Toyota knew about brake problems for YEARS

[m21sniper]

By KEN THOMAS, Associated Press Writer – Sat Feb 6, 4:21 pm ET

WASHINGTON – When Peter Boddeart's Lexus lurched forward and rear-ended another vehicle in Fauquier County, Va., earning him a police citation, he wrote to federal regulators imploring them to look into his case "before someone ends up seriously injured or killed."

That was in 2003.

The years since have seen hundreds of drivers' complaints about unwanted acceleration of their Toyotas, six inconclusive federal investigations, multiple reports of deaths and repeated denials from the automaker that it had a major problem on its hands.

That's just the sort of bureaucratic inertia Barack Obama pointedly criticized as a presidential candidate. Yet his administration was without a federal highway safety chief for most of its first year and, like the Bush administration before it, missed signals in the Toyota case.

After several investigations, it was only last week that Toyota owners learned federal regulators, concerned that the company was not taking apparently dangerous defects seriously enough, traveled to Japan in December to light a fire under corporate executives. Meanwhile, millions of Toyotas continued to be driven by drivers unaware of the potential scope of the problem, and the cars continued to be sold.

Combined with a recall involving the toxic metal cadmium that arose from press scrutiny rather than federal oversight, the Toyota episode has raised questions about whether the government under Democrats will be any more agile in enforcement of consumer protections than the Bush administration was.

"When you've got a government regulatory agency, it has to be a government cop on the corporate beat," said Joan Claybrook, who was chief of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration during the Carter administration. "And it's got to act like a cop."

Claybrook said that while most of the Toyota investigations took place during the Bush administration, the absence of a permanent administrator during Obama's first year prevented a new team from conducting a full review of dozens of pending defect investigations and a fresh look at the Toyota cases.

Toyota's string of recalls burst into the open in late September, leaving millions of car owners unsure if their vehicles were safe to drive and tarnishing the reputation of a company once synonymous with safe, reliable cars. The road to the recall of millions of Camrys, Corollas and other popular Toyota models began years ago, touched off by warnings from Boddeart, who died in April, and others who worried their cars might bolt forward and cause a crash.

Back in 2003, Boddeart told regulators that his accident marked the third time his 1999 Lexus LS400 accelerated unexpectedly and asked them to investigate. Five months later, the 83-year-old's petition to the agency was panned "in view of the need to allocate and prioritize NHTSA's limited resources," a common refrain in rejection letters.

Several investigations followed.

In 2004, Carol Mathews, a nurse from Rockville, Md., crashed into a tree when her Lexus suddenly accelerated. She asked the agency to investigate. The government reviewed problems with electronic throttles in about 1 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles and found more than 100 complaints.

Seeking to limit the scope of the review, Toyota urged the government to consider a "vehicle surge to be something less than a wide-open throttle." No defect was found after 4 1/2 months of investigating and the case was closed.

In July 2005, Jordan Ziprin, a retired attorney in Phoenix, asked the government to dig into the problem after his 2002 Camry XLE spun out of control and crashed into an electric utility box. "Had there been any vehicles or pedestrians in the street, deaths would probably have followed," he wrote.

Reviewing Toyota models built from 2002 to 2005, the agency found that 20 percent of 432 complaints reviewed involved "sudden or unintended acceleration." But regulators said the complaint rate was "unremarkable." The government closed the case, citing "insufficient evidence."

A separate investigation launched in March 2007 reviewed allegations that floor mats were interfering with accelerator pedals. Toyota said a month later that there was "no possibility of the pedal interference with the all-weather floor mat if it's placed properly and secured."

By that August, government investigators had tied the problem to 12 deaths and a survey of 600 Lexus owners found about 10 percent reported sudden or unexpected acceleration. In September, Toyota recalled 55,000 Camry and ES350 vehicles to replace the floor mats. But that was hardly the end of the problems.

