History Of Toyota's Unintended Acceleration Recall
It started late September 2009 when Toyota and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced Toyota's largest recall ever. The problem was blamed on floor mats that would become entangled with the accelerator causing vehicles to speed out of control. The recall involved many popular Toyota vehicles as well as three Lexus vehicles. Over 3.8 million vehicles were recalled.
Toyota Vehicles Recalled:
- 2007-2010 Camry
- 2005-2010 Avalon
- 2004-2009 Prius
- 2005-2010 Tacoma
- 2007-2010 Tundra
- 2008-2010 Highlander
- 2009-2010 Corolla
- 2009-2010 Venza
- 2009-2010 Matrix
Lexus Vehicles Recalled:
- 2006-2010 IS 250
- 2006-2010 IS 350
- 2007-2010 ES 350
Over the months, the NHTSA continued to get complaints of unintended acceleration in vehicles with removed floor mats. In January 2010, Toyota had issued another recall. This recall was blamed on an accelerator mechanism that would become worn causing the pedal to be harder to depress and slower to return. In some instances the pedal would stick leading to unintended acceleration. This recall included another 2.3 million vehicles.
Toyota Vehicles Recalled In Second Recall:
- 2009-2010 RAV4
- 2009-2010 Corolla
- 2009-2010 Matrix
- 2005-2010 Avalon
- Certain 2007-2010 Camrys
- 2010 Highlander
- 2007-2010 Tundra
- 2008-2010 Sequoia
This was followed by the stop sales and production of these eight models until the problem could be resolved. By the beginning of February Toyota announced they had found the problem and the task of fixing it had begun.
A few short days later, the NHTSA came forward with over 100 complaints related to the Toyota Prius. People complained about momentary loss of braking while traveling over an uneven road surface. Four of the complaints claimed the momentary loss resulted in an accident. Toyota came back with a fix that involved a quick update to the vehicles computer software.
As the NHTSA's investigations continued, they pressed Toyota about looking into electronic interference problems as the cause for unintended acceleration. Toyota and the NHTSA were invited to participate in a congressional hearing where Toyota was accused of dragging their feet in issuing recalls related to unintended acceleration. The committee also accused the NHTSA of having a "cozy" relationship with Toyota which affected how the recall was handled.
All this time, Toyota was adamant that the problem was not related to the vehicles computer and electronic interference. But as the acceleration problems continued congress pushed Toyota to prove they were right. Toyota hired an independent consulting firm to study the problem.
As Toyota works to repair their vehicles the law suits against the company grow. The bad publicity has hurt Toyota's sales leading them to offer customers great deals such as cash incentives and zero percent financing. Even though their sales had been hurt, the damage was less than what had been expected. Some analyst believe the problem has been blown out of proportion, and that many reports of runaway vehicles may be the cause of mass hysteria.
In March, Toyota continues to receive complaints, though they are few. They explain the testing they do to make sure that electronic interference is not the problem and tell their dealerships that if people are still not satisfied after their vehicles have been repaired, that the dealerships will replace the pedal free of charge.
Toyota News Updated April 16-2010
As the NHTSA continues to investigate Toyota, they claim that the time line in Toyota's recall has inconsistencies. In Canada, for instance the recall was issued on December 16, 2009 but did not make it to the U.S. until January 27, 2010, and in Europe dealers were notified of the problem even sooner. Under U.S. law, automakers have five business days to notify the government after finding a potential defect. The NHTSA has indicated it will strictly enforce this rule and has fined Toyota $16.4 million to prove their point.
Toyota News Updated June 01-2010
Toyota has been ordered by U.S. District Judge James V. Selna, to turn over thousands of records to lawyers who have sued the Japanese automaker for alleged sudden acceleration problems. The documents, previously supplied to Congress and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), will help Steven W. Berman, one of the attorneys representing Toyota vehicle owners, prepare a consolidated class action lawsuit for Toyota owners. The owners say that the value of their automobiles have diminished because of the recalls.
Lawyers for the company said they would be happy to turn over the requested documents, but say they needed time to review them to make sure they did not contain privileged material. The process is further complicated because many of the records are in Japanese and would have to be translated. Over 120,000 pages of documents could be involved.
