Since the Toyota recall in January of 8 million (now the number is up to 10.5 million) of numerous models of vehicles made as early as 2004 for a defect that causes them to suddenly accelerate to over 100 mph without the ability to brake or shift, we have been writing at least three Toyota related articles per month about something else wrong with a vehicle or something unscrupulous the company has done. Writing these articles give us what we have now dubbed, “Toyota-chills.”

It’s the same feeling we get when we pass a Toyota dealership and see people buying Toyota vehicles before the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has concluded its investigation as to the real cause of the recall.

Now one of those chills has struck us again. Toyota said yesterday that they discovered (and apparently fixed) a bug in the software that reads data from crash recorders.

Toyota executives said that they informed U.S. safety regulators there might be a problem in June.

Okay, so you may be saying, “I don’t see a problem here.” Just wait, because you’re about to get a shiver.

Broken Crash Recorders

The NHTSA tested numerous black boxes and came to the conclusion in early July that around 50% of the sudden acceleration issues were caused by drivers because the 50 or so crash recorders show the vehicle as accelerating rather than braking at the moment of impact.

This revelation prompted Toyota spokesman Mike Michels to jump in front of the press and immediately blame their customers saying, “pedal misapplication” was the cause in “virtually all” cases of unwanted speeding (aka, sudden acceleration). This news of course was unabashedly spread throughout the media and the media soaked it up without questioning it or doing things like “journalism.”

If the news agencies had done their due diligence (or at least read this blog once), they would have realized that all of the Toyota crash recorders the NHTSA were investigating were broken…something we wrote in this blog in APRIL!

It was regarding an accident that happened here in Washington State regarding the death on Oct. 17, 2007 of Chris Eves in his Toyota Tundra. It took his parents three years to convince Toyota to release the crash recorder to be examined by an independent crash investigator (Toyota deems crash data to be proprietary and never releases that information). Not only did Toyota just allow the investigator to see the last 5 seconds of the crash data, that crash data revealed that Eves’ Tundra pickup was going 170 mph at the time of the crash, faster than the vehicle is capable of achieving.

Feel the chills yet?

Toyota Recall Attorney

Toyota has now provided 150 crash recorders that they swear has been fixed of the software problem that keeps them from misreporting data. Why not? They’ve already gotten their chance to mislead the NHTSA, the public, the media, and blame their customers so there’s no reason not to release the data. It will probably be subpoenaed anyway.

And talking about subpoenas, there are hundreds of Toyota lawsuits currently underway stemming from the recall, personal injury, and wrongful death related to car accidents allegedly caused by the sudden acceleration issues in recalled Toyotas.

Victims have told a similar harrowing story. Their Toyota suddenly begins to accelerate, they take their foot off of the accelerator but it persists. They try to brake, but the vehicle just goes faster and faster. They shift it our of gear, they pull the emergency brake, they try to pull out the keys, nothing, nothing, and nothing. If they don’t crash, the car begins to slow just as suddenly as it accelerated, once again giving them back control of the vital systems of the car.

The Toyota Corporation officially blamed the problem on accelerator pedals getting stuck under floor mats. Independent researchers have questioned that conclusion and proven in trials that the problem is a serious (and expensive) software problem in the drive system of the car. Toyota has denied that explanation going as far as decorating their waiting areas with two floor mats hanging off of the wall, both practically identical, but one labeled “bad” and one labeled “good.”

This may also explain why some of the crash recorders are reporting no attempts to brake at the time of the crash. Perhaps the car was accelerating and in the few seconds before the crash that is recorded by the device the driver had given up on trying to brake and turned to prayer.

Upon hearing about what went wrong with the car, plaintiffs involved in the Toyota lawsuits realized that they were affected by the issue many years later, some were affected recently, and many may be affected in the future.

If you have been injured or have a loved one that has been killed by a defective Toyota then you should find council that is experienced in defective product litigation immediately. Call Phillips Webster for a consultation into your legal options.

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