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Toyota Accelerating Toward PR Disaster and Lawsuits
Consumers may not be seeing new Toyota commercials on ABC anytime soon. Not after the ABC News showed that the sudden acceleration problems found in a myriad of Toyota vehicles is not a faulty pedal or the floor mat, but a serious and expensive to fix software problem.
Of course, we’re kidding about not seeing Toyota commercials on every channel flashing across American televisions including ABC. Toyota’s most recent commercial features perhaps the most blatant display of groveling to date. It shows American Toyota workers from the factory to the dealership thanking loyal customers, and without saying it, begging fellow Americans for their jobs. It then entices people to come out and buy the vehicles not associated with the recall with 0 percent financing for 24 months…about as much time it will take for this thing to blow over and for you to forget why the heck you bought a Yaris.
The Toyota Research
Toyota recently hired Exponent, an engineering firm to get to the bottom of the acceleration problem. They have used their limitless resources and access to Toyota cars and technology to do diligent testing and have found absolutely nothing.
Then ABC news found a professor from the Southern Illinois University automotive technology department who told the congressional panel investigating the problem that he found a serious flaw in Toyota’s electrical system design.
Professor David Gilbert testified in February that a flaw in the design of Toyota’s electronic acceleration system prevents the car’s onboard computer from detecting and stopping certain short circuits that can trigger sudden speed surges.
Gilbert then demonstrated his theory to ABC News by deliberately inducing a short that caused a Toyota Avalon (models from 2005 – 2010 have been recalled) to accelerate suddenly without the computer recording an error code, or going into the fail safe mode that is supposed to kill the acceleration.
This was demonstrated with the reporter, Brian Ross, in the car. As the car accelerated Ross stomped on the brakes to no avail, the car just kept on going faster and faster.
This similar scenario was described to Congress earlier Rhonda Smith as whose harrowing ordeal we reported earlier. But that testimony was questioned by Toyota as not documented and unproven (regardless of the fact that it was documented and proven).
Yesterday a Prius in California made that proof undeniable.
Runaway Prius
James Sikes got to experience first hand the big lie that has become Toyota as of late.
Sikes bought his Toyota Prius in 2008. It now has around 53,000 miles and until yesterday the car was driving fine. But yesterday afternoon the beast lying dormant inside reared its ugly head. When he accelerated to pass another vehicle on Interstate 8 east of San Diego, the car kept going, and going, and going.
“The gas pedal stuck open all the way,” said Sikes, 61, a real estate agent from San Diego.
Sikes said that he swerved in and out of traffic for 30 frightening miles, narrowly missing a big rig and trying desperately to slow the vehicle down. At one point reaching down with his hand to pull back on the gas pedal.
He said the brakes and the emergency brakes were useless.
“I was laying on the brakes,” Sikes said, “but it wasn’t slowing down.”
The Prius reached 90 mph then suddenly dropped to about 50 mph. At that point Sikes turned off the engine and coasted to a stop. There was no other way for him to stop the car, Sikes said.
But it gets worse. Today while standing in front of his local Toyota dealership he told a bevy of reporters yesterday during a press conference that he had received a recall notice about three weeks ago. But when he brought the car in for service the dealer told him his car was not part of the recall and let him drive away in the defective product.
Not only has Toyota not made a statement, Sikes gets a busy signal when he calls to lodge his complaint. Not eternal hold music…a busy signal. To put this into perspective, there are 20 year olds that have never actually heard a busy signal in person.
Toyotal Denial
Before we go on blasting Toyota, as we said in an earlier Toyota article, they have been installing the “Smart Brake” in some models. Yet, they have not said how many and whether the software even works, because, as Professor Gilbert pointed out, the problem is so extremely complicated that the new brake software may not be effective.
Exponent told Congress in their testimonial last week that they were able to duplicate Gilbert’s demonstration. They criticized what they called the “artificial nature” of his methods and said that the methods required a “complex combination of multiple faults or failures.”
Exponent ridiculed Gilbert’s results and said they could only be “contrived in the laboratory” and are “extraordinarily unlikely” to happen in the “real world.”
The engineering company also reported that it was able to use Gilbert’s methods to reproduce sudden acceleration in cars made by other manufacturers. Exponent said even though the error code was not reported by the car’s computer, it would have left electronic “fingerprints.”
Exponent’s testimony called into question ABC News’ internet video of Gilbert’s demonstration. They noted that an insert shot of the vehicle’s tachometer was clearly taped while the car was parked with the doors open. The Exponent report noted that the tachometer would not rise in the same manner in the real world.
Doing Everything Right…Except Fixing the Problem
What does this amount to? A lot of confused juries sitting in Toyota lawsuits as they get sued over and over again for not fixing the problem quickly and correctly. The company is already in a lot of hot water from Congress for their reaction to the recall, along with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and their inept reaction to complaints.
All in all, recalls can actually be good for consumers. Not through lawsuit settlements. Those are how the car company pays for its negligence. Recalls force officials to wake up to problems and change and refresh some outdated policies. Hopefully Congress will make an honest attempt to force, not just Toyota, but the whole auto industry to reassess the safety measures place in the new generation of software that now runs most of the new cars on the road.
If you or a loved one have been affected by the Toyota recall then it is important that you protect yourself. Call Phillips Webster for a consultation on your legal options.
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