complaints, the NHTSA found no evidence of defects; and in every case, Toyota provided data it said showed no such evidence.
On November 2, 2009, the NHTSA denied a petition to reopen previously closed unintended investigations of Toyota vehicles, stating they were unlikely to reach any new conclusions.
In February 2010, however NHTSA was again looking into the electronic throttle control systems on Toyota vehicles. In February 2010, State Farm
State farm
State farm can refer to:*Sovkhoz, a type of state-owned farm in the Soviet Union*Volkseigenes Gut, a type of state-owned farm in East Germany*Państwowe Gospodarstwo Rolne, a type of state-owned farm in People's Republic of Poland...
insurance revealed that it had warned NHTSA in late 2007 on an increased trend of Toyota accidents related to the recalled models; other insurers stated however that they had not seen such a trend. On June 1, 2010, the NHTSA opened an investigation into reports that floor mats were jamming accelerators in Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan
Mercury Milan
The Mercury Milan is a mid-size sedan based on the Mazda designed Ford CD3 platform built by Ford Motor Company and distributed by the Lincoln-Mercury division. It is a twin of the Ford Fusion, while being slotted below the luxury-spec Lincoln MKZ sedan...
sedans. On June 30, 2010, NHTSA reported on its latest broad study of unintended acceleration on all car makes, including Toyota, in conjunction with NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
and the National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
. NHTSA stated that it was unable to find electronic throttle defects, but identified floor mat entrapment and pedals that were slow to return to idle as two causes of Toyota complaints. NHTSA also stated it could only verify one Toyota unintended acceleration accident caused by a vehicle defect. On July 14, 2010, the Wall Street Journal reported that NHTSA investigations of 75 accidents alleged to sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles had found driver error as the primary cause in all but one case attributed to floor mats. Black box recorder data found that during these crashes, the throttle was open and brakes not pressed. On July 30, the Wall Street Journal quoted the former head of NHTSA's Recall Management Division stating that the investigation "has become very political", with Department of Transportation
Department of Transportation
The Department of Transportation is the most common name for a government agency in North America devoted to transportation. The largest is the United States Department of Transportation, which oversees interstate travel. All U.S. states, Canadian provinces, and many local agencies also have...
officials "hoping against hope that they find something that points back to a flaw". Although the NHTSA study finding driver error was reportedly complete, DOT officials had blocked its release.
On February 8, 2011, NASA and the NHTSA announced the findings of a ten-month study concerning the causes of the Toyota malfunctions of 2009. According to their findings, there were no electronic faults in the cars that could have caused the sudden-acceleration problems.
"The jury is back, the verdict is in: There is no electronic-based cause for unintended
high-speed acceleration in Toyotas, period," Transportation Department Secretary Ray LaHood declared in the LA Times.
MLIT investigations
Hiroko Tabuchi writing in the New York Times claims that problematic vehicles may have been accurately reported in Japan due to police correctly blaming driver error, as no verified unintended acceleration case exists. The Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) released its findings of sudden acceleration complaints in February 2010, finding that of the 134 cases logged by the ministry between 2007 and 2009, Toyota accounted for 38 cases (28.3% of all reported). Because Toyota's market share was approximately 27.8% of all passenger cargo vehicles, the MLIT noted that no particularly unusual rate was found among these complaints.US congressional hearings
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee held hearings in February 2010. Retired social worker Rhonda Smith testified before Congress that her car accelerated out of control but the NHTSA investigator determined that a misplaced floor mat had caused the problem; the subsequent owner of the car reported no trouble after driving the car over 27,000 miles.In a February 2010 letter to Toyota, US congressional investigators "said a review of consumer complaints produced by Toyota shows that company personnel identified sticking pedals or floor mats as the cause of only 16 percent of the unintended acceleration reports". Several media reports later claimed that Toyota had announced that the recalls will not completely solve the gas pedal problems. On February 24, 2010, Toyota responded that it "has rigorously tested its solutions" and are "confident" with the recall repairs, but that it would continue to monitor other possible contributing factors for unintended acceleration, including mechanical, electronics, and driver error. Akio Toyoda
Akio Toyoda
is the president and CEO of Toyota Motor Corporation.He received his MBA from Babson College.- Career :Akio Toyoda joined Toyota in 1984. In 2000 he joined Toyota's board of directors. In 2005 he was promoted to executive vice president....
, the president and CEO of Toyota, issued the following statement in regards to the recalled vehicles:
In early 2010, the US government began considering requiring all vehicles sold in the US to have accelerator override built into their brake systems.
Research groups have questioned whether Toyota would "get off easily" because of its large investment in lobbying in Washington, with close ties to the congressional representatives who will lead inquiries into the company's string of safety problems. Other publications noted that half the Democratic congressional members involved in the hearings had received campaign contributions from the United Auto Workers
United Auto Workers
The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers , is a labor union which represents workers in the United States and Puerto Rico, and formerly in Canada. Founded as part of the Congress of Industrial...
union, a major stockholder of Toyota's top U.S. rival, General Motors.
US governors' letter to congressional members
On February 10, 2010, four bipartisan US governors from the states of Kentucky, Indiana, Mississippi, and Alabama which Toyota operates plants wrote a letter to Congress commenting about "the federal government's obvious conflict of interest because of its huge financial stake in some of its competitors," referring to Toyota as a "victim" of the media's "aggressive and questionable news coverage". The letter also noted there were "16.4 million recalls in the auto industry for 2009", "many as serious or more serious" than Toyota's recall.Aftermath
Toyota stopped producing vehicles on certain production lines for the week ofFebruary 1, 2010, to assess and coordinate activities. The North
America vehicle production facilities affected were located in
Cambridge
Cambridge, Ontario
Cambridge is a city located in Southern Ontario at the confluence of the Grand and Speed rivers in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It is an amalgamation of the City of Galt, the towns of Preston and Hespeler, and the hamlet of Blair.Galt covers the largest portion of...
and Woodstock, Ontario
Woodstock, Ontario
Woodstock is a city and the county seat of Oxford County in Southern Ontario, Canada. Woodstock is located 128 km southwest of Toronto, north of Highway 401 along the historic Thames River...
,
Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, (where Corolla, Matrix, and RAV4 models are produced),
Princeton, Indiana
Princeton, Indiana
The median income for a household in the city was $26,689, and the median income for a family was $37,308. Males had a median income of $28,076 versus $19,825 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,049...
