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Lawsuits Against Toyota Fail to Identify Electronic Defect

Government: Toyota electronics blameless for runaway cars

By Stephen Chernin, AP

The government issued preliminary findings into reports of runaway Toyotas today and didn't find any evidence that pointed to problems in the car's computer systems.

That will come as a big relief to Toyota, which has insisted that its under-the-hood electronics are sound and are not to blame for cars that ran away on their drivers and crashed.

The government's findings, still at their early stages, instead point to the problems that Toyota has already identified and issued recalls for -- sticky pedal mechanisms and floor mats that can jam underneath accelerators, the Associated Press says.

Toyota's "unintended acceleration" crisis began almost a year ago when a California Highway Patrol officer was killed along with three members of his family in a borrowed Lexus ES. A panicked phone call from a passenger in the car before the crash indicated that the gas pedal was stuck and the car wouldn't stop.

Congressional hearings, recalls of more than 9 million cars and a federal investigation ensued as the crisis ballooned. AP says the government has 3,000 reports of sudden and unintended acceleration involving the deaths of 93 people.

AP says the findings came after review of black-box data:

Investigators with NASA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have reviewed event data recorders, or vehicle black boxes, on 58 vehicles in which sudden acceleration was reported. In 35 of the 58 cases reviewed, the black boxes showed no brakes were applied. In about half of those 35 cases, the accelerator pedal was depressed right before the crash, suggesting drivers of the speeding cars were stepping on the accelerator rather than hitting the brakes.
Fourteen cases showed partial braking.

One case showed pedal entrapment and another showed that both the brake and the pedal were depressed. Other cases were inconclusive.
The black boxes are devices that track a number of details about a vehicle around the time of an accident, including which pedals were applied and how fast the car was traveling.

Olivia Alair, a Transportation Department spokeswoman, said the review of the black boxes was "one small part" of the investigation, which is expected to be completed later in the fall.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in congressional testimony that Toyota was a "a little safety deaf." The recalls ended up covering issues that went well beyond the runaway car problem, such as steering issues.
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Crisis Consultant Questions Fairness of Media's Coverage of Toyota

Writing in The Daily Beast, crisis management consultant Eric Dezenhall asserts that Toyota is having trouble putting its troubles behind it because the media is playing up the negative news and playing down the positive.

To read his assessment, please click on
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-10-11/toyota-car-safety-and-their-image-problem/
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Journalist Puts Lexus' Safety Features to the Test

A group of reporters recently spent two hours behind the wheel learning first hand about Lexus' latest safety features under a variety of driving conditions, including the new Smart Stop Technology brake override system. One reporter recounts his experience and his impressions.

To read about his test drive, please click on
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-20016891-52.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody;1n
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Editor Calls on U.S. Transportation Secretary to Resign Over Toyota "Damage"

U.S. News & World Report Contributing Editor Peter Roff has called on U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to resign to "apologize for the damage he did to Toyota by running his mouth before making sure his brain was in gear."

In an opinion column in the magazine titled, "Ray LaHood Should Resign Over Toyota," Roff noted that more than "a few eyebrows" were raised when LaHood in February responded to media questions about the safety Toyota vehicles by saying anyone who didn?t feel safe behind the wheels of a Toyota should "stop driving" them.

"La Hood later apologized for making the suggestion but his apology was a little like locking the garage door after the car has been stolen and chopped up for parts," Roff said.  He pointed out that the most recent report by the government on the situation pins much of the problems on "operator error."

The column added that it would be a bad idea to turn a significant amount of the $50 billion in proposed infrastructure spending over to LaHood's department. "Based on how he (LaHood) handled the Toyota business, at least in public, he can't be trusted with the money."

To read the full column in U.S. News & World Report, please visit:
http://politics.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/peter-roff/2010/09/09/ray-lahood-should-resign-over-toyota.html
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Veteran Industry Watchers Support Toyota's Electronics Defense
 
Two journalists with long experience covering the auto industry assert that Toyota's electronics should not be blamed for alleged incidents of unintended acceleration.

Their commentaries followed disclosure by NHTSA investigators Tuesday that they have found no evidence so far linking Toyota's electronic throttle control systems to unintended acceleration. The U.S. Department of Transportation informed Congress Wednesday that the causes they have found are floor-mat entrapment and sticking accelerator pedals - both of which are already the subject of Toyota recalls.

In an Automotive News article titled "No Reason to Blame Toyota's Electronics," Publisher Peter Brown wrote that the number of incidents investigated by the regulators is small, "just a few dozen cases. But it's more evidence that there is no evidence of an electronic problem."

