Toyota Recalls 1.5 Million Cars

Just when the hysteria over unintended acceleration died down for lack of any evidence, Toyota has a real problem on its hands...a huge recall of a million and a half vehicles worldwide for brake fluid and fuel pump issues.

Details from the Associated Press via The Detroit News.

NHTSA: 89 Dead In Toyota Unintended Acceleration Incidents

NHTSA's keeping a body count on people killed in Toyotas that supposedly experienced unintended acceleration...and the number is now 89. That's from 2000 to 2009 and jumps from the 52 reported earleir this year.

No, they're not new deaths...again, the cutoff is 2009...they're deaths that the feds think maybe had something to do with Toyotas roaring off on their own.

The Washington Post has the full story, but the Cliff's Notes are these:

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  Toyota can't find an electronic problem causing the cars to accelerate.

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  The Feds are insisting that they do.

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  NHTSA wants desperately to look tough and on top of the issue. Or as Mel Brooks said in Blazing Saddles,

The elephant in the room...that NHTSA doesn't want to talk about for fear of looking less than agressive and Toyota's tip-toeing around because it's bad PR, even if it's the truth?

The vast majority of properly investigated cases of supposed unintended acceleration turn out to be drivers standing on the gas when they thought they were standing on the brake.

And, as my Memo From Michael April 17 shows, none of the highly publicized incidents this year have done anything to disprove that or to even suggest an electronics issue.

Between NHTSA's agenda above, Toyota's fear of insulting consumers (Audi told the truth in the mid-80s and it very nearly put them out of business in America) and the mainstream media's breathless acceptance of every every claim of  "my car tried to kill me" (followed by far less urgent follow-ups reporting driver error), it will be a a long time before most Americans figure out what's happening.

VIDEO: Consumer Reports Re-Tests, Blesses Lexus GX 460

Alright, "blessing" is too strong a term. "Lifting the curse" is probably a better way to put it. After all, a month of being labelled a "Don't Buy" by Consumer Reports is the nearest thing to a kiss of death the automobile industry knows.  But it's all better now, right?

Double Jeopardy: Feds Won't Rule Out Second Fine For Toyota

Despite levying (and receiving) a record fine from Toyota for failing to promptly report issues with sticking gas pedals, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says he won't rule out additional fines for the same offense.

LaHood made those comments in Japan, with Akio Toyoda standing next to him.

Toyota paid the $16.4 million without admitting to the government's accusation, and said it did so to avoid "a protracted dispute".

But that apparently put blood in the water for the feds to smell. LaHood says by paying the fine, Toyota accepted responsiblity for the violation.

Full details from Automotive News.

Toyota Recalls 50,000 Seven-Year Old Sequioas For Unintended DE-Celeration

You just can't make this stuff up, folks. Toyota's rounding up 2003 model year Sequoias because the traction control system is defective and can cause the vehicles to slow down suddenly, without lighting the brake lights, which...yeah, can cause rear-end accidents.

Full story from The Detroit News.

Feds Probe October '09 Toyota Crash That Killed Four

Six months after a 2-car crash that killed four (including a Harvard professor), the NHTSA says it's launching an investigation.

The reason? The car that caused the crash by swerving into oncoming traffic was a Toyota Highlander. And while local authorities say they were unable to pinpoint the cause, the Feds say they want to see if a sticking gas pedal might be involved.

Full story from WBZ-TV, Boston.

Toyota Agrees To Pay $16.4 Million Fine To U.S. Government

Toyota has agreed to pay a record civil fine of $16.4 million levied by the U.S. Government, which says Toyota "knowingly hid a dangerous defect".

The trouble for Toyota isn't so much the money (2% of its projected net income this year) as the precedent it sets for possible future fines and lawsuits.

Full story from Automotive News (free registration required).

Toyota Recalls 870,000 Sienna Minivans Spanning 13 Model Years

The recall is in effect in 20 states and Canada. The problem is corrosion of cables that hold the spare tire in place...likely from road salt.

Full story from Automotive News (free registration required).

Toyota Sienna Minivan Plunges Off Houston Parking Garage, Killing Driver

Raw video from CBS affiliate KHOU-TV

At 8:45 this morning, a man drove his Toyota Sienna minivan off an upper floor of the Honeywell parking garage....landing upside down and killing him.

The Sienna isn't involved in any of the Toyota recalls, and the driver isn't here to claim unintended acceleration, admit to stepping on the wrong pedal, confess to blackouts or suicidal thoughts or any of a dozen possible reasons the van might have gone forward with enough force to snap the safety cables that keep cars from taking the steep dive, but authorities will be poring over the evidence attempting to determine a cause.  Full details from The Houston Chronicle.

