Jailed Man Blames Toyota for Fatal Crash
(March 2) -- A man sentenced to eight years in prison for vehicular
manslaughter maintains that the guilty party in the accident that
killed three people was his 1996 Toyota Camry.
Koua
Fong Lee, then 29, was on his way home from church on a Sunday
afternoon in June 2006. Also in the car were his pregnant wife, his
daughter, father, brother and niece. Upon exiting Interstate 94 in St.
Paul, Minn., Lee says, his car inexplicably sped up as he approached an
intersection.
"Brakes," Lee says he shouted to his family as they sped toward two stopped vehicles. "Brakes not working!"
Jeff Baenen, AP
Koua
Fong Lee claims his 1996 Toyota Camry is to blame for a 2006 fatal
crash that killed three people. Lee, shown during an interview at a
Minnesota state prison last month, was found guilty of vehicular
manslaughter in the incident and is serving eight years in prison.
Traveling between 70 and 90 mph, Lee's Camry slammed into the cars ahead of him, CNN reported,
killing 33-year-old Javis Adams and his 10-year-old son, Javis Adams
Jr. Another passenger, Devyn Bolton, 6, was paralyzed in the accident
and later died from her injuries.
Prosecutors argued that
there was nothing wrong with the car and said that Lee had his foot on
the gas pedal at the time of the crash, CNN reported. Two examinations
conducted by mechanical engineers concluded that the brakes in Lee's
Camry were working properly at the time of the accident.
The jury did not find Lee's account convincing and convicted him.
"I
know that lives were lost that day, but I did everything within my
power to try to stop that vehicle," Lee, who is a Laotian immigrant,
recently told CNN affiliate KARE from the Minnesota state prison where
he is serving his sentence. "I never intended for this to happen."
Now,
in the wake of massive recalls of Toyota vehicles due to
sudden-acceleration problems, Lee's lawyers are asking that the court
re-examine the Camry, which is still impounded.
"We plan to
employ experts familiar with the '96 Camry and the components that make
up the car to show that rapid acceleration is to blame for the
accident, not Mr. Lee accidentally stepping on the accelerator," one of
Lee's lawyers, Brent Schaefer, told CNN.
Toyota has issued a recall for several models and years of its vehicles, but the 1996 Camry is not one of them.
Searching
the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's database, CNN was
able to locate "at least two dozen" complaints from owners of the '96
Camry concerning "vehicle speed control."
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
STINGRAYSSTUDIOS EDITORIAL COMMENT ON THE "DEATH OF TOYOTA" :
If indeed we take the "Big Picture" and put all
of this into perspective, the question is not really about people who
died in automobiles, rather it is that:
FOR OVER 10 YEARS TOYOTA HAS DELIBERATELY AND WITH INTENT TO SERVE
ONLY THEIR OWN BOTTOM LINE, SOLD VEHICLES THAT IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER
WERE & ARE DEFECTIVE IN PRIMARY FUNCTIONAL OPERATIONS AS REQUIRED
BY ALL AUTOMOBILES, (ie.) ACCELERATION, BRAKING, SHIFTING GEARS,
CHASSIS FOUNDATION, RADIATOR COOLING, SEAT BELTS & OTHER AREAS OF
NEED TO DEPEND UPON THE SAFE OPERATION OF AN AUTOMOBILE.
Toyota has failed to acknowledge what is so obvious, that the
products are NOT Qualified to deserve the "promotional reputation" of
quality they have purported to have attained. That is just a bold Face
LIE, one devised as a "sales gimmick" to increase the market share of
the company, by deceptive trade practices aimed at those buyers who are
not well versed in automobiles.
More so than that, in the last 10 years, by Toyota's OWN ADMISSION,
the company has been "taken over" by industrial "pirates" from within
the company, WHO UNDER "MARKET PRESSURE" decreased the manufacturing
cost of over 180 component parts used in ALL Toyota products resulting
in a 30% reduction in each, increasing the corporate profits, and
lowering the reliability of the "whole" construction design, hence the
reason (so say Toyota) for installing a new CEO & bringing back the
"Family" name into leadership of the deteriorating corporation,of
course this was done just as the "sushi hit the floor", and the recalls
were unavoidable.
The previous management ALL resigned or "retired" in the last 24
months, taking their profits with them, leaving the public to deal with
the garbage they had been sold, and sold to them with FULL KNOWELGE
that the cars & trucks ARE DEFECTIVE.
