Toyota recall warrants clarity, prudence

The Toyota recall situation is very serious. When safety is involved, it is crucial that consumers get their information from authoritative sources. In the current situation, NHTSA is one of those high-value sources.

As a recent Christian Science Monitor editorial reminds its readers:

It's worth noting that it was US safety officials who pushed a reluctant Toyota to finally recall and stop selling millions of vehicles with a potential accelerator problem.

The most important thing I can do right now is be crystal clear to readers about this:

• Both DOT and Toyota take these recalls very seriously and are taking aggressive action to remedy the safety issues identified.
• NHTSA has issued a consumer advisory for certain models of Toyota, Lexus and Pontiac Vibe vehicles. If you own one of those manufacturers' vehicles, please consult the advisory at the link above.
• Two separate issues have been identified.  One concerns pedal entrapment and floor mats, the other a sticky accelerator pedal. While both safety issues are serious, I want to stress that they are unlikely.

What should owners of vehicles covered by the recalls do?

• Follow the specific guidance provided by NHTSA and Toyota. You do not need to stop driving potentially affected vehicles unless you detect a problem. But if you are experiencing problems, stop driving and immediately contact your dealer.
• When you receive a remedy notice, please contact your local dealer and get your vehicle fixed as soon as possible.
• Consumer safety complaints are an important source of information for NHTSA; if you notice safety problems, please let us know at the link above.

Regarding pedal stickiness:

• Pay attention to your gas pedal. If it is harder to depress than normal, or if it is slower to return, this may be a precursor to a sticky pedal.  If you detect either of these conditions, please park the vehicle and contact the dealer immediately.
• To make sure dealers have the labor and resources to implement the remedy for either situation, owners of a recalled vehicle that is not exhibiting symptoms of pedal stickiness should wait until you receive a remedy notice before going to the dealer.

Regarding pedal entrapment:

• If a pedal becomes stuck while driving, put your car in neutral, bring it to a stop and call the dealer.
• Pedal entrapment occurs when a pedal becomes trapped by an out of place or unsecured floor mat.
• This is easy to prevent, and I encourage you to take this action: remove all floor mats on the driver’s side of the vehicle or ensure that the mats are properly secured. Check to make sure any mats are properly secured after a car wash, servicing, or other activity during which they might have been moved.  Do not ever stack mats on top of each other.

2010 Prius braking investigation launched.

I also want readers to know that NHTSA announced today it is opening a formal investigation of the 2010 Toyota Prius to look into allegations of momentary loss of braking capability while traveling over an uneven road surface, pothole or bump.

On the Prius braking issue, our Office of Defects Investigation has received 124 reports from consumers, including  four alleging that crashes occurred. Investigators have spoken with consumers and conducted pre-investigatory field work.

• Owners of 2010 model Prius vehicles should contact your dealer if you notice changes in your braking performance.

I hope this helps all drivers of affected vehicles figure out an approach to these recalls and the 2010 Prius braking investigation. This is a serious situation, and we are taking it seriously. 

Now, I want everyone to know that NHTSA has the most active defect investigation program in the world, opening at least one investigation almost every week. 

Over just the last three years, NHTSA’s defect and compliance investigations have resulted in 524 recalls involving 23.5 million vehicles. Of the 100 investigations NHTSA opens in an average year, there are currently 40 open defect investigations, three of which involve Toyota.

NHTSA will continue to make sure Toyota is doing all it has promised to make its vehicles safe. We will continue to investigate all possible causes of these safety issues.

But it's also important to remember that, fundamentally, Toyota has a strong safety record and is a good corporate citizen. Yesterday, I spoke with Toyota president, Akio Toyoda. He reassured me that Toyota takes U.S. safety concerns very seriously and that safety is the company's top priority.

We are pleased to see the company currently being responsive to NHTSA’s concerns and working aggressively to remedy these safety issues.