(Sequoia and Highlander), Georgetown, Kentucky
Georgetown, Kentucky
Georgetown is a city in Scott County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 29,098 at the 2010 census. The original settlement of Lebanon, founded by Rev. Elijah Craig, was renamed in 1790 in honor of President George Washington. It is the home of Georgetown College, a private liberal arts...
(Camry and Avalon), and San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
(Tundra). In addition to recalled vehicles, Toyota announced that it would install brake override systems on all Toyota, Lexus, and Scion vehicles by the end of 2010.
On February 3, 2010, United States Transportation
Secretary Ray LaHood
Ray LaHood
Raymond H. "Ray" LaHood is a Republican politician from Illinois who is currently the United States Secretary of Transportation, having served since 2009. Previously, he represented the Illinois's 18th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives for seven terms .-Early life and...
advised owners of vehicles affected by the
recall to "stop driving" their vehicles until it can be fixed by a
dealer. LaHood later retracted his statement stating it was "obviously,
a misstatement." Secretary La Hood's statement was criticized by some media columnists for suspected conflict-of-interest due to the U.S. government's auto bailout partial ownership of Toyota's domestic rivals, General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
and Chrysler
Chrysler
Chrysler Group LLC is a multinational automaker headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925....
.
Economic impact
The recall came at a difficult time for Toyota, as it was struggling to emerge from therecession and had already suffered from a resultant decrease in sales and the low exchange rate
Exchange rate
In finance, an exchange rate between two currencies is the rate at which one currency will be exchanged for another. It is also regarded as the value of one country’s currency in terms of another currency...
from yen to US dollar. On the day that the recall was announced
in the US, it was announced that 750 jobs will be cut at Toyota's
British plant at Burnaston
Burnaston
Burnaston is a village located in Derbyshire, just south of the city of Derby.The village is famous for its huge Toyota car plant - one of several British car plants built by Japanese carmakers as part of cost-saving measures to avoid such expenses as import duties and shipping costs...
, near Derby
Derby
Derby , is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407...
.
to a month in revenue, a
total loss of across the country from the entire
incident. Additionally, Toyota Motors as a whole
announced that it could face losses totaling as much as from
lost output and sales worldwide. Between 25 January
and 29 January 2010 Toyota shares fell in value by 15%.
According to analysts, Toyota owners (including owners of cars not recalled) may also be economically affected by the recall, as the damage to Toyota's reputation could negatively affect the resale value of used cars.
Manufacturer changes
In addition to its recall efforts, a new global quality committee to coordinate defect analysis and future recall announcements was announced by Toyota in early 2010, along with a Swift Market Analysis Response Team ("SMART") in the U.S. to conduct on-site vehicle inspections, expanded Event Data RecorderEvent Data Recorder
An event data recorder or EDR is a device installed in some automobiles to record information related to vehicle crashes or accidents. In modern diesel trucks, EDRs are triggered by electronically sensed problems in the engine , or a sudden change in wheel speed. One or more of these conditions...
usage and readers, third-party quality consultation, and increased driver safety education initiatives. Industry analysts noted that the recall response was a challenge for the The Toyota Way
The Toyota Way
The Toyota Way is a set of principles and behaviors that underlie the Toyota Motor Corporation's managerial approach and production system. Toyota first summed up its philosophy, values and manufacturing ideals in 2001, calling it “The Toyota Way 2001.” It consists of principles in two key areas:...
manufacturing philosophy, because the recalled parts were not due to factory errors or quality control problems, but rather because of design issues leading to consumer complaints. As a result, better communication of consumer issues with management was needed; the global quality committee aimed to be more responsive to consumer concerns.
Competitor reactions
One day after Toyota's announced sale suspension General Motors began offering a cash rebate targeted toward Toyota owners. By February 1, 2010 Ford, ChryslerChrysler
Chrysler Group LLC is a multinational automaker headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925....
and Hyundai
Hyundai
Hyundai ) is a global conglomerate company, part of the Korean chaebol, that was founded in South Korea by one of the most famous businessmen in Korean history: Chung Ju-yung...
were offering similar incentives.
Release of Toyota driver jailed for fatal crash
In February 2010, a motion for retrial was submitted on behalf of a MinnesotaMinnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
man, Koua Fong Lee, who, in 2008, was sentenced to eight years in jail for rear-ending a car, killing three of the five occupants and injuring the other two. This happened in June 2006 when he was driving home from church with his family and exiting the highway. Koua insists that his 1996 Toyota Camry sped up to between 70 and 90 mph despite heavy braking. In May 2010, a vehicle inspector hired by attorneys for the convicted man reported finding problems with the car's accelerator system.
At least two of the jurors from the 2008 trial have questioned the guilty verdict, and one of the injured survivors has filed suit against Toyota and the local dealership that sold the car, stating he believes that the imprisoned man should be set free. In June 2010, the County Prosecutor opposed a new trial, stating that she sees no evidence that Koua's Camry experienced "sudden unintended acceleration", and a US District Court Judge has until September 2010 to decide whether or not Koua should be re-tried In August, 2010, the judge ruled that Koua would be re-tried but the prosecutor declined to prosecute. Prior to the ruling, the prosecutor offered release but with the condition that he would still have a felony conviction on his record, barring him from driving privileges for ten years, and that he would be jailed if arrested for anything else. Koua did not agree to such conditions. In August 2010, a Minnesota judge freed Koua from prison and the local prosecutor says she would immediately drop the charges.
Media coverage and criticism
The resulting media coverage from the Toyota recalls came under scrutiny from automotive and general publications. Toyota came in for extensive criticism, with commentators suggesting that emphasis on profits had resulted in manufacturing defects, while AutoWeekAutoWeek
AutoWeek is a fortnightly automotive enthusiast publication based in Detroit, Michigan. One of 32 titles published by Crain Communications Inc, its parent company, AutoWeek is unique as the only consumer title among its sister publications....
, Car and Driver
Car and Driver
Car and Driver is an American automotive enthusiast magazine. Its total circulation is 1.31 million. It is owned by Hearst Magazines, who purchased prior owner Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. in 2011...
, Motor Trend
Motor Trend
Motor Trend is an American automobile magazine. It first appeared in September 1949, issued by Petersen Publishing Company in Los Angeles, and bearing the tag line "The Magazine for a Motoring World". Petersen Publishing was sold to British publisher EMAP in 1998, who sold the former Petersen...
