Question Congress' Hearings Won't Answer: Are Cars Safe?
By Michelle Krebs February 25, 2010Despite all the questions asked during Congressional hearings on Toyota's recalls this week, 
the nagging question that won't -- and maybe can't -- be answered is: are today's cars safe, at least from accelerating of their own volition?
Toyota happened to be the company at the witness table for vehicles that -- for one reason or another, identified or not -- have the possibility of unintended acceleration, potentially endangering not only Toyota drivers but drivers, passengers and pedestrians around them.
Yet, while Toyota is under the microscope and, in fact, has more reported complaints than its competitors, unintended acceleration is an industry-wide problem that requires industry and government attention.
"The current emphasis in the hearings seems to be about who learned about what/when and they are skirting the core issue of what's really causing unintended acceleration in the first place. With this being an industry issue, what's called for is an unprecedented, cross-company and government safety agency collaboration to pool data and resources, getting to the bottom of the problem once and for all," said Edmunds.com CEO Jeremy Anwyl.
Unintended Acceleration for All
Indeed, Edmunds.com's analysis shows every one of the Big 6 automakers -- General Motors, Toyota, Ford, Honda, Chrysler and Nissan -- have numerous complaints of unintended acceleration filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Some causes of unintended acceleration, from floormats to sticky pedals to human error, have been identified. But questions remain.
Not one witness who appeared before the two House Committees this week -- and likely those who will appear before next week's Senate Committee -- could definitively say what causes unintended acceleration. Not Transportation Secretary chief Ray LaHood. Not Toyota's top executives. Not outside experts.
There almost certainly is not a single cause.
Nor could witnesses rule out that the vehicle's onboard electronics or electronic interference outside of the vehicle were to blame for some cases of unintended acceleration.
Toyota Leads in Unintended Acceleration
An earlier Edmunds.com analysis showed Toyota had among the lowest number of total consumer complaints filed against it with NHTSA. In fact, the analysis ranked Toyota 17th of 20 in total complaints.
In the most recent study, Edmunds.com specifically analyzed NHTSA databases for consumer complaints of unintended acceleration filed against the Big 6 automakers before September 30, 2009 and after that date.
On September 29, 2009, Toyota announced a consumer safety advisory regarding floormats that could trap the accelerator pedal and cause unintended acceleration. The advisory came about a month after the highly publicized San Diego accident that killed a California police officer and his family when their loaner Lexus reportedly accelerated out of control and crashed.
Complaints about unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles soared after the advisory. An earlier Edmunds.com analysis showed as of February 3, Toyota, Lexus and Scion had 1,133 consumer complaints -- more than all of the other Big 6 automakers combined.
But even before September 30, 2009, Toyota had the highest number of consumer complaints of unintended acceleration as measured in raw numbers and, as Edmunds.com calculated, the highest ratio of complaints per 100,000 vehicles. The analysis looked at complaints on 2005 to 2010 models.
Toyota had 532 consumer complaints of unintended acceleration before September 30, 2009 -- more than the rest of the Big 6 manufacturers in total. In addition, Toyota's rate of complaints was the highest of the six at 4.81 per 100,000 vehicles sold. The rate includes complaints filed against Toyota's upscale Lexus brand, which among the brands studied evidenced by far the highest ratio of complaints.
Some of the vehicles in those complaints may be remedied by Toyota's recall late last year of vehicles fitted with floormats that may trap the gas pedal and its more recent recall of eight of its bestsellers for sticky accelerator pedals. Some Toyota vehicles were covered by both recalls.
But not all will be cured by those remedies, admitted Jim Lentz, Toyota's top U.S. executive admitted in House Committee hearings Tuesday. He said Toyota still has not identified a cause for 70 percent of its unintended acceleration complaints.
Ford ranked just behind Toyota with 339 total complaints for a rate of 3.12 complaints per 100,000 vehicles sold.
Just this week, Ford was cleared by a Florida jury of liability in an unintended acceleration suit involving a 1991 Ford Aerostar van that left a woman paralyzed.