Comments

[Michael E. Bailey]

It is great that DoT was on top of these braking problems right away and didn't let them pass by. It also is great that the International Headquarters of the Toyoda Corporation is taking these problems very seriously and is working on ways to eliminate them. It looks like a quality control issue. Toyoda has been one of the top quality car makers for many years so it is a surprise that something like this could happen to them. If they get the brake systems from subcontractors, it looks like one of the things that needs to be done is for them to inspect the subcontractors plants and quality control programs and insist that the subcontractors have and follow tough product testing and inspection processes before parts are shipped out and strong quality control at each point in the manufacturing process. Best wishes, Michael E. Bailey.

[John]

Hello and Tahnk you for post I also drive Toyota prius only 2009 but brakes and evrything works great. I like this car eviroment friendly, helthy, low fuel.
thnaks,
John, Weight Loss Guide

[D. Rose]

Bloomberg reported that DOT officials actually had to fly to Japan to impress upon Toyota officials that they should take these safety issues seriously. Is that true?

[Steve Chazin]

Ray, please have someone from Toyota check out my blog to help with the crisis: http://www.marketingapple.com

[Scott Thomas]

I heard about the pedal recall I had no idea it affected my NON toyota car good thing I found more info here http://www.carpedalrecall.com
searched for my make, model, year and found my car had been recalled so look out! it could save a life maybe yours

don't understand how serious or what the car pedal recall is about?
just watch this video at the end it also shows how to stop a out of control car very useful
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGe3EOJ-CMY

[Helpwithdebtnow]

Although Toyota are taking the case seriously now, it seems that they have been dragging their heels. There have been huge numbers of complaints about the braking system for some time. This is a serious safety issue and should have been addressed much quicker. Brand "Toyota" is going take a bit hit on this.

Howard
http://www.helpwithdebtnow.com

[khal spencer]

We kill 37,000 people a year on the highways. Most of this is due to driver incompetence. Yet we flog Toyota for a brake defect that might cause a slight delay in braking, or a gas pedal defect that may have killed 19 people in a decade (while we kill 400,000 in a decade due to individual and collective traffic mismanagement).

Is this another example of the American public looking to blame some external agent for traffic risk when the main risk is our own ineptitude behind the wheel?

[Beverly May]

No need to worry about Toyota's in central Illinois. We cannot go fast enough on our crumbling roads to use our breaks.

[khal spencer]

My comment is here.

http://labikes.blogspot.com/2010/02/secretary-lahood-must-demand-recall-of.html

[Michael Cogliandro]

Hiya!

I have a 1999 Toyota Tacoma Pick-Up and a 2002 Toyota Echo, both which has demonstrated accelerator/throttle problems. I really don't think the problem is in the pedals or the floor mats and it is a waste of time, resources and money to try and placate consumers with such faux-fixes. Both vehicles have engines accelerated while at a stop, foot on the brake pedal. The Tacoma actually snapped some throttle cables/linkages (the ones that boost acceleration for getting on the highway or passing other cars. It runs okay, but no "pep.")

So.. 1999... that's an eleven-year problem.

[Greg Soares]

I have heard that engineers from NASA are being consulted to help identify the cause(s) of Toyota vehicle's sudden acceloration. While I'm not a NASA engineer, just a car guy for the last 30+ years; has anyone looked into the possibility of misread frequencies causing the sudden accelation?
The days of cable operated throttles are over. Now we have cable free acceration running on various frequencies. What if a Toyota is operating in an area with dense frequencies and the reciever misreads an outside frequency; say from cell phone towers as an "accelerate" signal, thus causing uncontrolled acceleration?
This used to happen years ago when garage door openers would misread an aircraft's radio transmission as a signal to open the door.

Might be worth looking into.

[Scott Shoup]

Awesome! Nice Article. Very informable. Definatly will check back in. Keep up the good work!

[create a free blog]

While I'm not a NASA engineer, just a car guy for the last 30+ years; has anyone looked into the possibility of misread frequencies causing the sudden accelation?
The days of cable operated throttles are over. Now we have cable free acceration running on various frequencies.

[Florian von Kurnatowski]

Given early posts of results from final US NHTSB investigations into the accelerator issue, it finally seems to become clear that technical issues with Toyota's products have been the least relevant contributor to those incidents.

