inc. John W. Zucker Senior Vice President La & Regulation March 18, 2010 Christopher P. Reynolds, Esq. Group Vice President and General Counsel Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. 19001 South Western Avenue Torrance, CA 90501 Dear Mr. Reynolds: Your letter of March 11, 2010 to ABC News President David Westin has been referred to me for reply. In your letter, you outline several objections to ABC News’ reporting of the tests, conclusions, and testimony of Professor David Gilbert of Southern Illinois University Carbondale regarding the functioning of the electronic throttle control system in Toyota cars. Much of your letter, and the report that you attach by Exponent Failure Analysis Associates, consists of criticism of Professor Gilbert's test and conclusions. That critique was presented in detail by Toyota during a lengthy presentation on March 8. In news reports on March 8 and 9, ABC News reported extensively on Toyota's attacks on the validity of Professor Gilbert's tests and claims. See, ¢.g., World News with Diane Sawyer, March 8, 2010 (“Today, Toyota said that (Gilbert’s] experiment was manipulated and set out to refute it, saying Gilbert's scenario could not have happened in the real world and that Toyota could easily manipulate the same results. And not only with a Toyota, but with several other cars, too, all different models, all different makes, acceleration with no error message.”) But whether Professor Gilbert was correct in his conclusion that he has identified a significant problem in the design of the Toyota electronic throttle control system, or Toyota is correct in asserting that his tests are flawed and do not demonstrate such a problem, it was legitimate and newsworthy for ABC News to report on his tests and claims, which Professor Gilbert was to present the next morning in Congressional testimony, just as it was legitimate and newsworthy for ABC News to report on Toyota’s later critique of Professor Gilbert's methodology and conclusions. TT West 66th Street, New York, NY 10023, : 212436.7387 646.505.6772 john.w.2ucker@abe comYou assert that ABC News did not provide Toyota with an opportunity to respond to Professor Gilbert’s claims prior to the ABC News report. In fact, an ABC News producer called Toyota spokesman Brian Lyons early on February 22, outlined for him the demonstration that Professor Gilbert had performed and his findings and conclusions, informed him that ABC News would be reporting on Professor Gilbert's claims later that day, and invited Toyota to provide a response in time to include in those reports. Professor Gilbert had himself already informed Toyota about his tests. Neither Mr. Lyons, nor anyone else at Toyota provided any response to ABC News on February 22. An ABC News producer, in fact, discovered on his own on the evening of February 22 that Toyota had posted statement about the ABC report on its website without providing it to ABC News directly or alerting ABC News. ABC News promptly incorporated references to that statement in its abenews.com report and in its report that night on “Nightline.” You contend that ABC News “concealed the fact that Professor Gilbert's work was financed by Sean Kane.” Professor Gilbert testified that he initially designed and conducted tests on the Toyota electronic system before he entered into any financial arrangement with Mr. Kane. ABC News’ February 23 report on Professor Gilbert's testimony stated that he had been “paid by a research group that works with lawyers suing Toyota” and that “[sJome members of Congress challenged Professor Gilberts findings” on that basis. Finally, you accuse ABC News of “fabricat{ing] a video shot of the tachometer to create the false and misleading impression with viewers of a dangerous and uncontrolled acceleration in the engine speed” during a demonstration conducted by Professor Gilbert while ABC News correspondent Brian Ross was driving the vehicle. ABC News did not “fabricate” the video shot, nor did it intend through use of the shot to create a “false and misleading impression.” ‘As ABC News has publicly explained, the shot to which you refer was taped while the car was in park as Professor Gilbert demonstrated how he could induce rapid engine speed acceleration. ABC News initially used this video in the report because video shot of the tachometer during a demonstration of Professor Gilbert's test while the car was moving ~ which also showed rapid engine speed acceleration - was deemed to be difficult for viewers to observe because of the car motion. ABC News has clearly and publicly stated that the use of the shot taken while the vehicle was in park was an editorial error. See, e.g., David Bauder, “Two Second Video Causes Headache for ABC News,” The Associated Press, March 11, 2010 ("This was a misjudgment made in the editing room,’ [ABC News spokeswoman Emily] Lenzner said.”) The video shot of the tachometer while the car was in park has been replaced on abenews.com with video of the tachometer shot as Professor Gilbert conducted his test while the car was movingThe larger point, however, is that the use of the video shot was not intended to, and did not, ‘materially mislead the public. Toyota does not dispute that Professor Gilbert created a test in which he was able to artificially induce sudden and rapid acceleration or that he did so, repeatedly, when he demonstrated his test for ABC News, That is all that the video shot was intended to show. Indeed, Toyota and Exponent have asserted that when Exponent replicated Professor Gilbert's test, they, too, were able to artificially induce “an apparent ‘sudden’ onset of acceleration and engine revving, similar to that shown in Dr. Gilbert's demonstration [on ABC News]” in Toyota vehicles, as well as in vehicles made by other manufacturers. ABC News intends to continue to cover the issues surrounding reports of unintended acceleration by Toyota vehicles or by vehicles made by other manufacturers, including ‘competing claims made in connection with those issues. Thus, in recent days, ABC News has reported both on the claims by James Sikes that his 2008 Prius accelerated out of control on a California highway and could not be stopped by braking, and on questions about his account raised by Toyota, NHTSA investigators, car analyst Dan Edmunds, and others, Professor Gilbert has said that he intends to meet with Toyota and the Exponent engineers to discuss his tests with them. ABC News would welcome the opportunity to observe any of those meetings if they occur. In any event, ABC News intends to continue to report on : subsequent developments with respect to Professor Gilbert’s tests wherever they may lead, including further statements or reports as to the validity and significance of those tests by Professor Gilbert himself, by Toyota, and by NHTSA, which is now evaluating his tests and findings. ABC News repeats its longstanding invitation to conduct an on-camera interview with a Toyota representative about the issue of unintended acceleration and will continue to welcome and to solicit comment and response ftom Toyota to include in its ongoing coverage. John W. Zucker, Esq.