[SS 376]

Originally Posted by RealQuickCamaro

NHTSA says Toyota floor mat statement is “inaccurate and misleading”
11/06/2009, 5:06 PMBy Drew Johnson
Toyota released a statement earlier this week clearing its name of any fault in the floor mat recall that affected 3.8 million vehicles – by far the largest in the company’s history – but the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has released a counter statement, calling Toyota’s information “inaccurate and misleading”.

Following the tragic deaths of four individuals in California in late September, Toyota issued the recall of 3.8 million vehicles dating back to 2004 for faulty floor mats, but has since claimed that there is no defect in the actual vehicles. The Japanese automaker even sent a letter to customers saying “that no defect exists in vehicles in which the driver’s floor mat is compatible with the vehicle and properly secured.” However, the NHTSA disagrees with Toyota’s statement.

The NHTSA considers the removal of floor mats only a temporary solution and is still investigating several Toyota models for other causes of unintended acceleration. “This remedy does not correct the underlying defect in the vehicles involving the potential for entrapment of the accelerator by floor mats, which is related to accelerator and floor pan design,” the NHTSA said in a statement.

Since 2000, there have been more than 2,000 cases of unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles. While some vehicles on that list were also included in Toyota’s recall, not all were. In fact, several of the Toyota vehicles reportedly involved in unintended acceleration incidents were not even equipped with the all-weather floor mats blamed for the recall. Perhaps even more concerning, reports of out-of-control Toyotas spiked after 2002 – the same year the Japanese automaker switched to a computer controlled drive by wire system.

The NHTSA has yet to find any faults with Toyota’s engine management system, but it is definitely one of many areas under investigation. While it remains to be seen what is causing the unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles, it sounds as if there is more to this case than simply the wrong set of floor mats.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...257,full.story

NHTSA sat on their hands while people were reporting acceleration problems in their Toyotas for years. Gotta wonder how deep the rabbit hole goes. This could be the mother of all class-action lawsuits...