NHTSA May Investigate New Toyota Unintended Acceleration Claims
Toyota could be under investigation for possible unintended acceleration cases again.
Last year, the Japanese automaker paid a $1.2-billion settlement for its unintended acceleration recall and hoped to leave the issue behind. Unfortunately for Toyota, new complaints filed to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) could bring unintended acceleration back under the spotlight as investigators are deciding whether they wish to research the claims further.
A letter sent to NHTSA dated June 19, 2015 petitioned the agency to open an “investigation into low-speed surging in different models of Toyota automobiles in which the car starts accelerating and the engine RPM increases even when the accelerator pedal is not depressed.”
SEE ALSO: Older Toyota Corollas Under Unintended Acceleration Probe
According to the petitioner, a 2009 Lexus ES350 allegedly surged forward while his wife was pulling into a parking spot. He also references “troubling similarity amongst EDRs of Toyota cars showing sudden acceleration,” citing two allegedly similar incidents involving a 2009 Toyota Camry and a 2010 Toyota Corolla. The consumer is requesting that NHTSA “acquire all the data on low speed sudden acceleration that Toyota currently has and constitute a panel to study this problem.”
NHTSA will evaluate the petition and either grant or deny decision.
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Jason Siu began his career in automotive journalism in 2003 with Modified Magazine, a property previously held by VerticalScope. As the West Coast Editor, he played a pivotal role while also extending his expertise to Modified Luxury & Exotics and Modified Mustangs. Beyond his editorial work, Jason authored two notable Cartech books. His tenure at AutoGuide.com saw him immersed in the daily news cycle, yet his passion for hands-on evaluation led him to focus on testing and product reviews, offering well-rounded recommendations to AutoGuide readers. Currently, as the Content Director for VerticalScope, Jason spearheads the content strategy for an array of online publications, a role that has him at the helm of ensuring quality and consistency across the board.
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NASA did not have Toyota's source code - other experts did. Never will be admission by Toyota of the fairly rare but definite defect. Brake override should have been employed much earlier. http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1319897 Acceleration Case: Jury Finds Toyota Liable http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1321734 Toyota Underestimated 'Deadly' Risks excerpt The NASA researchers, who were both on a deadline and not allowed to study Toyota's source code, simply ran out of time, noted Barr. Under court order, a team from the Barr Group was allowed into a specially built "code room" provided by Toyota. They were able to pinpoint at least one anomaly that could have caused Toyota accelerators to build up speed while disabling the brake system. Barr also found numerous Toyota violations of software design standards. Toyota, in many instances, even broke its own rules for safe design and system redundancy. even in Saudi http://www.albawaba.com/business/over-141000-toyota-and-lexus-cars-recalled-over-dangers-sudden-acceleration-608885