, and Popular Mechanics
Popular Mechanics
Popular Mechanics is an American magazine first published January 11, 1902 by H. H. Windsor, and has been owned since 1958 by the Hearst Corporation...
ran editorials criticizing alleged disproportionate coverage of the recalls, with the sentiment echoed in Automotive News
Automotive News
Automotive News is a weekly newspaper written for 65,000 automotive retailers, suppliers and manufacturers. It is based in Detroit and owned by Crain Communications Inc. The brand has a team of more than 50 editors and reporters worldwide.- History :...
, BusinessWeek
BusinessWeek
Bloomberg Businessweek, commonly and formerly known as BusinessWeek, is a weekly business magazine published by Bloomberg L.P. It is currently headquartered in New York City.- History :...
, and the National Post
National Post
The National Post is a Canadian English-language national newspaper based in Don Mills, a district of Toronto. The paper is owned by Postmedia Network Inc. and is published Mondays through Saturdays...
. In February 2010, Car and Driver executive editor Mike Dushane wrote that the "media circus
Media circus
Media circus is a colloquial metaphor, or idiom, describing a news event where the media coverage is perceived to be out of proportion to the event being covered, such as the number of reporters at the scene, the amount of news media published or broadcast, and the level of media hype...
" overlooked the fact that "the numbers don't reveal a meaningful problem", with the alleged fatality risk at about 1 in 200,000 recalled Toyota vehicles, versus a 1 in 8,000 risk of a fatal car accident in any car in the U.S., and that "it's critical to note that the lack of such a throttle kill isn't a defect. It isn't Toyota's responsibility to account for every possible stupid thing people might do in a car." On February 10, AutoWeek executive editor Wes Raynal noted that following the recalls, U.S. media reports focused on any Toyota-related complaint as a manufacturer defect, without regard for the actual prevalence and the possibility of alternative explanations, such as driver inattentiveness or erroneous perceptions. Motor Trend editor-at-large Arthur St. Antoine also wrote that the recalls had become the "panic du jour" and faulted CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
's reporting for not asking about driver skills, being on the cellphone, or texting as causes of accidents.
On February 4, 2010, Consumer Reports
Consumer Reports
Consumer Reports is an American magazine published monthly by Consumers Union since 1936. It publishes reviews and comparisons of consumer products and services based on reporting and results from its in-house testing laboratory. It also publishes cleaning and general buying guides...
director of automobile testing David Champion also suggested that the media coverage was disproportionate to the problem, stating that "When you look at the statistics we are putting an awful lot of effort on a very small risk," noting that the frequency of unintended acceleration complaints was approximately 1 in 10,000 out of 20 million Toyotas on the road. On February 10, Toyota dealers in the five-state Southeast region pulled all advertising from ABC stations in protest of "excessive" reporting on the Toyota recalls. According to news analysis by the Project for Excellence in Journalism
Project for Excellence in Journalism
The Project for Excellence in Journalism is a non-profit research organization in the US that uses empirical methods to evaluate and study the performance of the press. It asserts that it is "non partisan, non ideological and non political"...
, the Toyota recalls were the #5 most reported story on U.S. news for the week of January 25–31, 2010, at 4% of all coverage; the following week of February 1–7, 2010, the story reached #2, at 11% of all news coverage. The Associated Press reported on March 5, 2010 that "relentless media coverage" of the Toyota recalls may lead to mass hysteria and an increase in alleged crashes and complaints. Further analysis of the NHTSA complaint database also revealed that many acceleration complaints featured multiple factors, including DUI
DUI
DUI is a three letter acronym that may stand for:* Driving under the influence * Democratic Union for Integration — the largest ethnic Albanian party in the Republic of Macedonia* Data Use Identifier...
and reckless driving
Reckless driving
Reckless driving is a major moving traffic violation. As a legal term, it is used within the United States. This offence has been abolished in the United Kingdom and replaced...
, which were typically not disclosed in news reports. In July 2010, Forbes faulted the Los Angeles Times for inaccurately reporting on an alleged Toyota runaway crash by failing to mention that the involved driver was indicted for vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence
Driving under the influence
Driving under the influence is the act of driving a motor vehicle with blood levels of alcohol in excess of a legal limit...
of marijuana.
James Sikes alleged unintended acceleration case
On March 8, 2010, a 2008 Prius allegedly uncontrollably accelerated to 94 miles per hour on a California Highway (US), and the Prius had to be stopped with the verbal assistance of the California Highway Patrol as news cameras watched. The incident received national news coverage, with initial reporting including inaccurate information about the event, such as the claim that a CHP car was used to physically block Sikes' vehicle. Subsequent investigations uncovered suspicious information about the alleged runaway Prius driver, 61-year-old James Sikes, including being behind in his Prius car payments and with in accumulated debtDebt
A debt is an obligation owed by one party to a second party, the creditor; usually this refers to assets granted by the creditor to the debtor, but the term can also be used metaphorically to cover moral obligations and other interactions not based on economic value.A debt is created when a...
. Sikes stated he wanted a new car as compensation for the incident. Analyses by Edmunds.com
Edmunds.com
Edmunds.com is a provider of automotive information via Web sites, books, and other media. The company is headquartered in Santa Monica, California and maintains an office outside of Detroit, Michigan...
and Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
found Sikes' acceleration claims and fears of shifting to neutral implausible, with Edmunds concluding that "in other words, this is BS", and Michael Fumento in Forbes analyzing Sikes's claims related to the mechanics of his Prius and his own contradictions, such as saying he didn't want to take his hands off the steering wheel to shift into neutral even though he held a cell phone in his hand almost the entire time, comparing it to the balloon boy hoax. Further government investigator tests on Sikes's Prius reportedly showed that the brake wear were consistent with intermittent braking, not constant hard braking as he claimed. Sikes also reportedly had a history of false police reports, suspect insurance claims, theft and fraud allegations, and television aspirations. These findings raised questions about "the credibility of Mr. Sikes' reporting of events" in a Congressional memo.
Public image
According to a RasmussenRasmussen Reports
Rasmussen Reports is an American media company that publishes and distributes information based on public opinion polling. Founded by pollster Scott Rasmussen in 2003, the company updates daily indexes including the President's job approval rating, and provides public opinion data, analysis, and...
poll released on February 8, 2010, Toyota is viewed favorably by 59% of Americans with 22% viewing Toyota very favorably. Another 29% view Toyota unfavorably. The poll also found 72% of Americans have followed the recent Toyota news stories "somewhat closely" including 31% who are following them "very closely". A second Rasmussen poll released on February 12 found 23% of Americans believe the federal government is criticizing Toyota to aid General Motors of which it is the majority owner, 38% disagreed, and 39% were unsure.