In January 2008, William Kronholm of Helena, Mont., complained about his 2006 Tacoma truck accelerating while he hit the brakes. During the investigation, Toyota told NHTSA it believed complaints by Kronholm, a retired Associated Press editor, and others were attributed to "extensive media coverage" and many of the problems cited by consumers — including lurching when the vehicle came to a stop and engine idle speed changes when the vehicle was stopped — were "minor drivability concerns." Kronholm's case was closed in August 2008 without a defect finding.

Last August, a high-speed crash near San Diego killed a California highway patrol officer, his wife, daughter and brother-in-law, bringing renewed attention to the problems, now the regulatory responsibility of the Obama administration.

The highway patrol officer's loaner Lexus ES350 reached speeds of more than 120 mph, struck an SUV, launched off an embankment, rolled several times and burst into flames. The family frantically called 911 from the Lexus, telling the dispatcher the pedal was stuck and they couldn't stop.

In October, Toyota issued its largest-ever U.S. recall, involving about 4 million vehicles. The fix, which is still under way, includes reconfiguring the gas pedal and installing brake override software on some vehicles.

In November, Toyota said federal regulators had concluded "no defect exists" in the case, drawing a rare rebuke from the government. NHTSA said the company issued inaccurate information. In December, federal officials traveled to Japan to urge Toyota to take the safety concerns seriously and report defects promptly. Toyota said it would comply.

On Jan. 12, a top Toyota executive said the company was addressing the problems. "We have learned from these mistakes and we are confident that we're doing the right thing for our customers," Toyota Motor Sales USA president Yoshi Inaba said in a Detroit speech.

Nine days later, Toyota recalled 2.3 million vehicles over concerns that the gas pedal could get stuck or fail to return to the idle position. Dealers are now engaged in an all-out blitz to fix the vehicles, inserting a small plate into the pedal assembly to deal with friction that could cause the problem.

Separately, Toyota also told dealers Friday that it's preparing a plan to repair the brakes on thousands of hybrid Prius cars in the U.S. and would disclose details in the coming week. More than 100 drivers of 2010 Prius cars have complained that their brakes seemed to fail momentarily when they were driving on bumpy roads.

The efforts have done little to soothe critics who have long thought the highway safety agency was too trusting of car companies and slow to push for higher standards. In Toyota's case, two of the company's top safety officials in Washington are former NHTSA employees.

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader, who exposed auto industry malfeasance in his 1960s best-seller, "Unsafe at Any Speed," said the problems stem from a "regulatory enforcement agency that turned itself, due to corporate pressure and White House neglect, into a consulting firm."

NHTSA was without a permanent administrator for most of the past year. Obama's first choice, Chuck Hurley, chief executive officer of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, withdrew from consideration after environmentalists criticized him for being too soft on fuel efficiency standards. It was not until December that Obama put forward David Strickland, a former counsel to the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, who was confirmed.

Now fully engaged, the Transportation Department has stepped up its investigation and warned that Toyota could face civil penalties of up to $16 million for failing to issue timely recalls. But the government has sent a mixed message. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood advised owners of recalled Toyota to stop driving their vehicles last week, then quickly backtracked and said he misspoke.

Congress is investigating and lawmakers are planning at least two hearings on the Toyota recalls this month. Now some Republicans, whose party was accused of failing to protect consumers during the Bush administration, question whether the agency held Toyota accountable.

"It begs the question if this is an organization that has been broken for a long time," said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the top Republican on the House Oversight and Government Committee. "They do a lot of good things but are certainly not doing everything they should well enough."

___

AP Business Writer Stephen Manning contributed to this report.


-------------

Toyota needs to be absolutely nailed to the cross over this.

[island911]

But it only happens in reverse . . . Right?

[m21sniper]

What else is this company hiding?

This is absolutely scandalous. Toyota needs to be sued into oblivion.