Similarly, in a commentary on CNBC, Phil LeBeau said: "The (regulators') findings should go a long way toward ending the belief I still hear from people that Toyota cars and trucks have a problem with their electronics."

In addition, David Champion, senior director of the Auto Test Division for Consumer Reports, said during an interview on National Public Radio that the NHTSA finding of no brake application in 35 cases "renders the data pretty convincing."

To read Peter Brown?s commentary in Automotive News, please click on:
http://www.autonews.com/article/20100811/BLOG02/100819974

To read Phil LeBeau?s commentary on CNBC.com, please click on:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/38661022

To listen to the audio of the NPR interview, please click on:
http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=129135370&m=129136356
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TOYOTA announces new Quality Leadership Initiatives
ERLANGER, KY, October 4, 2010 - Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing North America, Inc. (TEMA) announced today that it has broadened the scope of its successful on-site SMART evaluation process following a sharp drop in customer concerns regarding acceleration reported to the company, which have decreased by 80 percent compared to April 2010. The company also announced additional quality leadership initiatives and milestones, including: 

- Equipping all of its new vehicles with advanced safety features, including Smart Stop Technology and enhanced event data recorders (EDR); 

- Instituting new training protocols to further strengthen the quality, safety and reliability of its vehicles and enhance its responsiveness to customer needs; 

- Enhancing supplier collaboration and quality controls; and 

- Completing more than five million remedies on vehicles involved in three key recalls thanks to the extraordinary efforts of Toyota and Lexus dealers and the exceptional response from our customers.

These measures and accomplishments were unveiled by Toyota's Chief Quality Officer for North America, Steve St. Angelo, at a news briefing with former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater, Chairman of Toyota's independent North American Quality Advisory Panel, which is working closely with the company to help ensure that its quality and safety assurance programs are in keeping with best industry practice.

"Toyota has made significant progress in recent months to help ensure that our customers can have complete confidence in the quality, safety and reliability of their vehicles, and our latest initiatives build on those accomplishments," Mr. St. Angelo said. "Toyota's continuous efforts to strengthen vehicle quality and safety, and to respond swiftly and thoroughly to our customers' concerns, are driven by our core values and will always be a fundamental part of our company. Our goal is to set new, even higher standards for quality assurance and customer responsiveness in both the factory and the market by continuing to put our customers first in everything that we do."

The new initiatives and progress updates announced by Mr. St. Angelo include:

Expansion of SMART Process: Based on the success of Toyota's SMART evaluation process, and with the sharp decline in customer concerns about acceleration, Toyota is broadening the scope of the SMART process and teams to include investigation of other customer concerns as they arise. This utilization of the SMART portfolio is intended to further strengthen the company's field information gathering and evaluation capabilities as well as its ability to respond quickly to the needs of its customers.

Toyota's SMART evaluation process was launched in April 2010 to enhance the company's ability to quickly investigate customer acceleration concerns in Toyota and Lexus vehicles. The rapid-response Swift Market Analysis and Response Teams, which are drawn from more than 200 highly trained engineers and field technicians, seek to contact customers within 24 hours of a report and, as necessary, arrange for a comprehensive on-site vehicle evaluation.

Since its launch, the SMART process has evaluated approximately 4,200 vehicles, giving Toyota a better understanding of what customers are actually experiencing. Importantly, Toyota has not found a single case in which the vehicle's electronic throttle control system would lead to unintended acceleration.

Production of Vehicles with Smart Stop Technology and Enhanced Event Data Recorders: This year, all new Toyota vehicles for sale in North America are being equipped with Smart Stop Technology, a brake override system that provides customers with an additional level of confidence by automatically reducing engine power when a vehicle's brake and accelerator pedals are applied simultaneously under certain driving conditions.

Smart Stop is already incorporated in 84 percent of the Toyota, Lexus and Scion models on sale in the U.S. and an equivalent technology has been included in all of Toyota and Lexus hybrids since inception. Once the roll-out is completed, Toyota will be the first volume auto manufacturer to feature brake override technology on its entire line of vehicles sold domestically.

In addition, all 2011 model year Toyota, Lexus and Scion vehicles now in production are being equipped with enhanced Event Data Recorders (EDR) that provide both pre- and post-collision data. EDRs are designed to provide data to help understand how a vehicle's various systems functioned in a collision and can play an important role in post-collision reconstruction when corroborated by physical evidence and other forensic research.

Ramping Up North American Center For Quality Excellence: On July 29, Toyota opened its North American Center for Quality Excellence in Ann Arbor, Michigan which offers Toyota's North American employees and select suppliers training to reinforce the "Toyota Way" and the company's Customer-First commitment to quality.