Electronic throttle control system
On November 25, 2009, ABC NewsABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
quoted Sean Kane, head of the for-profit firm Safety Research & Strategies, stating that he had uncovered hundreds of "non-floor mat sudden acceleration cases" which the floor mat recall did not address. Kane, who works with attorneys suing Toyota, said his firm had discovered over 2,000 Toyota sudden acceleration cases involving 16 deaths and 243 injuries, publishing its most comprehensive report on the issue on Feb 5th, 2010. Kane alleged that the problem was not with the accelerator pedals, but with the electronic throttle control
Electronic throttle control
Electronic throttle control is an automobile technology which severs the mechanical link between the accelerator pedal and the throttle. Most automobiles already use a throttle position sensor to provide input to traction control, antilock brakes, fuel injection, and other systems, but use a...
systems (ETC). An electronic throttle control system is a drive-by-wire
Drive by wire
Drive-by-wire, DbW, by-wire, or x-by-wire technology in the automotive industry replaces the traditional mechanical control systems with electronic control systems using electromechanical actuators and human-machine interfaces such as pedal and steering feel emulators...
system, in which the accelerator pedal and the engine are indirectly linked electronically, instead of directly linked mechanically. This means that input from the accelerator pedal is just one input used to decide how wide the throttle is opened. On Feb 13, 2010, The Wall Street Journal reported that Kane's company was "controversial" because its income comes from lawsuits against auto manufacturers, which was not disclosed in media reports; auto journalists noted that the firm had a "vested interest" in blaming manufacturer defects while avoiding operator error. The Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
reported that since Toyota and Lexus began installing electronic throttle control systems in 2001, complaints of unintended acceleration with vehicles from both those brands rose sharply. Electromagnetic interference
Electromagnetic interference
Electromagnetic interference is disturbance that affects an electrical circuit due to either electromagnetic induction or electromagnetic radiation emitted from an external source. The disturbance may interrupt, obstruct, or otherwise degrade or limit the effective performance of the circuit...
with the electronic throttle control system is another possible cause of unintended acceleration. The Detroit Free Press reported on March 16, 2010 that cosmic rays, or radiation from outer space
Outer space
Outer space is the void that exists between celestial bodies, including the Earth. It is not completely empty, but consists of a hard vacuum containing a low density of particles: predominantly a plasma of hydrogen and helium, as well as electromagnetic radiation, magnetic fields, and neutrinos....
, was a possible source for alleged electronic malfunctions.
The Wall Street Journal obtained a copy of a preliminary study dated on February 4, 2010 by the California based engineering research firm Exponent
Exponent (consulting firm)
Exponent is an engineering and science consulting firm with 19 offices in the United States and 4 offices overseas. Until 1998, it was known as Failure Analysis Associates and its holding company, The Failure Group, Inc., was traded as the symbol FAIL...
. The initial study commissioned by Toyota beginning in December 2009 concluded "Exponent has so far been unable to induce, through electrical disturbances to the system, either unintended acceleration or behavior that might be a precursor to such an event, despite concerted efforts toward this goal." For the study Exponent purchased six Toyota and Lexus vehicles which were analyzed by "engineers and technicians specializing in mechanical, electrical, and automotive engineering." According to Exponent, Toyota "didn't limit the scope or budget of its investigation" which is being shared with Toyota and lawmakers. The study will continue for several more months. According to the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, Exponent's research has been criticized as being relied upon by companies in need of public defense, although the firm has defended its impartiality towards clients ranging from firms to the U.S. government. A University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
cardiologist was quoted saying, "I would have picked a firm with more of a reputation of neutrality" citing as an example their determination that secondhand smoke
Passive smoking
Passive smoking is the inhalation of smoke, called secondhand smoke or environmental tobacco smoke , from tobacco products used by others. It occurs when tobacco smoke permeates any environment, causing its inhalation by people within that environment. Exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke causes...
isn't carcinogenic. Toyota subsequently asked Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
's Center for Automotive Research, a facility partly funded by multiple automakers including Toyota, to also evaluate the electronics claims. The center's J. Christian Gerdes PhD, professor of mechanical engineering, rejected several electronics claims as implausible, and said that his findings were independent and that he received no compensation from Toyota for his evaluation.
On Feb. 8, 2010 the NHTSA and NASA concluded the electronics were not to blame after reviewing the electronics and electromagnetic interference. The finding was based on studying over 280,000 lines of software coding on nine vehicles involved in earlier sudden acceleration incidents. And studying the throttle systems at NASA's Langley Research Center and Chrysler's Auburn Hills headquarters.
ABC News acceleration controversy
On February 22, 2010, ABC News broadcast a report which apparently demonstrated how unintended acceleration could be caused by inducing a short circuitShort circuit
A short circuit in an electrical circuit that allows a current to travel along an unintended path, often where essentially no electrical impedance is encountered....
in the throttle control. In the segment, Dave Gilbert, a PhD engineer and professor of automotive technology at Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Southern Illinois University Carbondale is a public research university located in Carbondale, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1869, SIUC is the flagship campus of the Southern Illinois University system...
, was shown in a late-model Avalon with ABC News reporter Brian Ross
Brian Ross (journalist)
Brian Elliot Ross is an American investigative correspondent for ABC News. He has been with ABC News since July 1994. From 1974 until 1994, Ross was a correspondent for NBC News.-Major scoops:...
. By "inducing a short" in an unspecified circuit, Gilbert was able to cause the Avalon to accelerate dramatically. After the car was stopped, a diagnostic tool connected to the car's ECU displayed no fault code. According to Dr. Gilbert, proper design of the ETC should not have permitted a short like the one he induced to open the throttle; the ECU should have detected a fault and cut the throttle. Tests on GM vehicles, Gilbert said, did not expose a similar flaw. Autoblog
Autoblog
Autoblog is a neologism and misnomer used to describe a particular type of website which uses software designed to automatically add content in a blog format. The owner of an autoblog is generally referred to as an autoblogger. Engaging in this practice is called autoblogging.Autoblogging does...
s analysis queried the test's real-world
Real life
Real life is a term usually used to denote actual human life lived by real people in contrast with the lives of fictional or fantasy characters.-Usage online and in fiction:On the Internet, "real life" refers to life in the real world...
accuracy, noting that the short circuit method was not disclosed outside of wiring normally independent sensors together, the ECU could not be expected to detect unrealistic scenarios, and questioning ABC News' and Brian Ross
Brian Ross (journalist)
Brian Elliot Ross is an American investigative correspondent for ABC News. He has been with ABC News since July 1994. From 1974 until 1994, Ross was a correspondent for NBC News.-Major scoops:...