That is the Real Point here, in proper perspective...it is NOT
about numbers or even recalls, as that of course is a condition of all
manufacturing, instead it is the greed and malice with which Toyota has
"covered up" and continued to sell poorly designed & malfunctioning
products and the degree of severity of those malfunctions.
This is all about ethics, trust and consumer rights to be able to
safely engage in the ownership of an automobile which is a big ticket
purchase, and be able to trust that this is a reliable product for the
use of families and commerce.
Toyota has and still to this day, failed to deliver that.
Worse, they are continuing to make excuses and offer "band aid"
repairs in order to sell MORE cars !!! Claiming that they "don't
recall" or "were not aware" of the complaints or even the deaths caused
by their products !!
BS. THEY KNEW. THEY DID NOT CARE.
THAT IS THE PROPER PERSPECTIVE HERE & NOW.
As Auto Designers, it is vital that WE really do
understand exactly what has happened here, as this is a extreme example
of "Design Failure" resulting in disaster & tragedy.
TOYOTA LIED TO THE U.S.A. ON CAPITOL HILL :
^CLICK ABOVE FOR TOYOTA CRASH VIDEOS !
THE DEATH OF TOYOTA :
Toyota chief blasted by lawmakers despite apology
By TOM RAUM and KEN THOMAS, AP
24 minutes ago
7:47 pm 2/24/10
WASHINGTON —
Under blistering criticism, Toyota President Akio Toyoda personally and
repeatedly apologized to Congress and millions of anxious American
car-owners Wednesday for deadly defects in popular models produced by
his Japanese company. But angry lawmakers forcefully declared it was
hardly enough.
"Where is the remorse?" scolded Rep. Marcy
Kaptur, D-Ohio. And Republican John Mica of Florida held aloft what he
called an "absolutely appalling" Toyota report bragging of defusing a
safety investigation.
Of Toyoda's apology, Kaptur said, "I do
not think it reflects significant remorse for those who have died."
Federal safety officials have received reports linking 34 deaths in the
United States to safety defects in Toyota cars and trucks over the past
decade.
"I extend my sincerest condolences to them from the
bottom of my heart," responded Toyoda, grandson of the founder of the
world's largest auto company. "I'm deeply sorry for any accident that
Toyota drivers have experienced."
But what's most important to
American drivers — and what lawmakers pressed Toyoda and a top aide to
provide — was a better explanation for slow actions to deal with the
defects and believable assurances the problems that led to sudden
unintended accelerations will be fixed. Toyoda said those changes are
being made nearly around the clock, but he repeated the company's
insistence that there is no link to the cars' electronic systems.
Many
drivers filing complaints with Toyota and the government say their
acceleration problems had nothing to do with floor mat interference or
sticky gas pedals — the culprits the company is pointing to. Outside
experts have suggested electronic problems.
Toyota has recalled
8.5 million vehicles, more than 6 million of them in the United States,
mostly to fix problems with floor mats trapping gas pedals or with
pedals getting stuck. Toyoda said great strides were being taken by his
company to put "safety first" and it was working hard to refit the
millions of cars and trucks that have been recalled.
^ THE PEDALS ARE NOT THE PROBLEM WITH TOYOTA...THE PROBLEM IS THE COMPANY AND IT'S CONTINUED EFFORT TO HIDE THE TRUTH THAT THEY ARE KNOWINGLY BUILDING AND SELLING JUNK CARS & TRUCKS.
The company
also said Wednesday it will offer free at-home pickup of vehicles
covered by the national safety recall, pay for customers' out-of-pocket
transportation costs and provide drivers free rental cars during
repairs. The deal was initially announced as part of an agreement
between Toyota and New York state.
Toyoda also said that new systems to allow brakes to override gas pedals were being put on new models.
"Notwithstanding that, accidents actually happen," he told the House
Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the second of three
congressional panels examining Toyota's troubles.
Toyoda, 53, remained calm when some Democratic and Republican lawmakers scolded the company for the recalls and safety problems.
He
stood firm on many points, including saying he was "absolutely
confident" the causes of runaway acceleration were mechanical, and not
a design flaw in the company's electronic throttle control system. Many
safety experts and lawmakers have suggested that the electronics
systems should not be ruled out.
Rep. Mica said it was an
embarrassing day not only for Toyota but for U.S. safety regulators,
whom a number of lawmakers said should have acted more quickly and
forcefully.