The Center's mission is to provide quality and design-based training to improve the capabilities of Toyota employees so that they are empowered to work from a Customer-First perspective. Toyota team members will learn from a curriculum of safety, design and quality control training to reinforce work methods and develop new work standards through benchmarking and "continuous improvement" (kaizen) processes.

Enhancing Supplier Collaboration and Quality Controls: Toyota is collaborating with its suppliers to review manufacturing processes, quality assurance policies and testing procedures for key parts, with the goal of helping them and the company strengthen existing systems and implement best practices across the supply chain.

The company is increasing the frequency of reliability testing of key parts, including, for example, more frequent evaluation of parts to confirm functionality and identify any damage sustained during shipment. Toyota is also working more closely with suppliers at the beginning of the development and design process so that Toyota?s expectations and quality criteria for key parts are clearly communicated.

In order to benefit from the knowledge and experience of its suppliers, Toyota is revising its Supplier Quality Assurance Manual to capture supplier best practices, benchmarks of global competitors, and other feedback from Toyota's supplier review. Toyota's North American Center for Quality Excellence will also expand its curriculum in the near future to include training for suppliers in Toyota Quality and Design activities, best practice sharing and new quality assurance requirements.

Exceptional Customer and Dealer Response to Recall Campaigns: To date, Toyota and Lexus dealers have performed more than five million remedies for the three key recalls the company announced in late 2009 and early 2010, including approximately 1.8 million to address sticking accelerator pedals, 3.1 million to address the potential for unsecured or incompatible floor mat to trap an accelerator pedal, and 128,000 program updates to the anti-lock brake systems (ABS) in certain 2010 Prius and Lexus models. Toyota customers continue to find the remedies to be both effective and durable.

To date, approximately 80 percent of the sticking pedal modifications have been completed on the 2.3 million vehicles that have been recalled, and more than 86 percent of the ABS program updates have been performed on the 148,000 Prius and Lexus models that were recalled. Nearly 58 percent of the floor mat entrapment modifications have been completed on the 5.4 million vehicles that were recalled for this issue, including nearly 80 percent of the Avalon, Camry and ES350 vehicles involved.

The remedies for the floor mat entrapment issue were announced on a rolling basis (model-by-model) for the first eight months of this year. Now that all of the remedies are available, Toyota is seeing a moderate increase in the completions.
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Response to Los Angeles Times on Saylor Settlement

The Los Angeles Times report on a settlement that Toyota reached with the Saylor and Lastrella families ("Toyota settles suit over Saylor car crash" 9/17/10) fails to mention that this settlement fully resolves the families' product liability claims against the Bob Baker Lexus dealership. 

The author of the report omits this fact and, instead, incorrectly reports that "the settlement has left out co-defendant Bob Baker Lexus."  Although we clearly explained in our statement to the Times that the product liability claims against both Toyota and the dealership have been resolved, the Times published a shortened version of that statement to suggest, misleadingly, that the settlement only addressed the claims against Toyota. 

Through mutual respect and cooperation, Toyota and the Saylor and Lastrella families reached an amicable agreement in mediation that fully resolves these claims without the need for litigation.  We felt that was important for Toyota, the dealer and the families.  Toyota is not, however, in a position to address the additional claims the families have against the dealership that are independent of Toyota.

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'Why is My Car Doing This?'

Modern technology in today's automobiles can cause engine rpm to increase slightly without warning, but don't panic. There's a reason for this and once you understand why, you won't be surprised when it happens.

Here are a few examples of these common occurrences from the experts at Toyota:

Cold start idle-up: An increase in engine idle speed normally occurs just after a cold start on the first drive of the day. This high idle speed is a normal condition of a cold engine. The engine idle speed will reduce as the engine warms up.

Transmission shift: When accelerating while driving at a slow to moderate speed, the driver may experience a slight pause, as the transmission downshifts to a lower gear, followed by a notable increase in engine rpm as the vehicle accelerates.

Catalytic converter protection: On some manual transmission models, the engine control computer may keep the engine rpm above idle as the driver shifts between fifth and sixth gears at highway speeds. This momentary rpm increase is designed to enhance the life of the catalytic converter.

Air conditioning idle-up: On vehicles with an engine-driven A/C compressor, the engine idle rpm will increase slightly as the compressor cycles on. This is done to reduce the chance of an engine stall condition due to the increased load being place on it by the operation of the A/C compressor.