[onewhippedpuppy]

If in fact there is evidence that Toyota has been hiding these complaints for years, lawsuits won't be necessary. The negative publicity and subsequent drop in sales will have a much bigger impact.

[jjone20]

Bull. What's needed is a clear, unbiased look at the data. And I certainly don't trust the NHTSA to do that. Audi was hosed in the 80s for similar events, yet tests showed full application of the brakes would overcome full throttle acceleration input with a mechanical pedal. Despite assurances from the "drivers" that they were pressing on the brake pedal as hard as they could, this issue was bought hook, line, and sinker by the MSM. Car and Driver did a test, published in the March 2010 issue, that validates this principle - updated for drive-by-wire systems. Is Car and Driver a shill for Toyota? I don't think so, but I could be wrong. There are many possibilities, but floor mats are likely not one of them. Everybody wants to blame the evil corporations. Can there be an RFI cause? Possibly. I smell the Amercan Lottery - prove you're a victom and, Bingo, you're a winner!

[sammyg2]

Oh boy, look who doesn't like toyota.

[m21sniper]

Sammy is that seriously your response?

Whatever, enjoy your Toyota KooLAiD, until it kills you.

[jjone20]

Can we stay on topic? I don't have an axe to grind, but I just think it is illogical for a car company, given our litigious society, to not address proven issues. An Apple guy (I can't recall the reference) said that it could be interference from on-board or external radio signals. Is that so out of the realm of possibility? And is that Toyota's fault? People have had concerns about fly-by-wire systems for years in aviation, is that not true Matt? And Snipe, why are you so quick to bash Toyota? There must be more to the story than we're getting.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by jjone20

Can we stay on topic? I don't have an axe to grind, but I just think it is illogical for a car company, given our litigious society, to not address proven issues. An Apple guy (I can't recall the reference) said that it could be interference from on-board or external radio signals. Is that so out of the realm of possibility? And is that Toyota's fault? People have had concerns about fly-by-wire systems for years in aviation, is that not true Matt? And Snipe, why are you so quick to bash Toyota? There must be more to the story than we're getting.

Very true, there are certainly some valid concerns related to FBW, even though there haven't been any proven issues related to the systems. We do extensive testing with all of our aircraft for EMC/EMI issues, even though we don't sell anything FBW. It's a big deal.

I certainly want to see more unbiased facts related to this issue, God knows it wouldn't be the first large corporate cover-up. It also wouldn't be the first mistake made by a government agency or elaboration by the media.

Snipe hates Toyota because he had two used ones that died, therefore all Toyotas are crap.

[island911]

When Mr. Toyoda comes out to address and apologize, you know this isn't some type of hit-job, like 60 minutes did to Audi.

[jjone20]

Well, you know I have to tiptoe around some of you regulars, but thanks for not telling me I'm an a'hole. I've had some discussions with Part 121 pilots and they are pretty convinced that things are armored. I don't know that cars have the same protection. I do agree that companies should not be given a pass, but Toyota is one of the ones viewed as having done everything right to this point, no?

[m21sniper]

Originally Posted by jjone20

Can we stay on topic? I don't have an axe to grind, but I just think it is illogical for a car company, given our litigious society, to not address proven issues. An Apple guy (I can't recall the reference) said that it could be interference from on-board or external radio signals. Is that so out of the realm of possibility? And is that Toyota's fault? People have had concerns about fly-by-wire systems for years in aviation, is that not true Matt? And Snipe, why are you so quick to bash Toyota? There must be more to the story than we're getting.

So your story is that companies don't try to cover up bad products in America, because they can be sued?

Dude, Americans are dead because of these defects.

[m21sniper]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

Snipe hates Toyota because he had two used ones that died, therefore all Toyotas are crap.

Three that died.

[jyl]

I have some experience with this sort of stuff, from my previous career. E.g. I worked on the Audi cases.

Here is my educated guess. I suspect that Toyota engineers have been trying for years to replicate any unintended acceleration events, but have not been able to find anything to fix.