Mica held up a copy of a July 2009 internal Toyota
document boasting of a "win" for Toyota in striking a deal with the
U.S. government for a more limited recall involving floor mats. The
document said the agreement saved the company $100 million.
The
internal presentation was addressed to Yoshimi Inaba, chief of Toyota
Motor North America, who sat next to Toyoda at the witness table.
"It is inconsistent with the guiding principles of Toyota," Inaba told Mica.
Toyoda's
testimony got off to an agreeable start, as he promised to tell the
truth and gave an opening statement in clear, if heavily accented,
English.
< THE TOYODA, OR TOYOPET WAS THE ACTUAL NAME OF THE CARS AT FIRST, UNTIL "TOYODA" WAS CHANGED VIA SOME JAPANESE MAGIC TO TOYOTA.
HOW CAN YOU TRUST A MAN WHO STARTS OUT,... LYING ABOUT HIS OWN NAME !!!
"My name is on every car. You have my personal
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to restore
the trust of our customers," he said.
Committee members praised
him for voluntarily venturing onto a potential minefield. Under
intensifying grilling, Toyoda chose to answer all questions in
Japanese. He brought a translator with him.
Although he answered
every question put to him, many of the answers repeated company talking
points. He did not offer any new company concessions beyond a general
promise to be more vigilant, open in communications and responsive to
calls for change.
Toyoda testified for a little over three hours.
Later,
Toyoda met with a more receptive audience: a group of U.S. Toyoto
dealers who have been in town lobbying members of Congress. "Words
cannot express my gratitude," he said in English. "We need to rethink
everything about our operation to regain customer confidence."
Shares of Toyota traded on the New York Stock Exchange rose steadily Wednesday as Toyoda testified, closing up 4 percent.
At
the hearing, Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., spoke of "injuries and the
damages suffered by innocent Americans ... who like myself have grown
up in an atmosphere that we had a great deal of faith in something that
was stamped 'Made in Japan.'"
"It was of the highest
reliability. You injured that thought process in the American public,
and you will be called upon in our system to pay compensation for
that," Kanjorski said.
And Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., told the
Toyota chief, "It's one thing to say you're sorry. It's another when it
seems as if time after time there are pronouncements that problems are
being addressed and over and over again it seems like they're not being
addressed."
He asked why Americans "should pay hard-earned money on a Toyota in hard economic times."
< THE START OF TROUBLE AS TOYOTA STARTED TO IMPORT CARS TO AMERICA IN THE 1960'S... AFTER SEEING THE SUCCESS OF THE VW BEETLE. THE CARS WERE KNOWN AS "SEWING MACHINES" AS THAT WAS & STILL IS TOYOTA'S MAIN BUSINESS...YES, MARTHA,....TOYOTA DOSE BUILD SEWING MACHINES !! CAR PRODUCTION STARTED BY DECREE OF THE EMPEROR OF JAPAN, WHO FUNDED "TOYODA" TO BUILD CARS & TRUCKS DURING THE WAR WITH THE CHINESE.
"I sincerely regret that some people actually encountered accidents in their vehicles," said Toyoda.
In
one pointed exchange, Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Calif., asked Toyoda
whether U.S. regulators should require automakers to report all defects
throughout the globe. When Toyoda gave a lengthy response through his
translator, promising to "minimize those troubles," Bilbray became
flustered.
"In all fairness, I'd just like a yes or no,"
Bilbray said, pointing his finger at Toyoda. Toyoda quickly said
through the translator that the company would "extend full
cooperation." Bilbray shot back, "We'll take that as a yes."
Committee members did not spare federal safety regulators from their withering criticism.
Rep.
Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., the committee chairman, said the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration failed to follow through
aggressively on thousands of complaints dating back a decade about
sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles.
NHTSA , which is part of
the Transportation Department, "failed the taxpayers and Toyota failed
their customers," Towns declared.
Towns asked Transportation
Secretary Ray LaHood, who preceded Toyoda in the witness chair, a
question on behalf all of Toyota owners and drivers: Are the cars safe
to drive?
"We have listed every Toyota that's up for recall,"
LaHood said. "I want anybody who has one of those cars to take it to
the dealer and make sure it gets fixed."
LaHood said the recalled vehicles posted on his department's Web site, http://www.dot.gov, "are not safe."
Rep.
Darrell Issa of California, the leading Republican on the panel, waved
a gas pedal before LaHood and complained that Toyota knew about
problems of sticking gas pedals and improperly placed floor mats years
ago and made some fixes on models sold in Japan but delayed addressing
the problems on other cars, including some of its most popular models
sold in the U.S., until just recently.
