Recall of Toyota Accelerators

Walt White

University of Oklahoma

Recall of Toyota Accelerators

The worlds largest automaker, Toyota Motor Corporation, was founded in 1937 by Kiichiro Toyoda in Japan. A spin-off from his fathers company, Toyota Industries, designed and built automatic looms. In 1934, while still a part of Toyota Industries, the first Toyota motor was designed and built, also known as the Type A engine. The first ever Toyota automobile was built in 1936, known as the Toyota AA. Along with building automobiles, Toyota also designs and builds robots for manufacturing. At its peak, Toyota Motor Company had more then 320,000 employees worldwide. Along with producing Toyota vehicles, Toyota Motor Company also owns and operates Lexus and Scion. The oil crisis of 1973 forced Americans to turn to more fuel-efficient compact cars. This sparked the interest of Toyota, and along with the Chicken Tax of 1964, which placed a 25% tax on all imported automobiles; Toyota began building production plants by the early 1980's in the United States. By the 1990's Toyota began producing a much wider variety of vehicles, instead of just small compact cars and trucks. They began designing and building larger, more luxurious cars, to compete with BMW and Cadillac, and also started the production of full size trucks, such as the Toyota Tundra. By 1999, the company had grown so large that they decided to list themselves on the London and New York Stock Exchanges. By 2005, Toyota Motor Company was listed eighth in the Forbes 2000 list for the worlds leading companies, and by 2008, Toyota's hard work moved them up to the number one selling automobile company for the first quarter. Toyota had began to feel the financial crisis in 2009 that other automobile companies were struggling to overcome, with a loss of $4.2 billion reported on May 8, 2009. On September 29, 2009, it was reported that Toyota was planning to recall 3.8 million

Recall of Toyota Accelerators

vehicles in the United States, due to a floor mat issue causing the accelerator pedal to stick, which could cause a crash. This is the largest Toyota recall ever reported since their production began in the United States. In 2010, Toyota halted production in Britain and France for a short period of time due to lack of sales, which were caused by the 1.8 million cars that were recalled in Europe. Toyota first noticed problems with the accelerator pedals on the Tundra pickup in March 2007. After months of testing, the company determined that the problem was caused by the components in the accelerators' friction lever and attempted to make a change. Toyota considered it to be a consumer issue instead of safety, according to its reports that were filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. A similar issue happened in Europe in December 2008 in the right-hand-drive versions of two small cars, the Aygo and Yaris. The company's investigation found that condensation from heaters caused increased friction in the gas pedal, making it stick in some cases. Toyota lengthened the arm of the friction lever and changed its materials on all vehicles produced in Europe using the subject accelerator pedals starting in August 2009. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration launched an investigation due to many complaints into possible sudden acceleration problems on 2006-07 Tacoma pickups. In one such incident a customer was on his way to a Toyota dealer to have his new Tacoma examined for acceleration issues, when he ran up on another car after tapping the brakes, but instead of slowing down he claims the truck's engine sped up suddenly. He lost control of the vehicle and jumped an embankment, causing the Tacoma to roll several times before finally coming to a stop. Amazingly he 3

Recall of Toyota Accelerators

was able to walk away from the incident unhurt. Before this incident he had sent several letters to Toyota reporting problems where his Tacoma accelerated without warning, but the automaker denied finding any mechanical problems with the vehicle. The NHTSA has typically ruled that sudden acceleration issues are the result of driver error, but after a retired journalist William Kronholm petitioned the agency, it decided to open an investigation. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administrated decided to conduct its investigation based on several issues brought to its attention through many consumer complaints along with multiple engineers and research teams. During this investigation problems such as Toyotas official response, vehicle certification standards, adequacy of service brakes, Ignition and engine switch complaints, floor mat issues, and contradictory input complains were analyzed The investigation brought to light multiple problems were found with the floor mats including improperly installed mats, floor mats not being returned to original position after being moved and mats not being secured to the floor. All evidence obtained and recorded by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration lead to a specific report released by the government that stated: Toyota has initiated a safety recall (Recall 09V388) to address concerns with potential accelerator pedal entrapment by floor mats in approximately 3.8 million vehicles, including the subject vehicles. Except insofar as the petitioners contentions relate to that recall, the factual bases of the petitioners contentions that any further investigation is necessary are unsupported. In our view, additional investigation is unlikely to result in a finding that a defect related to motor 4