Some of you guys are engineers - what do you do with a condition that is claimed to happen in a few hundred products, out of millions of products made, and even then only supposedly happens once in the thousands of times that product is used? You get samples of the products, test them over and over, bombard them with cellphone signals and whatever else you can think of, drive them for days and weeks, have machines repeatedly press and release the pedals, etc. What do you do if you can't recreate the problem? Do you recall millions of cars - and do what, since you don't know what is wrong and haven't even been able to find that anything is wrong?

The above is just my educated guess. But this seems a lot like Audi in the 1980s. The media printed the same hysterical stories about killer cars, hundreds of owners claimed their cars had run away, plaintiffs' lawyers announced that the electronics were seizing control of the throttle, Audi nearly went out of business in the US. It was all bullcrap. There was nothing wrong with those cars. And inadvertent acceleration claims continued to be made, against many different makes of cars. Ford has a bunch of those complaints too, for example.

I'm going to wait for some actual evidence. The floormat issue, yeah I can believe that. The "electronic gremlins took control of the throttle" is a lot more doubtful, to me.

The braking issue is pretty straightforward, from everything I have read. When braking hard over sharp stutter bumps, the tires momentarily lose traction as the wheels bounce. The ABS detects the sudden change in rotational speed and momentarily backs off the brakes, then reapplies them, just like ABS always works. The drivers think something is wrong, never stopping to think about how ABS works or what it would be like to brake hard over stutter bumps without ABS. So, the solution is to ease off on the ABS software and let the wheels get closer to lockup. Maybe the drivers will now complain that their wheels locked up under braking, but at least they won't be able to say the brakes weren't being applied. On the regenerative-to-friction brake transition, I suppose the software can be tweaked there too. Is a 1/10 sec (my est) transition actually responsible for accidents? Isn't it likely that the driver was going to hit the car in front of him anyway? People hit things all the time, and then look for reasons why it wasn't their fault.

[RANDY P]

Toyota will die because I recently bought a Lexus...

No really, they are decent cars but they all have small expensive things that go wrong. Yota's killer PR department keeps all problems quiet.

rjp

[jjone20]

Snipe, really, I'm not trying to pick a fight. I just find it hard to believe. Three died? OK, how many people die every day in cars? Are there any common Causal Factors? Yeah, stupidity would be a good place to start. I saw the old 60 Minutes thing on Audi, and really, that's what tubed 'em, not any real evidence. I don't care a whit for Toyota, but I just think the MSM momentum has to be stopped. Or at least questioned.

[dd74]

Toyota sales will slump, but they'll be back. Ford had the exploding Pinto in the 1970s, and look at Ford's successes now. Audi in the 1980s, I don't even remember what that issue was, and as of late, Audi seems to be doing pretty well.

Memories are short. Re-engineering shortens memories even further.

[island911]

Originally Posted by jyl

I have some experience with this sort of stuff, from my previous career. E.g. I worked on the Audi cases.

Here is my educated guess. I suspect that Toyota engineers have been trying for years to replicate any unintended acceleration events, but have not been able to find anything to fix.

Some of you guys are engineers - what do you do with a condition that is claimed to happen in a few hundred products, out of millions of products made, and even then only supposedly happens once in the thousands of times that product is used? ...
.

so, if this is just like Audi, what does the Recall fix?

[jyl]

In audi's case, the cars were recalled to move the throttle and brake pedals farther apart and then to install interlocks that prevent shifting out of park unless the brake is applied. In Toyota's case, the recalls involve new floormats, modifying the shape of the throttle pedal where it is closest to the floormat, and installing what looks like a shim in the pedal assembly that reduces the contact surface of a guide mechanism. Toyota is also modifying the ABS software on the '10 Prius. There is no recall for any electronic issues in the throttle system, AFAIK.

[Geronimo '74]

There's nothing wrong with those cars, Toyota owners are bad drivers, that's all there is to it