What Is Toyota Hiding Behind Its Black Box?
For almost a decade, the increasing sophistication and
interconnectedness of the electronically-controlled devices and systems
in passenger vehicles has offered the opportunity to collect and store
ample data for post-crash accident investigation.
Since the late 1990’s, individuals have participated in
DOT-sponsored workgroups with the aim of developing industry guidelines
(e.g. IEEE & SAE) for and advising government rule-makers on
EDR-related topics. Represented were the US and Canadian governments,
EDR suppliers, universities, the insurance industry, and certain OEM’s,
among them GM, Ford, DaimlerChrysler, VW, Honda and Toyota.
According to an August 2001 report from the workgroup,
“The results of a NHTSA-sponsored engineering analysis show that EDR
data can objectively report real-world crash data and therefore be a
powerful investigative and research tool, by providing very useful
information to crash reconstructionists and vehicle safety researchers.
Due to significant limitations however, EDR data should always be used
in conjunction with other data sources.”
The types of data that can be captured and stored are limited only
by the available sensors, integration into a vehicle-communication
protocol (i.e. CAN-BUS or Flex-Ray), software-design, computing power,
and available memory. At the time of the NHTSA report (2001), GM’s EDRs
were already capable of the following:
Capture: State of the driver’ belt, vehicle speed, engine RPM, “brake odoff,” and throttle position;
Transmit and Input: The driver seat belt switch signal is typically
input into the SDM, while the remaining sensors are monitored by one or
more other electronic modules that broadcast data according to a ”send
on change” based design (e.g. a change in engine speed of more than 32
RPM, broadcasts the new RPM value on the serial bus).
Store, archive, update and recover: In airbag deployment or a
near-deployment crashes, the last 5-seconds of data are stored in an
EEPROM (recoverable with appropriate PC-based equipment.) This means,
every second, the SDM takes the most recent sensor data values and
stores them in a recirculating buffer (RAM), one storage location for
each parameter for a total of 5-seconds. When the airbag sensing system
“enables” on impact, buffer refreshing is suspended;
Certain 1999 models had this capability, and almost all GM vehicles
were expected to add that capability over the next few years.
Compare where GM was in 1999, with the claims found by the L.A. Times
on the Toyota website. Toyota’s EDR’s are capable of recording data
including, among other things, brake pedal application and degree of
application of the accelerator pedal.
On the side of reading data out of EDR’s, in 2000, the Robert Bosch Corporation developed their CDR
(Crash Data Retrieval) unit. Many models by GM (1994), Ford (2001),
Chrysler (2005) and Nissan (2007) have the capability for crash-event
data to be stored in their proprietary EDR’s, and to be freely
retrieved by licensed 3rd parties via a Bosch CDR unit.
While the Bosch CDR units can be freely purchased and used, and
training and support is widely available through Bosch, in North
America, Toyota takes a totally opposite posture. Toyota appears to
engage in practices intended to limit access to the data recorded by
Toyota’s EDRs.
Contrast the situation surrounding the OEM’s above with Toyota’s own answers to questions from the L.A. Times
(edited for brevity). Given Toyota’s apparent lack of confidence in the
software or electronics in its prototype crash analysis tool, one can
not help but wonder if this is really due to the tool, or the
production systems it was designed to analyze:
“Toyota does not yet have a commercially available EDR
readout tool and currently has only one prototype readout tool in the
U.S. Toyota performs EDR readouts for law enforcement under certain
circumstances. We are also occasionally ordered by various courts to
perform EDR readouts. A readout for law enforcement is a community
service that Toyota performs. Toyota does not have the capacity to
perform readouts using its one prototype tool in all cases.”
“Toyota’s EDR is capable of recording only the previous several
seconds of activity before and/or a fraction of a second after a crash
or near-crash situation.”
“Given the fact that the readout tool is a prototype and has not
been validated, it is Toyota’s policy not to use EDR data in its
investigations. However, Toyota has used the readout tool under certain
circumstances.”
“EDR data ownership varies state by state. The prototype software
used by Toyota to perform EDR readouts is proprietary, as is the case
with all auto manufacturers. Toyota does not contend that the EDR
readout data is proprietary. When a data retrieval tool is commercially
available, any data retrieved will then as now be subject to applicable
state law.”