Power steering idle-up: On vehicles with engine-driven hydraulic power steering, the driver will note a slight increase in engine idle rpm when the steering wheel is turned while stopped or at low speeds. This is a normal operating condition and is done to reduce the chance of an engine stall due the increased load placed on it by the operation of the power steering pump.

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Dear Valued Maplewood Toyota Customer:

We are writing to inform you that the resolution regarding the voluntary recall(s) on some Toyota models will commence shortly.  Toyota and the federal regulators have agreed to a proper and permanent modification that insures your safety.  Please note that the occurrences of the conditions these recalls address are extremely rare.  Our first priority at Maplewood Toyota, and the first Priority of Toyota Motor Sales, is the safety of our customers and vehicle owners. Your Toyota is one of the safest and most reliable vehicles on the road today.   Your specific Toyota may or may not be one of the vehicles affected by the recall(s). Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. will also be providing official notification to you if your Toyota is included in the recall.

That being said, we understand the concern you may have experienced while this situation played out in the media. At Maplewood Toyota, we will always put our customers first.  You are very important to us and we will do everything possible to maintain the trust and confidence you have placed in us and your Toyota.

Our goal is to service your vehicle properly, efficiently, and conveniently. We are currently expanding our hours of operation and our staff to accomplish that. Please visit our web-site or call to make an appointment.

We are anxious to complete the modifications.  Our web-site, www.maplewoodtoyota.com, has a great deal of specific information to assist you. Simply visit our web-site and click on the recall/campaigns tab.  Additionally, there is a Toyota Newsroom link that provides relevant information directly from Toyota Motor Sales.  As always, we are here to speak with you and welcome your calls at any time.  Just ask for a service advisor or any of our managers. 

Thank you for your business.  Thank you for your patience.  We appreciate you very much and will stand behind you and your Toyota.

Again, thank you for the opportunity to serve you. 

Steve McDaniels                        Andy Hulcher

President                              Vice-President/GM

If you have any further questions, please call the Toyota Customer Experience Center

at 1-800-331-4331.

Or, as always, you may contact us directly at 651-288-2500

We are now scheduling appoinments for recalls.  

Thank you,

Russ Bestler

Service Director

Maplewood Toyota
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Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. takes public safety very seriously. It believes its vehicles to be among the safest on the road today.

Recent events have prompted Toyota to take a closer look at the potential for an accelerator pedal to get stuck in the full open position due to an unsecured or incompatible driver's floor mat.  A stuck open accelerator pedal may result in very high vehicle speeds and make it difficult to stop the vehicle, which could cause a crash, serious injury or death.

Toyota considers this a critical matter and will soon launch a safety campaign on specific Toyota and Lexus vehicles. Throughout the process of developing the details of the action plan, it will advise the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Until Toyota develops a remedy, it is asking owners of specific Toyota and Lexus models to take out any removable driver's floor mat and NOT replace it with any other floor mat. The following models are affected:

2007 - 2010 Camry
2005 - 2010 Avalon
2004 - 2009 Prius
2005 - 2010 Tacoma
2007 - 2010 Tundra

Should the vehicle continue to accelerate rapidly after releasing the accelerator pedal, this could be an indication of floor mat interference.  If this occurs, Toyota recommends the driver take the following actions:

First, if it is possible and safe to do so, pull back the floor mat and dislodge it from the accelerator pedal; then pull over and stop the vehicle. 

If the floor mat cannot be dislodged, then firmly and steadily step on the brake pedal with both feet. Do NOT pump the brake pedal repeatedly as this will increase the effort required to slow the vehicle.

Shift the transmission gear selector to the Neutral (N) position and use the brakes to make a controlled stop at the side of the road and turn off the engine.

If unable to put the vehicle in Neutral, turn the engine OFF, or to ACC. This will not cause loss of steering or braking control, but the power assist to these systems will be lost.

-If the vehicle is equipped with an Engine Start/Stop button, firmly and steadily push the button for at least three seconds to turn off the engine. Do NOT tap the Engine Start/Stop button.

-If the vehicle is equipped with a conventional key-ignition, turn the ignition key to the ACC position to turn off the engine. Do NOT remove the key from the ignition as this will lock the steering wheel.

In the event owners choose not to remove their floor mat, Toyota strongly recommends that they ensure that the correct floor mat is being used, that it is properly installed and secured, that it is not flipped over with bottom-side up, and that one floor mat is not stacked over another. Information on proper floor mat installation can be found on http://www.toyota.com.

Owners with questions or concerns, are asked to please contact the Toyota Customer Experience Center (1 800 331-4331) or consult the information posted at http://www.toyota.com