Recall of Toyota Accelerators

vehicle safety exists or a NHTSA order for the notification and remedy of a safety-related defect as alleged by the petitioner at the conclusion of the requested investigation. Therefore, in view of the need to allocate and prioritize NHTSAs limited resources to best accomplish the agencys safety mission, the petition is denied. This action does not constitute a finding by NHTSA that a safety-related defect does not exist. The agency will take further action if warranted by future circumstances. ( NHTSA October 20, 2009). An incident occurred on August 28, 2009 where Mark Saylor, a California highway patrolman, and his family were killed when the accelerator pedal in the Lexus ES 350 they were driving stuck. People who witnessed the crash said that the car was seen going in excess of 100 miles per hour before it was seen running into the back of a Ford Explorer. After hitting the Explorer, the vehicle ran over a curb, through a fence, then hit an embankment and went airborne. After rolling several times, the car finally came to a stop in the San Diego River Basin, where it then burst into flames. The driver, his wife, their daughter, and the drivers brother-in-law were all killed in the crash. A Police report said that a call was placed to 911 around 6:30 pm that reported the accelerator pedal was stuck, and that the car was out of control. The Lexus that Mark and his family were driving was not even their own vehicle. It was a vehicle loaned to them, because their vehicle was currently in the shop having work done to it. A Forensic mechanic that was on the case, claimed that this is one of the worst accidents he has ever seen, and that the accelerator pedal sticking by itself is highly unlikely in any newer model vehicle. Because of this fatal accident Federal government called for Toyota to recall 3.8 million vehicles, stating that the major issues present to the house committee indicated

Recall of Toyota Accelerators

that the floor mat problem might not be the only issue Toyota had with its accelerator problem. The committee stated, If you are a Toyota or Lexus owner and your vehicle is one of the ones listed above, remove the floor mats immediately and contact your dealership for further information. If a replacement program exists, take advantage. If you must buy your own in order to protect the upholstery, do so. If youre short of cash, get a loan; dont risk your life in assuming your mats wont be a problem. On October 8, 2009, Toyota customers affected by the floor mat recall noticed that Toyota was using clear plastic zip-ties to hold the floor mats of their vehicles in place. Toyota instructed all of its dealerships to punch two small holes in the floor mat directly in front of the seat bolt. They were then to thread a zip tie through the two holes, and around the front legs of the seat. As unprofessional as this method is, it did in fact work. The removable floor mats were still removable, but only with a pair of scissors to cut through the zip tie. Along with this recall work, Toyota put a tag on every retaining strap that said Please ensure that floor mat is secured with retaining strap. After Motor Trend got their hands on of one of these fixed vehicles, they noted that even without the zip tie, the factory restraining system securely tied down the floor mat. This raised questions about the sticking accelerator problem, and if it was even caused by the floor mat at all. On January 12, 2010, Toyota announced it began installing a brake override system on all of the vehicles that are included in the accelerator pedal recall. This new system will be added incase the accelerator pedal sticks, and the vehicles need to be brought to a sudden stop. Mike Michaels, a Toyota spokesman, says that the new system will shift the car into neutral if it detects that the brakes are being applied, and the vehicle is not slowing

Recall of Toyota Accelerators

down. The new system, it is expected to be installed in all new recalled vehicles by the end of 2010. Toyota claims the brake override system is not the full answer to the accelerator problem, but is meant to give the drivers of their new vehicles an extra sense of confidence in the vehicle that they are driving. Directly after the zip tie incident Toyota and the NHTSA were at odd about a statement Toyota released to the public regarding its floor mat issues. Toyota's letter told owners that NHTSA said, "no defect exists in vehicles in which the driver's floor mat is compatible with the vehicle and properly secured." The agency took those as fighting words: In its view, the vehicles have an underlying defect that means floor mats can't be properly secured. NHTSA recommended that consumers remove the floor mats from affected cars to eliminate the risk that a mat will become stuck and trap the accelerator. But that is "simply an interim measure," the agency said. It won't consider the problem solved until Toyota comes up with "a suitable vehicle-based solution." After the September recall, Toyota claimed to have the problem solved with no further defects remaining with its vehicles. However, the NHTSA reminded Toyota that the official investigation wasnt complete. Shortly thereafter, Toyota was forced to recall an additional 4.26 million cars after numerous consumer complaints and political pressure from the US government. An embarrassment to say the least, after having already told countless people that it had the problem solved. This problem lead to Toyota suspending car sales in the US on January 26, 2010. Little did Toyota know its little problem was about to get worse, all because of an incident in Texas.

Recall of Toyota Accelerators

On December 26, 2009, a 2008 Toyota Avalon was ran a stop sign, veering off the road, where it flipped, and landed upside down in a pond in Southlake, Texas. The car was carrying three passengers, and one driver, who all died after the crash. Two died shortly after the crash, and the other two died the next day in the hospital. The exact cause of the crash is unknown, but police investigators have said that they think a stuck accelerator pedal caused this. A few months before, Toyota had advised that all owners of the 2008 Avalon take their removable drivers side floor mat out of the vehicle, and put it in the trunk to help avoid the accelerator pedal sticking due to the floor mat. When the police investigated the crash, they found that the floor mats had been removed from the driver side of the vehicle, but yet its accelerator pedal still stuck. This is when Toyota realized the problem was not being caused by the floor mats, but was a much more severe issue. Theyre failure to address the problem early on correctly resulted in lives lost and millions of dollars wasted and missed out on.