“Federal regulators require Toyota and all other OEMs w/EDR equipped
vehicles to make a data retrieval tool commercially available by
9/1/12. Toyota will, of course, comply with this requirement.”
Given the mature nature of EDR technology and the degree to which
its competitors have made their EDR data available for 3rd-party
download; the limited circumstances (e.g. court order) under which
Toyota makes its single “prototype” device available, the way in which
Toyota characterizes the software within as “unvalidated” and
unreliable, and Toyota’s persistence in these actions despite the
obvious conflict of interest (as the sole party that can release EDR
data), one has to wonder what Toyota is hiding behind their black box.
ITS THE PEDAL MAKERS FAULT....WELL, NO IT IS NOT !!!
What's more, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has
conducted eight investigations into sudden-acceleration problems in
Toyota vehicles over the last seven years, none of which identified a
sticking pedal as a potential cause.
"The way the
sudden-acceleration problems are occurring in reported incidents
doesn't comport with how this sticky pedal is described," said Sean
Kane, president of Safety Research & Strategies, a Rehoboth, Mass.,
auto safety consulting firm. "We know this recall is a red herring."
Sudden-acceleration events in Toyota and Lexus vehicles have been
blamed for at least 19 fatalities and 815 vehicle crashes since 1999.
Toyota last fall blamed the episodes on floor mats that entrapped the
gas pedals, leading to a massive recall. Then last week Toyota said
sticking gas pedals were also causing sudden acceleration by not
springing back into idle position, triggering another recall.
On Tuesday, the automaker stopped sales and production of eight models until it could remedy the problem.
Independent auto safety experts have been skeptical of Toyota's
explanations, saying floor mats and sticky gas pedals can't fully
explain the large number of complaints that have been mounting for the
last decade, covering some of the most popular models in the company's
lineup, including the Camry.
That argument was given more weight
Friday when the manufacturer of the suspect pedals insisted its
products had been unfairly blamed.
CTS Corp. of Elkhart, Ind.,
said in a statement that it had "deep concern that there is widespread
confusion and incorrect information" about its products linked to the
sudden-acceleration issue.
"The problem of sudden unintended
acceleration has been reported to have existed in some Lexus vehicles
and Toyota vehicles going back to 1999, when CTS did not even make this
product for any customer," the company said.
TOYOTA backhandedly singled out a U.S. Partsmaker — CTS Corp.,
of Elkhart, Ind. — as the supplier of defective pedals while
exonerating a Japanese company, Denso, that makes the same part. But
CTS CEO Vinod M. Khilnani wasn't about to take the fall. He says his
company met Toyota's engineering specifications and notes that the
recalls tied to unintended acceleration extend to vehicles built as
long ago as 2002. "CTS didn't become a Toyota supplier until 2005," he
says.
There was more to come. In early February, Toyota managed to back
over any remaining political goodwill it had when it voluntarily
recalled more than 400,000 Prius and other hybrid cars — this time, to
update software in the antilock brake system that could cause a glitch
if the car traveled over a bumpy surface. The Lexus is Toyota's
top-selling luxury model — bad enough — but the Prius is its darling, a
car that demonstrated the company's ability to solve technical issues
that kept other automakers from fielding gas-electric hybrids, at the
same time clinching Toyota's green cred. Only last month at the Detroit
Auto Show, executives described the Prius as the cornerstone of
Toyota's future growth. Toyota planned to sell a million hybrids a year
globally, most of them in North America.
As Toyota dithered, it lost hold of the wheel. Lawyers and politicians
took charge. In Washington, Toyota executives are poised to replace
bankers as populist targets before a congressional hearing. "Toyota
drivers have gone from being customers of the company to being wards of
the government," says Jim Cain, senior vice president of Quell Group, a
marketing-communications firm in Detroit, and a former Ford
media-relations executive. "It's absolutely the worst possible position
to be in." Tort lawyers around the U.S. have filed class actions. SRS
says it has identified 2,262 instances of unintended acceleration in
Toyotas leading to at least 819 crashes and 26 deaths since 1999.
By Peter Whoriskey and Kimberly Kindy
updated 7:52 a.m. ET, Sat., Feb. 20, 2010
Jean
Bookout couldn't control her revving car, even after she pulled the
emergency brake. It slammed into an embankment beside an Oklahoma
interstate, killing her best friend.
Bulent
Ezal was about to park his car for lunch when it was propelled over a
curb, plowed through two decorative fences and plunged over a 70-foot
cliff beside the Pacific Ocean, killing his wife.
