SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) – Thousands of cases ofsudden acceleration. Hundreds of crashes. At least 16 deaths. And now, one ofthe world’s top five automakers is issuing a recall.
More than four million Toyota and Lexus owners will soon receivenotice their cars and trucks are about to be recalled to fix the problem.Problem is, a lot of vehicle owners, along with safety experts, are saying Toyota’s ignoring thereal problem.
Since 2002, Toyota has been plagued with the accelerationproblem. Complaints now number more than 2,000. Now, company executives aresaying their engineers have studied the problem and concluded it is the floormats. The company says after market floor mats slide forward and cover the gaspedal, pressing it to the floor and causing the vehicles to accelerate.
Today the company announced it willchange the shape of the pedals and the mats, saying “address the root cause ofthe potential risk for floor mat entrapment of accelerator pedals.”
Critics counter the mat and gas pedalreplacement won’t fix the problem. They cite thousands of cases in whichdrivers report their floor mats didn’t touch the accelerator pedals and thattheir vehicles’ engines simply began revving, accelerating their vehicles to,in some cases, 100 miles per hour. Many of them report they couldn’t slow thevehicle down, despite pressing the brake pedal as hard as they could.
Sean Kane, Director of the firm Safetyand Research Strategies, says he has documented more than 2,000 cases ofrunaway Toyotaand Lexus vehicles, many involving drivers who say there was no floor mat intheir car. “What concerns me is that this recall still doesn’t get to the rootcause of the non-floor mat sudden acceleration cases.”
Elizabeth James said her Toyota Priussuddenly accelerated to 90 miles per hour when her foot was not on the gaspedal. “I’m absolutely certain that in my situation, it was not the floormats.”
James and other Toyota owners say they believe theiraccidents were caused by a glitch in their cars’ computer systems. Kane sayshis research indicates complaints of runaway Toyotas shot up after 2002, whenthe company went to an all electronic throttle system with no mechanicalfallback. “You can’t discount the electronics, given all the reports, given allthe evidence.”
Recall notices are scheduled to go out bythe end of November, say company officials. Still, car owners will likely haveto wait until April before they can take their vehicles in for the retrofit. Inthe meantime, safety experts say the best they can do is encourage Toyota owners to practiceshifting into neutral, just in case they notice any problems.
The models being recalled are:
2007 – 2010 Camry
2005 – 2010 Avalon
2004 – 2009 Prius
2005 – 2010 Tacoma
2007 – 2010 Tundra
2007 – 2010 ES 350
2006 – 2010 IS 250
2006 – 2010 IS 350