's objectivity. Autoblog also uncovered that Gilbert was being paid by parties in lawsuits against Toyota. Automotive analyst John McElroy on Autoline Detroit
Autoline Detroit
Autoline Detroit is a weekly television show about automobile industry.Extra contents that did not fit into the television broadcast are also found in the shows web site.-Autoline in LA:...
pointed to network news' history of "rigged" car demonstrations, including the 60 Minutes acceleration demo and the Dateline NBC exploding truck scandal, and noted that ABC News' report did not include opposing views or disclose interviewee's financial ties. Toyota responded by inviting ABC News to be present at its evaluation of the test.
On March 8, 2010, Toyota held a live news conference where its engineers demonstrated the same short circuit method on Ford, Chevrolet
Chevrolet
Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...
, Chrysler
Chrysler
Chrysler Group LLC is a multinational automaker headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925....
, and BMW
BMW
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...
vehicles. In each case, engineers were able to induce the same dramatic acceleration with no ECU fault code. Stanford's Center for Automotive Research stated that ABC News' demo was unrealistic and misleading. A study by Exponent Inc. finding that the short circuit "would be highly unlikely to occur naturally” and could “only be contrived in the laboratory" was also issued. Toyota further demonstrated how Gilbert had allegedly shaved away wiring insulation
Shielded cable
A shielded or screened cable is an electrical cable of one or more insulated conductors enclosed by a common conductive layer. The shield may be composed of braided strands of copper , a non-braided spiral winding of copper tape, or a layer of conducting polymer. Usually, this shield is covered...
, cut wires in the ETC, re-spliced them in a particular sequence, and added a control switch. Gilbert's financial motive, being paid by Sean Kane, was also questioned. AutoWeek, Edmunds.com, and other automotive sources saw the conference as debunking ABC News' claims. On March 11, 2010, ABC News further admitted to faking part of its report after tachometer
Tachometer
A tachometer is an instrument measuring the rotation speed of a shaft or disk, as in a motor or other machine. The device usually displays the revolutions per minute on a calibrated analogue dial, but digital displays are increasingly common...
screenshots were posted online. The freeze-frames showed the parking brake, open-door, and seat belt
Seat belt
A seat belt or seatbelt, sometimes called a safety belt, is a safety harness designed to secure the occupant of a vehicle against harmful movement that may result from a collision or a sudden stop...
warning lights on while the car was allegedly "accelerating" to 6,000 RPM, indicating that the car was actually not moving. Media blog Gawker.com
Gawker.com
Gawker is a newsmagazine/blog based in New York City that bills itself as "the source for daily Manhattan media news and gossip" and focuses on celebrities and the media industry....
posted the photos and stated, "the tachometer footage is faked". ABC News claimed that it was "impossible to get a good picture of the tachometer" during the actual test, and re-edited the footage. Gawker.com responded that the edited video was even more "staged". The Associated Press added that the falsified footage "created ethical questions".
Possible cruise control cause
In February 2010, multiple media reports claimed that Apple Inc. co-founder Steve WozniakSteve Wozniak
Stephen Gary "Woz" Wozniak is an American computer engineer and programmer who founded Apple Computer, Co. with Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne...
had suggested that faulty software may be part of the problem. However, in a subsequent CNN interview, Wozniak stated, "I haven't really said those things. They have put those words in my mouth". Instead, Wozniak said his comments were about a "minor" cruise control issue on one of his several Priuses, and regarding other recalls, "whether it was mats, whether it was a sticky accelerator pedal, whatever – I believe they found the right solution. If Toyota says it's not electrical, then I'm sure they're right." When asked to describe his cruise control problem, Wozniak said, "It's a little more of a procedure of upping the speed, upping the speed, and then suddenly it just sort of went like it thought you told it to go to infinity." As for alternative explanations, Wozniak said "If you're panicked and your car takes off, you don't think of these things." He also clarified that his comments were "to a group of teachers for a discovery museum and talking about an issue of customer support, how hard it is sometimes to get to the people that can really deal with your problems". Automotive journalist John Voelcker's analysis of Wozniak's description blamed the issue on user error, and not being familiar with the design differences of the adaptive cruise control system. In the Prius, unlike some other cars, holding down the accelerate button increases speed in 5 mph increments continuously; Voelcker suggested Wozniak was holding down the button for longer than necessary, setting the cruise to a high set speed, and thus resulting in the "smooth" acceleration to high speed he experienced. Some Prius users have also suggested erroneous user input explanations. Others have come forward with their own stories about erratic vehicle behavior while using their cruise control. In March 2010, Ward's Auto reported that user unfamiliarity with the faster response of laser- and radar-based cruise control systems was a likely factor according to AAA
American Automobile Association
AAA , formerly known as the American Automobile Association, is a federation of 51 independently operated motor clubs throughout North America. AAA is a not-for-profit member service organization with more than 51 million members. AAA provides services to its members such as travel, automotive,...
, NHTSA, and manufacturer findings.
Driver error
The Wall Street Journal reported on February 25, 2010 that "safety regulators, human-error experts and auto makers say driver error is the primary cause of sudden acceleration." Regarding the 2009-10 Toyota recalls, Ward's AutoWard's
Ward's is an organization that has covered the automotive industry for over 80 years. They are responsible for several publications including, Ward's AutoWorld, and Ward's Dealer Business.Ward's also publish the annual list of Ward's 10 Best Engines....
noted that NHTSA investigations over past years have found that the majority of sudden unintended acceleration cases are due to driver error. In such cases, accidents are the result of drivers mistakenly stepping on the gas pedal instead of the brake. On November 29, 2009, the Los Angeles Times quoted a motor skills consultant stating that the fault in sudden acceleration cases "almost always lies with drivers who step on the wrong pedal." In February 2010, Car and Driver suggested that the alleged accident rate of 1 in 200,000 recalled Toyotas was "highly unlikely" to result from vehicle defects, pointing to an increased danger for drivers who "aren't smart or calm enough to shift to neutral". The same month, Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
referred to auto industry experts as "skeptical" of defect explanations, suggesting that "driver error and panic account for many reported problems" with recalled Toyotas. On February 4, Leonard Evans, author of Traffic Safety, claimed that driver behavior was the main factor in Toyota accidents, and that the consensus of 70 years of scientific research is that driver error is the prominent explanation for automotive fatalities. In March 2010, Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
Michael Fumento
Michael Fumento
Michael Fumento is an investigative journalist, attorney, and author of five books, admired by some and cricized by others as a bigot and conspiracy theorist. A former paratrooper, he embedded a total of four times in Iraq and Afghanistan...