Guadalupe
Alberto, on the way to the family convenience store, found herself
racing at speeds of as much as 75 mph before she slammed her car into a
tree. A witness said she appeared terrified as she flew by.
As the first congressional hearings on Toyota get underway Tuesday, one
key question will be whether the automaker has fully diagnosed the
causes of its runaway cars.
The company says it has discovered the source of the problem in sticky pedals and interfering floor mats, and is fixing them in the millions of cars it has recalled.
But
in each of those three fatal episodes, the car involved was a 2005
Toyota Camry, a model that the company has indicated is free of the
acceleration defects: It has not been recalled for either the sticky
pedal or the floor mat interference.
"This raises a huge red flag," said Clarence Ditlow, director of the Center for Auto Safety.
Suspicions
He
and other safety advocates have their own suspicions, aroused by a
history of glitchy behavior in the electronics that control Toyota's
engines.
"Many
unintended accelerations do not appear to be explained by floor mats
and sticky pedals," said Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), who is
holding the Tuesday hearing on the recalls. "One of the key questions
we will ask at the hearing is whether electronic defects could be
responsible."
Toyota officials declined to comment on the cases because they are in litigation.
"We
never want to see any injuries or fatalities in our vehicles regardless
of the circumstances," spokesman Ed Lewis said, "and nothing is more
important to us than the safety and reliability of the vehicles our
customers drive."
Electronic
throttle systems were introduced in Camrys in 2002, replacing the old
mechanical connection between the accelerator pedal and the engine, and
it is the operation of these sensors and other electronics that has
been the focus of many industry watchdogs.
Last
year, a study by Randy Whitfield, a Maryland researcher, showed that
the portion of complaints filed with federal regulators against Toyotas
involving "speed control" as much as tripled after the company
installed electronic throttles.
Whitfield said his company, Quality Control Systems, which analyzes auto safety data,
initiated the research on its own. It was first posted online in
October 2008. A companion piece, published this month, was paid for by
trial attorneys and victims' families.
Warning signs missed?
The
attorneys, victims' families and their consultants say several clues
suggest that engine electronics could cause Toyotas to malfunction.
For
example, in 2002, the company issued a service bulletin to dealers
warning that some Camrys "exhibit a surging" at speeds between 38 and
42 mph.
It called for revisions in the calibration of the "engine control module," the electronics that run the engine.
About the same time, the Camry
owner's manual offered a warning that the installation of a mobile
two-way radio system "could affect electronic systems" in the car,
including the electronic throttle system.
And
then in 2007, an investigation by federal regulators found that
magnetic interference could cause an increase in engine speed in a
Toyota Lexus ES 350.
The
investigators seemed to consider the increase small, noting that the
increase of 1,000 rpms is similar to engine operation in idle, and
focused instead on the threat posed by floor mats interfering with the
accelerator. But safety advocates say the increase in the engine speed
should have been taken as a warning sign.
In response to the suspicions, Toyota has said it has studied its electronics and found no defects.
"If you are looking for a needle in a haystack
and you don't find it, it doesn't mean it wasn't there," said Antony
Anderson, an electrical engineer who has specialized in electrical
failure investigations.
Federal safety regulators, meanwhile, have repeatedly opted not to pursue deeper investigations.
When
officials with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
announced recently that they would review the potential electronics
problems, they made clear their skepticism.
"This
is not a defect investigation, because the agency has no reason at this
point to believe there are safety defects in these systems," the NHTSA
said in a written announcement.
Drivers at fault?
Since
Toyota hasn't acknowledged any sudden acceleration defects in the '05
Camry, or in the '06 Camry, which is involved in another fatality, what
caused the acceleration may remain a mystery.
In
court, manufacturers often blame alleged acceleration problems on the
driver, attributing the acceleration to "pedal misapplication," or the
driver accidentally hitting the accelerator instead of the brake.
In
a 1989 report, the NHTSA asserted that drivers over 60 were far more
likely than younger drivers to be involved in such an incident,
suggesting that deteriorating reflexes are a contributing factor, too.
In each of the three fatal cases involving '05 Camrys, the driver was older than 70.
But
the prolonged duration of the three fatal rides, as well as witness
accounts, may make it more difficult to blame driver confusion.
Crashes
caused by "pedal misapplication" often unfold in just moments -- before
the driver has time to realize the mistake and avert trouble.
But the 2005 Camry cases lasted more than a moment.