Attorneys for the victim claimed Ford's cruise-control systems had potential electronic problems that could cause unintended acceleration, and Ford had investigated more than 2,800 such complaints as far back as the 1970s. Ford's attorneys countered that the driver of the Aerostar inadvertently hit the accelerator instead of the brake and five separate parts would have had to fail at the same time to cause the accident. The argument worked. It took the jury less than two hours to reach a verdict in Ford's favor.
Why the Wide Variance in Complaints?
Unintended accelerator complaints against Ford and Toyota are quite a bit higher than its other major competitors. GM, while it has a higher raw number of complaints than Honda and Nissan, it has the lowest rate of incidence at only .81 vehicles per 100,000 sold.
Scrutiny by brand accentuates the variance even more.
The variance begs the question: why? Is there something inherently different about the way some manufacturers design, engineer certain models?
David Gilbert, an associate professor of automotive technology at Southern Illinois University who recently tested Toyota's electronically controlled throttles and testified at Congressional hearings about Toyota's unintended acceleration recalls this week, said he believes Toyota's electronic throttles are designed in a way that could make them more susceptible to voltage spikes or other outside influences that could cause malfunctions.
There may be substance to Gilbert's assertion: no matter how the numbers are cut, Toyota brands have the largest number of complaints.
Toyota's luxury Lexus brand leads the pack in terms of rate of complaints by a huge margin -- 12.39 vehicles for 100,000 sold. The Toyota brand had the largest number of raw complaints and a rate of 4.30 vehicles per 100,000 sold.
Ford's Lincoln brand followed Lexus with the second highest rate at 7.88 vehicles per 100,000 sold. Mercury's rate was a relatively high 4.78. Ford's Volvo division is 3.05; Ford brand has a 2.71 rate.
In contrast, GM brands had among the lowest rates with less than 1 complaint per 100,000 sold; the now-discontinued Pontiac brand had a rate of 2.10. 
Toyota Complaints Accelerate
Not surprisingly, after Toyota's September 29, 2009 advisory regarding the floormats and intense media attention surrounding Toyota, consumer complaints filed with NHTSA regarding Toyota vehicles and unintended acceleration soared.
Edmunds.com's analysis showed 601 complaints were filed from October 1, 2009 to February 3. A total of 532 complaints had been filed during the nealry five years prior to the safety advisory.
All three of Toyota brands saw increases in complaints filed. -- Michelle Krebs, Senior Analyst and Editor at Large
AutoObserver Senior Editor Bill Visnic contributed to this reported. Edmunds.com's Rushabh Jhaveri developed the charts. Edmunds.com's analyst Danny Zhou and Panee Segal provided the database analysis.
Photo by Edmunds.com's David Green
U.S. Rep. Dan Burton, often holding up a gas pedal from a Toyota vehicle, grilled company executives during this week's Congressional hearings on unintended acceleration.
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Vehicles, are not safe period.
The housing bubble didn't surprise me, neither did the stock market crash of 2008/9 or all the recent greed scandals. The banking disaster or American corporate board incompetance shouldn't come as a shock to anyone either.
What has surprised me in the last year is how loyal (to a man) that the U.S. republican senators have been to their party line since the 2008 elections and all the fuss over Toyota safety problems. As the Consumer Union recently stated, "Toyota's are still considered reliable, the number of affected cars is relatively very small." This must be an anti foreign car thing.
But what all this reveals is just how much of a one pony ride Toyota amounts to. Take away their reputation for reliability and what's left to attract customers? Not much frankly. Many manufacturers offer good design and lots of different models. Toyota prices aren't particularly competative and their designs are dull, dull, dull. Even Scion and Lexus have almost nothing you might call truly sporty. Toyota designs are something that only a grandmother could enjoy.
I've owned 4 Toyotas, including a 2009 Corolla (built in California) that we still have. Great mileage (37 average mpg up here is the great white north with this car) and decades of reliability along with the best local dealership is what keeps me as a customer.
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