, The Atlantics Megan McArdle
Megan McArdle
Megan McArdle is a Washington, D.C.-based blogger and journalist. She writes mostly about economics, finance and government policy from a moderate libertarian or classical liberal perspective. She currently serves as the business and economics editor, as well as a blogger, for The Atlantic. She is...
and attorney Ted Frank
Ted Frank
Theodore H. Frank is an American lawyer, legal writer and blogger, based in Washington, D.C.. He is the founder and president of the Center for Class Action Fairness , established in 2009...
argued that the fact that most of the incidents of sudden acceleration in Toyota occur in elderly drivers strongly suggest that there is not an electronics problem as opposed to one of pedal misapplication. Fumento's article was titled: "Why Do Toyotas Hate the Elderly?", and McArdle noted that immigrants were also twice as likely to be involved. However, lawsuits filed regarding sudden unintended acceleration cases, along with related third-party investigation reports, have typically avoided the driver error explanation.
In August 2010, the Wall St. Journal reported that experts at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had examined the "black boxes" of 58 vehicles involved in sudden-acceleration reports. The study found that in 35 of the cases, the brakes weren't applied at the time of the crash. In nine other cases in the same study, the brakes were used only at the last moment before impact.
Factors leading to pedal misapplication
On March 10, 2010, the New York Times ran a piece by Richard Schmidt, PhD, professor emeritus of psychology at University of California Los Angeles and sudden acceleration researcher, suspecting driver error as the primary cause of unexplained Toyota sudden acceleration reports. Schmidt pointed to several factors that make driver error more likely: elderly driver ageOld age
Old age consists of ages nearing or surpassing the average life span of human beings, and thus the end of the human life cycle...
, lack of experience with the car, and short stature. In addition, unexplained sudden acceleration events were most frequently reported as occurring from low speed or fully stopped. Typically, the driver was intending to press the brake, and did not consciously confuse the pedals; however, because of advanced age and neuromuscular irregularities, short stature and difficulty reaching the pedals, a slight misalignment in seating position, or unfamiliarity with the car model, the driver's foot contacted the accelerator by mistake. The resulting unexpected sudden acceleration would lead to panic
Panic
Panic is a sudden sensation of fear which is so strong as to dominate or prevent reason and logical thinking, replacing it with overwhelming feelings of anxiety and frantic agitation consistent with an animalistic fight-or-flight reaction...
, with the driver thinking that the acceleration system had failed. The immediate response would be to brake hard, but not knowing that their foot was on the accelerator, pressing down caused greater acceleration. In such panic situations, the driver would think that the brakes were not responding, and continue pressing on the gas pedal until they crashed. Switching to neutral or turning off the ignition was typically not contemplated. Incidents occurred exclusively in automatic transmission
Automatic transmission
An automatic transmission is one type of motor vehicle transmission that can automatically change gear ratios as the vehicle moves, freeing the driver from having to shift gears manually...
-equipped cars with driver complaints involving rental cars being far more frequent. All factors point to reduced driver familiarity and sophistication.
On March 12, 2010, Autoline Detroit argued that searches for additional vehicle defects were likely fruitless, as driver error was the primary cause of the 0.009 per million rate of Toyota sudden acceleration incidents from 1999 to 2009, with "demographics and psychographics", namely elderly drivers and pedal misapplication as factors. Also noted was that drivers with Type II diabetes (adult onset), which is more common among the elderly, are subject to reduced sensation in their lower extremities (peripheral neuropathy
Peripheral neuropathy
Peripheral neuropathy is the term for damage to nerves of the peripheral nervous system, which may be caused either by diseases of or trauma to the nerve or the side-effects of systemic illness....
) with related impairment in positional knowledge of foot placement (proprioception
Proprioception
Proprioception , from Latin proprius, meaning "one's own" and perception, is the sense of the relative position of neighbouring parts of the body and strength of effort being employed in movement...
). Wired
Wired (magazine)
Wired is a full-color monthly American magazine and on-line periodical, published since January 1993, that reports on how new and developing technology affects culture, the economy, and politics...
wrote that since investigators have been "unable to find evidence supporting drivers’ claims their Toyotas suddenly raced out of control" operator error is the most likely explanation. However, victims and relatives of sudden acceleration cases are commonly unwilling to suspect involved loved ones, and blame the vehicle instead. Analysis of alleged Toyota acceleration reports in The Atlantic and other sources have found the highest distribution of involved drivers between 70 and 80 years old, with the average age skewing over 55; with elderly susceptibility to "neuronal misfiring" and pedal misapplication as a possible cause. While many alleged cases lack exact details, over half of reported incidents occurred from a complete stop or low speed, providing a window for the pedal misapplication to occur. A prior GM study found that 60 and 70 year olds were six times more likely to experience sudden acceleration than 20 to 30 year olds. In the New York Times, Richard Schmidt concluded that a brake override system could prevent acceleration cases where a vehicle defect existed, but would not prevent sudden acceleration cases caused by pedal misapplication.
Previous findings of driver error
Car and Driver, Motor Trend, and Ward's Auto also compared the 2009-10 Toyota recalls to the Audi sudden acceleration cases of the 1980s, which led to a widely noted media frenzy and hundreds of sudden unintended acceleration claims for Audi cars. In that case, a 1986 segment on CBS News' 60 Minutes60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
accused the Audi 5000 sedan of unintended acceleration defects, which was followed by numerous reports of tragic accidents and media expert commentary. At the time, Audi was reported to have the highest rate of acceleration complaints. However, the NHTSA later determined all complaints to be due to driver error.
The Detroit News
The Detroit News
The Detroit News is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. The paper began in 1873, when it rented space in the rival Free Press's building. The News absorbed the Detroit Tribune on February 1, 1919, the Detroit Journal on July 21, 1922, and on November 7, 1960,...
documented previous sudden unintended acceleration cases dating back to August 1978 when the NHTSA opened an investigation into General Motors for sudden acceleration, concluding eight years later driver error was the likely culprit. By 1986, more than 2,000 injuries had been blamed on sudden acceleration with sudden acceleration complaints totaling over 10 percent of complaints filed to the NHTSA. In 1986 the NHTSA launched an investigation of the 1981-84 Toyota Cressida
Toyota Cressida
The Toyota Cressida was a mid-size sedan marketed by Toyota from December 1976 to February 1993 through four generations. It was the flagship sedan of Toyota in the United States. The same chassis with slightly different bodies was available in other countries as the Toyota Mark II, Toyota Chaser...
and an additional five other automakers. By 1989 the NHTSA determined driver error was "the most probable explanation" for the complaints.