It seemed somewhat strange to me from the beginning that "unintended acceleration" was a phenomenon pretty much limited to reports from the United States, not in line with Toyota's market share in other countries; even more so when remembering news over the last 20 years where other car makers have faced similar accusations, including the infamous Audi case http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudden_unintended_acceleration

Being a driver for over 20 years myself, with a variety of cars that I owned and many more rented, I've surely experienced situations where objects, including floor mats, came in the way of brake or accelerator padels. No accident has resulted from these, and no seriously dangerous situation either. It was always possible to operate the car, and I was positive that, even if there had been an engine runaway, the brakes would have been able to overcome acceleration (possibly together with action involving clutch and/or gearbox). I may add that quite a bit of my driving took place on the German Autobahn, involving speeds in excess of 100 mph, in some (and actually very recent, I know own a Porsche Boxster S and drive it to top sped) cases of more than 160 mph. I was always in control, period.

Being a private pilot in my spare time, I'm trained to react to unexpected incidents happening to machinery I operate with countermeasures, always keeping positive control of the situation. My driving follows the same guiding priciples, because technology can fail, situations can arise, and things can get in the way. I'm mostly not thinking about floor mats or stuff that is part of the car, but rather kid's toys, loose items or even pets. No manufacturer can prevent those situations and safety is always a combination of a reasonable design, proper operator use of the product and training on what to do if anything goes slightly wrong.

IMHO the recent discussion around Toyota has focused way too much on the first element of this; not in a single case was it strongly pointed out in the media that the respective driver had done something wrong or, apologies for being non-PC here, had acted drop-dead stupid.

US Politics, including the owner of this blog, have very quickly chimed in to the general tone of those reports.

All of this together has brought yet another fine company with a great record of customer focus, safety, quality assurance down in public opinion and cost them hundreds of millions or even billions in revenue, for no good reason. To repeat - there never was an ACTUAL reason *not* to buy a new Toyota or to replace one with something else based on what happened. This is particularly dreadful because the specific company was - and remains - on the forefront of delivering vehicles enabling more eco-sensitive transportation.

I'll take a small note of the fact that the main victim of this, again and as in the Audi, is a non-US-based auto maker, and that it was happening at a time where, from a product portfolio perspective, "Big 3" were most challenged by their significantly advanced foreign competitors, so there is also a bit of a smell of protectionism here.

All in all, I don't think that the Secretary of Transportation has done a good job handling the situation; while safety should always be the primary concern, one important element of it is to give a situation the right amount of attention, remain calm, and certainly not make public comments evoking premature reactions. Those rules haven't been followed in this case, substantial damage has been done to a business, even representatives of a company have been accused and thereby humiliated in public, which was especially rude given their Japanese cultural background. Personal apologies are owed to Akio Toyoda, IMHO.

And maybe even political consequences for the SoT....

Sorry for the long, provocative and possibly controversial comment, but this topic has been nagging me for the past 6 months and it finally seems that everything is actually coming down to what I expected it to be.

[Kenworth trucks]

Toyota take these recalls very seriously and are taking aggressive action.actually,NHTSA has the most active defect investigation program in the world.Toyota do always do the best.just waiting for an recall to watch new designs.

[Jenny Papac]

It wasn't the recall that actually bugged me, it was just the constant thought that my Toyota wasn't as reliable, safety wise that was more dangerous. Psychologically, I doubt I'd think twice now about buying one even though I've never had any issues with it.

[Gregory Chenski]

I have a 1999 Toyota Tacoma Pick-Up and a 2002 Toyota Echo, both which has demonstrated accelerator/throttle problems. I really don't think the problem is in the pedals or the floor mats and it is a waste of time, resources and money to try and placate consumers with such faux-fixes. Both vehicles have engines accelerated while at a stop, foot on the brake pedal. The Tacoma actually snapped some throttle cables/linkages (the ones that boost acceleration for getting on the highway or passing other cars. It runs okay, but no "pep.")

[Dc from Foldio Portfolio]

This was a big loss for Toyota. But I think they handled it well and were able to turn it around from a PR point of view.

[Billy Yun]

I think that Toyota is one of the most reliable cars. One series that had misteke won't change my opinion about toyota. I mean each individual can judge according to his own experience.

Cheers