Associated Press Toyota Investigation: "Questionable, Evasive and Deceptive" Tactics In Dealing With Customer Lawsuits

The Associated Press pulls no punches in its investigation, which reads more like an indictment. Read the whole thing at the Detroit Free Press.

Toyota Timeline Widens: Documents Show Knowledge Of Floor Mat, Gas Pedal Problems Four Years Ago

Not good. Not good at all. NHTSA releases documents showing Toyota knew about problems with floor mats and gas pedals in 2006....bolstering the agency's claim that Toyota "knowingly hid a dangerous defect".

Full story from Automotive News (free registration required).

Kogi, We Have A Problem: The Toyota Memo

It's a prosecutor's favorite question: What did you know and when did you know it?

With the feds now alleging Toyota of  "knowingly hiding dangerous defects", and proposing a record civil fine, this is a bad time to have the wrong answer.

Now it looks like the timeline is back at least as far as January 16. Read the memo at Freep.com and the story behind it at Automotive News (free registration required).

Record Civil Fine Proposed For Toyota

The gloves have come off. The United States government is accusing Toyota of  "knowingly hiding a dangerous defect" that caused its cars to accelerate unintentionally.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood proposes the maximum possible fine: $16.4 million.

Full story from Automotive News.

Toyota, Police Investigating New Unintended Acceleration Claim

76 year old Myrna Marseille of Wisconsin was parking her 2009 Toyota Camry at the local YMCA when she says it accelerated suddenly...into the Y's wall.

She insists her foot was on the brake, not on the gas.

Toyota tells WISN-TV it's investigating. Potentially helpful...the Sheboygan Falls Police Department is right across the parking lot from the Y....and has security cameras that may have caught the entire event.

Watch the story from WISN-TV here.

NASA To Help Investigate Unintended Acceleration

Gee, maybe it is rocket science.

Despite decades of experience and data indicating that the vast majority of unintended acceleration incidents fully investigated end up being cases of drivers standing on the gas instead of the brake, the Obama administration has decided to launch not one, but two investigations...one by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) with the help of The National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) and the other by The National Academy of Sciences...to get to the bottom of the unintended acceleration incidents that have been plaguing Toyota and other manufacturers.

How long? 15 months.

How much? $3 million.

Full story from The Detroit News.

Toyota Death Toll: 102

The Los Angeles Times says its review of public records indicates 102 people have been killed in Toyota vehicle accidents linked to unintended acceleration.

Two things to remember when reading the piece: One, that the number of reports increases when a problem is reported and many of those reports are later found to be unrelated to the problem. And two, that in the vast majority of cases fully investigated where a cause can be found, unintended acceleration incidents end up being a case of drivers standing on the gas pedal when they believe (and have reported, if they survived) they were standing on the brake.

Full story from the Times here.

Jalopnik Calls BS On CNN's TSB

One of the best things about new media is that we acknowledge the existence and work of others in the same field and help it reach a wider audience. In radio and TV, where I began my career (and still work), the "other guys" are never mentioned, unless it's in connection with videotape of one of their reporters and a barnyard animal dressed in the outfit on page 38 of the Victoria's Secret catalog.

Well, Jalopnik scores again...taking dead aim at CNN's story about a 2002 Technical Service Bulletin (TSB) that purports to show Toyota's known about electronic causes of unintended acceleration in its vehicles for eight years.

I've been a Jalopnik reader and fan for a lot of years (the Samuel L. Jackson Maybach piece still has me laughing three-plus years later)...reporting like Matt Hardigree's reinforces that.

Full story here.

Consultants Say Toyota's Looking In The Wrong Places For Electronic Interference

Three British consultants meeting with U.S. investigators tomorrow say Toyota's never found evidence of electronic interference in acceleration because they don't know where to look and it's very difficult to detect.

Full story from Automotive News.

Toyota Will Replace Accelerator Pedals For Customers Who Complain About Repaired Originals

The squeaky gas pedal gets the grease...or something like that.


Anyway, The New York Times has a memo from Toyota to its dealers telling them to replace accelerator pedals only if customers complain about the metal bar repair Toyota recommends.

“Accelerator pedal replacement is based on specific customer request only,” said the memo, which was addressed to dealers, service managers and parts managers. “Dealers are not to solicit pedal replacement.”

Full story from The New York Times.

CNN: 2002 Technical Service Bulletin Suggests Toyota Knew Of Electronic Acceleration Surges

The TSB from eight years ago was provided by attorneys for plainiffs in class action suits. They say it proves Toyota knew it had a problem, and knew it wasn't floor mats, at the beginning of the last decade.

Toyota calls them "baseless allegations" and "unfounded claims".