'Terrified'
In
the Oklahoma case in September 2007, for example, the police report
notes that one of the Camry's rear tires left a skid mark of 150 feet,
apparently as Bookout, then 76, applied the emergency brake. Before
dying, her passenger told first responders that the car had sped out of
control, said Graham Esdale, the attorney representing plaintiffs in
the case.
Ezal,
then 73, was braking as he entered the parking lot and had enough time
to run over a curb and plow through two decorative fences before the
Camry carrying the retired engineer and his wife went off the cliff.
In
the Michigan case, Alberto, 77, was driving an estimated 75 mph on a
street with a 25 mph speed limit on the way to work at her family's
store.
"She had
both hands on the steering wheel and her eyes were wide open like she
was scared or, you know, terrified," a witness, Dante Hairston said in
a sworn statement.
As
for the question of the driver's age, statistics from the Insurance
Institute for Highway Safety show that drivers between 70 and 75 years
of age experience police-reported accidents at a slightly higher rate
than their middle-aged peers on a per-mile basis. But they are roughly
the same as drivers between 25 and 30 years old.
"Mrs.
Alberto's accident cannot be explained in terms of what Toyota has
offered so far with its claims of driver pedal misapplication, floor
mats or sticky pedals," said the family's attorney, Edgar F. Heiskell.
"The electronic throttle control took over the throttle."
Documents: Toyota boasted saving $100M on recall
By KEN THOMAS, AP
2 hours ago
- 10:49 PM EST 2/21/10
WASHINGTON —
Toyota officials claimed they saved the company $100 million by
successfully negotiating with the government on a limited recall of
floor mats in some Toyota and Lexus vehicles, according to new
documents shared with congressional investigators.
Toyota, in an
internal presentation in July 2009 at its Washington office, said it
saved $100 million or more by negotiating an "equipment recall" of
floor mats involving 55,000 Toyota Camry and Lexus ES350 vehicles in
September 2007.
The savings are listed under the title, "Wins
for Toyota — Safety Group." The document cites millions of dollars in
other savings by delaying safety regulations, avoiding defect
investigations and slowing down other industry requirements.
The
documents could set off alarms in Congress over whether Toyota put
profits ahead of customer safety and pushed regulators to narrow the
scope of recalls. Two House committees are holding hearings this week
on the Japanese automaker's recall of 8.5 million vehicles in recent
months to deal with safety problems involving gas pedals, floor mats
and brakes.
The world's largest automaker has been criticized
for responding too slowly to complaints of sudden acceleration in its
vehicles, threatening to undermine its reputation for quality and
safety.
The documents were turned over to the House Oversight
and Government Reform Committee and obtained by The Associated Press on
Sunday. The presentation was first reported by The Detroit News.
Toyota
said in a statement: "Our first priority is the safety of our customers
and to conclude otherwise on the basis of one internal presentation is
wrong. Our values have always been to put the customer first and ensure
the highest levels of safety and quality."
Kurt Bardella, a
spokesman for Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the top Republican on the
Oversight Committee, said the documents raise questions on "whether
Toyota was lobbying for less rigid actions from regulators to protect
their bottom line."
Transportation Department spokeswoman Olivia
Alair called the document "very telling. And that's why Secretary (Ray)
LaHood has been saying we're going to hold Toyota's feet to the fire
and make sure they do what's necessary to make their cars safe for the
driving public."
The new documents show the financial benefit of
delay. In the presentation, Toyota said a phase-in to new safety
regulations for side air bags saved the company $124 million and 50,000
man hours. Delaying a rule for tougher door locks saved $11 million.
On
defect regulations, the document boasts that Toyota "avoided
investigation" on rusting Tacoma pickup trucks. The National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration investigated the case in 2008 but closed
it without finding a safety defect. Toyota agreed to buy back certain
rusty pickups, inspect other and extend warranties.
The document
lists seven "Wins for Toyota & Industry," including "favorable
recall outcomes," "secured safety rulemaking favorable to Toyota" and
"vehicles not in climate legislation." Another page lists "key safety
issues," including "Sudden acceleration on ES/Camry, Tacoma, LS etc."
In one passage, the document says Toyota "negotiated 'equipment' recall on Camry/ES re SA; saved $100M+, w/ no defect found."
NHTSA
had launched an investigation in March 2007 over allegations that floor
mats were interfering with accelerator pedals. Toyota told the
government a month later that there was "no possibility of the pedal
interference with the all-weather floor mat if it's placed properly and
secured."