NHTSA and NASA Investigation Verdict
In February 2011 the findings of a 10-month-long study conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), aimed to identify the main cause of sudden acceleration in Toyota and Lexusmodels. The study was requested by the US Congress and "enlisted NASA engineers with expertise in areas such as computer controlled electronic systems, electromagnetic interference and software integrity". The most common problem was drivers hitting the gas when they thought they were hitting the brake, which the NHTSA called "pedal misapplication.” Of the 58 cases reported, 18 were dismissed out of hand. Of the remaining 40, 39 of them were found to have no cause; the remainder being an instance of “pedal entrapment.” One investigator says most of the cases involved “pedal misapplication” – that is, “the driver stepped on the gas rather than the brake or in addition to the brake.” The report concluded that the two mechanical safety defects that were originally identified by NHTSA are known causes of dangerous unintended acceleration.
Litigation
Consumers in the U.S. and Canada have filed numerous class action lawsuits blaming the sudden acceleration problem onthe electronic throttle control system (ETC) and alleging Toyota's negligence.
As of February 26, 2010, there were at least 72 lawsuits pending in U.S. federal courts
United States federal courts
The United States federal courts make up the judiciary branch of federal government of the United States organized under the United States Constitution and laws of the federal government.-Categories:...
against Toyota or its subsidiaries as a result of the 2009-10 recalls. Plaintiffs are seeking damages for personal injury or wrongful death resulting from accidents in the defective Toyota vehicles (in other words, product liability
Product liability
Product liability is the area of law in which manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, retailers, and others who make products available to the public are held responsible for the injuries those products cause...
), loss of resale value, or a drop in the value of shares held by Toyota shareholders. Toyota has retained the law firm
Law firm
A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to represent clients in civil or criminal cases, business transactions, and other...
of Alston & Bird
Alston & Bird
Alston & Bird LLP, commonly abbreviated , is the largest law firm in Atlanta and the forty-third largest in the United States.-History:...
to defend most of these cases.
On April 9, 2010, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation
Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation
The United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation is a special body within the United States federal court system which manages multidistrict litigation. It was established by Congress in 1968 under 28 U.S.C...
ordered consolidation of all federal actions into the Central District of California
United States District Court for the Central District of California
The United States District Court for the Central District of California serves over 18 million people in southern and central California, making it the largest federal judicial district by population...
before Judge James V. Selna
James V. Selna
James V. Selna is a United States federal judge.Born in San Jose, California, Selna received an A.B. from Stanford University in 1967 and a J.D. from Stanford Law School in 1970. He was a Captain, U.S. Army Reserve from 1967 to 1978. He was in private practice in California from 1970 to 1998...
for all pretrial motions and discovery. In doing so, the Panel noted that "these cases have
attracted an unusual amount of publicity to the Panel’s work." Although only 11 cases were directly before the JPML, it also noted that the parties had notified it of more than 100 potentially related cases, which can also be consolidated as so-called "tag-along" cases. As to why Judge Selna, the Panel explained, "Judge Selna’s 28 years of private law practice at the very highest levels and in some of the most complex cases leaves him well prepared for a case of this magnitude." Under federal multidistrict litigation
Multidistrict litigation
In the United States, multidistrict litigation refers to a special federal legal procedure designed to speed the process of handling complex cases such as air disaster litigation or complex product liability suits....
law, any cases that are not dismissed or settled during the consolidated pretrial process will be remanded to their original district court for trial.
The following week, Judge Selna set a May 13 initial scheduling conference at his courtroom in Santa Ana, California
Santa Ana, California
Santa Ana is the county seat and second most populous city in Orange County, California, and with a population of 324,528 at the 2010 census, Santa Ana is the 57th-most populous city in the United States....
. He also appointed Cari Dawson, chairwoman of Alston & Bird's class action department, as lead counsel for defendants.
On May 14, after reviewing submissions from dozens of plaintiffs' attorneys, Judge Selna issued an order establishing which attorneys would be granted the potentially lucrative positions of lead counsel for the plaintiffs. First, he named nine attorneys as lead counsel for the economic loss cases and nine attorneys as lead counsel for the personal injury and wrongful death cases. He then named nine of the attorneys from these two panels to form a core discovery committee. Three additional attorneys were named as liaisons to coordinate discovery with pending state court actions and other related federal litigation in progress outside of the MDL, like shareholder litigation. Finally, one additional attorney was named as a consultant on behalf of international Toyota consumers. Prominent attorneys appointed on the plaintiffs' side included Steve Berman
Steve Berman (lawyer)
Steve Berman is an American plaintiff's lawyer who founded and is Managing Partner of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, a 42-attorney law firm based in Seattle, Washington.- Background :Berman helped found his namesake firm in 1993...
of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro (on the personal injury and wrongful death committee) and Elizabeth Cabraser of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein (on the economic loss committee).
Selna also clarified the roles of defense counsel by appointing Cari Dawson and Lisa Gilford of Alston & Bird as lead counsel in the economic loss cases and Vince Galvin and Joel Smith of Bowman and Brooke as lead counsel in the personal injury and wrongful death cases. Gilford and Galvin were also appointed to serve as lead defense liaisons to other related cases in federal and state courts.
On June 1, 2010, Judge Selna issued another order setting out a discovery schedule. He ordered both sides to make initial discovery disclosures by July 2, 2010, and set out a briefing schedule for motions with regard to the consolidated complaints, with oral arguments set for November 19, 2010 at 9:00 a.m. In a separate order on that same date, he also ordered that all motion-related documents filed by any attorney would now have to be co-signed by lead counsel for that attorney's side, and that lead counsel were to act as gatekeepers, so as to cut down on the number of documents being filed with the court. On July 1, 2010, Judge Selna appointed two retired Presiding Justices of the California Court of Appeal
California Court of Appeal
The California Courts of Appeal are the state intermediate appellate courts in the U.S. state of California. The state is geographically divided into six appellate districts...
as special master
Special master
In law, a special master is an authority appointed by a judge to make sure that judicial orders are actually followed.In England, at common law, there were "Masters in Chancery," who acted in aid of the Equity Courts. There were also "Masters in Lunacy," who conducted inquiries of the same nature...
s: John K. Trotter and Steven Stone.
