Toyota: Some Recall Fixes Done Improperly; Prius Runs Wild?
March 09, 2010
Well underway with the colossal job of attending to more than six million vehicles recalled to address either potentially sticking accelerator pedals or wayward floormats, a Toyota spokesman yesterday admitted some of the repairs may not be properly conducted.
The spokesman, in attendance of a media event where engineers demonstrated how unintended acceleration simulated by one researcher using a Toyota electronically controlled throttle system is virtually impossible to happen in real-world conditions, said the company is aware of multiple reports of continuing incidents of unintended acceleration in vehicles that had undergone the stipulated warranty repairs.
He added that only a few of the claims had been verified, but seemed to admit not all repairs are being properly carried out, saying that for some of the vehicles reported to still be accelerating of their own accord, "it had to do with the repair not being done properly."
The response would not seem one to promote excessive confidence in the company's methods, and Toyota's precarious public perception was not helped by yesterday's wild ride by a California man in a 2008 Prius, coming on the same day as the media demonstration staged to reassure the public and Toyota owners the company's cars are safe.
The Prius driver said the accelerator pedal stuck after he pushed it to pass a slower vehicle on the freeway. Only after miles of high-speed travel was he able to slow the hybrid-electric car and eventually shut down its engine.
Toyota said it had dispatched a technical representative to examine the Prius, as had the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, also under fire for its handling of the body of evidence Toyota was having problems with unintended acceleration.
The Prius driver, James Sikes, said he will never drive the car again. The car was subject to Toyota's late-2009 floormat recall but the Prius was not a part of the more recent recall to fix potentially sticking accelerator pedals in several models.
After Sikes' new report of unintended acceleration in the Prius, the company reiterated it will recall all 2004-2009 Prius models to prevent floormats from interfering with the accelerator pedal, although the Prius was included in the original floormat recall announced last November.
Also today, media reports are pegging Toyota's potential liability for a likely plethora of consumer legal actions to be $3 billion or more. - Bill Visnic, senior editor
Posted by Bill Visnic at 10:39 AM under Business , In the Media , News , Technology , Toyota | Comments (4) | digg this | Seed Newsvine
The Prius driver, James Sikes, stated "he was afraid to turn off the engine because he thought the car would flip." The problem we have is drivers not knowing how to drive and control the cars they have. Folks buy a new car and assume they know all there is to know. Do we need a mandatory driving school when you get a new car? This Prius wasn't a runaway it was just not being controlled properly by the driver due to lack of training and knowledge.
Posted by: cabrio8 | March 10, 2010 at 4:55 AM
As I understand it, the EDRs in cars will record data about what was going on with the car at the time of an airbag deployment or possibly an 'error event' in the computer. Neither of these occurred with Mr.Sikes Prius, so I can't imagine how Toyota's techs can find anything other than the fact he still had the floor mats installed. This is not going to go well for him.
What I would suggest is that users should be able to force an EDR recording 'event' by some simple action that wouldn't normally occur, such as putting the car in Neutral at speed, and/or pressing the Start/Stop button at speed. More importantly, the EDR should be able to capture more than one event. It should be able to capture several events before being overlayed with the latest event.
Assuming there is sufficient memory available, Toyota should be able to make this computer change now along with their brake override change, without changing any components or adding a 'panic' button at a higher cost, and NHTSA should oblige Toyota to make it a compulsory safety recall.
NHTSA needs to act on the EDRs for Toyota now. I cannot imagine Toyota doing this on their own since it is more than likely going to point to their ETCS system rather than absolve them.
Posted by: johnaz | March 10, 2010 at 6:15 AM
Runaway Cars gas pedal that get stuck to floor mats? Or is it in the computer system I don’t know but it is truly scary. I had a recall on my car which is made in USA (Pontiac G8) I found out on www.carpedalrecall.com I had friends and co workers also discover their cars had a recall maybe not a serious recall but a recall none the less, and really what recall isn’t serious. They recalled the car for a reason.. People should be more aware of the ghost in their machines.
Posted by: baccus49 | March 10, 2010 at 10:11 AM
the G8 wasnt made in the USA, it was made in Australia.
Posted by: 1487 | March 11, 2010 at 5:51 AM