On June 10, 2011, after the parties had completed some discovery, Judge Selna issued an order setting trial dates of February 19, 2013 and May 21, 2013 for the first two "bellwether" trials, and designated a Utah wrongful death/personal injury case as the first one (of 300 in progress) to go to trial.
Toyota has also been sued for not having a brake override system on older models. Attorney Robert Nelson, representing Jacquelyn Donoghue of Holder, Nebraska, the 67-year-old widow of man killed in an accident in which her model year 2006 Prius allegedly suddenly accelerated into another vehicle, killing the man and seriously injuring her, alleged that Toyota's failure to include a brake override on their models played a "direct role" in the death of John Donoghue". Edgar Heiskell, an attorney involved with one of the lawsuits, contends
that electromagnetic interference
Electromagnetic interference
Electromagnetic interference is disturbance that affects an electrical circuit due to either electromagnetic induction or electromagnetic radiation emitted from an external source. The disturbance may interrupt, obstruct, or otherwise degrade or limit the effective performance of the circuit...
with the electronic throttle control system is to blame for acceleration cases. Heiskell contends that Toyota models as old as 2002 are also affected. According to him,
"Toyota can't tell you that the '07 Camry they are recalling is any different from the '06 or the
'03 that has the same throttle control in it." According to the Wall Street Journals Holman W. Jenkins, Jr., "trial lawyers love the electronic gremlin theory because it's impossible to disprove in any individual case."
Other manufacturers
Toyota is not the only automobile manufacturer that has issued recalls for unintended acceleration problems. In December 2009, Consumer Reports analyzed 2008 model year NHTSA data for sudden acceleration among Toyota, Ford, Chrysler, GM, Honda, and Nissan, finding 52 complaints involving Toyota vehicles or 41% of complaints among these makes, and every other major car maker is affected. Consumer Reports noted that the media publicity around Toyota led to an increase in complaints for 2008 models. In February 2010, National Public Radio obtained the full NHTSA database of 15,000 unintended acceleration complaints over the past decade, and determined that among all manufacturers, VolkswagenVolkswagen
Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...
had the highest rate of unintended acceleration complaints in 2009 and 2008 (11.5 and 21.6 per 100,000 vehicles respectively), while Suzuki had the highest rate in 2007 and 2006 (27.4 and 24.9 per 100,000 vehicles respectively). Toyota had 7.5, 6.8, 15.2, and 9.7 complaints per 100,000 vehicles in those years. According to NPR's analysis of the NHTSA database, Jaguar, Volvo, and Honda also had high complaints depending on year.
In February 2010, Edmunds.com
Edmunds.com
Edmunds.com is a provider of automotive information via Web sites, books, and other media. The company is headquartered in Santa Monica, California and maintains an office outside of Detroit, Michigan...
released its findings on a review of all NHTSA complaints from 2001 to the present day, conducted in light of the Toyota recall crisis. The review found that despite the recall, during the previous decade Toyota ranked 17th among the 20 major car makes in number of complaints per vehicles sold, with a lower rate of customer complaints from its U.S. customers than the Detroit Big Three, along with Honda, Subaru, Hyundai, Nissan, Isuzu, Suzuki, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Volvo, Volkswagen, and BMW. Edmunds.com also noted that any individual can file a NHTSA complaint without providing a Vehicle Identification Number
Vehicle identification number
A Vehicle Identification Number, commonly abbreviated to VIN, is a unique serial number used by the automotive industry to identify individual motor vehicles. VINs were first used in 1954...
(VIN), which can lead to misleading statistics as "not all NHTSA complaints are created equal" and range from legitimate to nonsensical. On June 5, 2010, NHTSA shut down online access to its complaint database following revelations of redundant, unverifiable entries and improperly secured personal data.
See also
- 60 Minutes unintended acceleration controversy
- Audi reported sudden unintended acceleration
- Automotive accident
- Automobile safety defect
- Dateline General Motors controversy
- Event data recorderEvent Data RecorderAn event data recorder or EDR is a device installed in some automobiles to record information related to vehicle crashes or accidents. In modern diesel trucks, EDRs are triggered by electronically sensed problems in the engine , or a sudden change in wheel speed. One or more of these conditions...
(EDR) - Firestone and Ford tire controversyFirestone and Ford tire controversyThe Firestone and Ford tire controversy was a period of unusually high tire failures on some Ford vehicles.-Problem detection:In May 2000, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration contacted Ford and Firestone about the high incidence of tire failure on Ford Explorers, Mercury...
- History of ToyotaHistory of ToyotaThe history of Toyota started in 1933 with the company being a division of Toyoda Automatic Loom Works devoted to the production of automobiles under the direction of the founder's son, Kiichiro Toyoda. Kiichiro Toyoda had traveled to Europe and the United States in 1929 to investigate automobile...
- Katsuaki WatanabeKatsuaki Watanabeis vice chairman of Toyota Motor Corporation. He was president and CEO of the company before Akio Toyoda assumed those positions on June 23, 2009.Watanabe, who earned a degree in economics from Tokyo's Keio University, joined Toyota upon graduating from that university in 1964.He has gained...
- List of Toyota vehicles
- NHTSA-NASA Study of Unintended Acceleration in Toyota Vehicles
- Seattle Windshield Pitting EpidemicSeattle Windshield Pitting EpidemicThe Seattle Windshield Pitting Epidemic is a phenomenon which affected Bellingham, Seattle, USA, and other Washington communities in April, 1954; it is considered an example of a mass delusion. It was characterized by widespread observation of previously unnoticed windshield holes, pits and dings,...
- Toyota Production SystemToyota Production SystemThe Toyota Production System is an integrated socio-technical system, developed by Toyota, that comprises its management philosophy and practices. The TPS organizes manufacturing and logistics for the automobile manufacturer, including interaction with suppliers and customers...
External links
- Official Toyota Recall Information & Latest News.
- Toyota Pressroom
- http://injury.findlaw.com/toyota/Toyota Recall Lawsuits FindLawFindLawFindLaw is a business of Thomson Reuters that provides online legal information and online marketing services for law firms. FindLaw was created by Stacy Stern, Martin Roscheisen and Tim Stanley in 1995, and was acquired by Thomson West in 2001....
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