By that August, the government had connected the
problem to a dozen deaths and a survey of 600 Lexus owners discovered
10 percent reported sudden or unexpected acceleration. But the recall
in September 2007 was limited to 55,000 Camry and ES350 vehicles to
replace the floor mats.
The 10-page internal presentation was
dated July 6, 2009, less than two months before a high-speed crash near
San Diego killed a California highway patrol officer and his family and
reignited concerns over sudden acceleration in Toyotas.
In
October 2009, Toyota issued its largest-ever U.S. recall, involving
about 4 million vehicles, over concerns of pedals getting stuck in
floor mats.
The presentation lists Yoshi Inaba, Toyota's chief
executive in North America, on its cover. Inaba is scheduled to testify
before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday, along with
Toyota president Akio Toyoda and Jim Lentz, president of Toyota Motor
Sales USA. The committee is also expected to hear from LaHood, NHTSA
Administrator David Strickland and safety advocates.
The
Oversight Committee is holding a hearing Tuesday with Lentz, LaHood and
Strickland. A Senate committee is planning a March 2 hearing.
Toyota
has said it will create an outside review of company operations, do a
better job of responding to customer complaints and improve
communication with federal officials.
Separately, the government
said Sunday it was already investigating reports of sudden acceleration
in Toyota vehicles when the nation's largest auto insurer shared
complaints about the issue.
The Transportation Department
released documents showing that in December 2003 it began investigating
39 complaints of sudden acceleration involving 2002-03 Toyota Camry
sedans. That was about three months before State Farm shared with NHTSA
complaints of sudden acceleration in 2003-04 Lexus ES300s and 2002-04
Camrys.
The document released by LaHood said the department had
received allegations of 26 crashes and 4 injuries involving drivers
complaining of their vehicles surging when backing up, pulling in and
out of parking spaces and shifting gears.
Reports of deaths in
the U.S. connected to sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles have
surged in recent weeks, with the toll of deaths allegedly attributed to
the problem reaching 34 since 2000, according to new consumer data
gathered by the U.S. government.
Toyota
says it knew there were problems with accelerator-pedal assemblies from
supplier CTS late last year, but not enough to warrant a recall.
The automaker says it hurriedly announced last
Thursday a planned recall of 2.3 million Toyotas, back to 2005 models,
because the defect trend had picked up. "The quickness that this all
came together is one reason why I don't have numbers" of complaints,
the automaker's U.S. safety spokesman, John Hanson, says. "And why we don't have a fix."
The recall includes an unspecified number of 2009-10 Pontiac Vibes, designed and built by Toyota for General Motors' now- discontinued Pontiac brand. Vibe is similar to the Toyota Matrix that's part of the recall.
Toyota did not identify Vibe in its announcement of the recall. GM made no announcement, but confirmed Vibe is included.
GM spokesman Alan Adler says: "We do not
typically do pre-recall announcements. We tend to wait until there is
something that can be done," before notifying owners.
Hanson has said it could be weeks before Toyota
determines a remedy and gets it approved by the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Toyota says it has no direct reports of injuries or deaths . ( ? !!!!!) But the day Toyota
announced the recall, ABC News broadcast a report, prepared before the
recall announcement, linking the problem to four deaths
(http://abcnews.go.com/blotter).
The car company says that the latest
sticking-throttle recall is separate from one it announced in November.
That one involved 4.3 million Toyota and Lexus models. Their gas pedals might get caught under floor mats and send the cars out of control.
That problem is linked to the death of off-duty California Highway Patrolman Mark Saylor and three family members Aug. 28.
"I think it's questionable" whether the two
recalls are separate, says Jesse Toprak, vice president of industry
trends for TrueCar.com, an auto-pricing and industry-tracking site.
Toyota says 1.7 million vehicles are affected by
both recalls. Toprak notes that Toyota first identified the previous
recall as a floor mat issue, then said the accelerator pedals
themselves were partly at fault. Now, most vehicles in the
sticking-throttle recall announced Thursday also are involved in the
November recall.
"Their biggest error was not to do a deep dive into the issue last year," Toprak says.
Toyota says the potentially faulty pedals came
from a CTS facility in Streetsville, Ontario. CTS has not returned
calls asking for comment.
Toyota says drivers whose throttles stick open
should shift into neutral, pull off the road and call a dealer. Dealers
have been told to help on a "case-by-case basis," until Toyota can fix
the problem.
Adler says GM dealers would do so, too. He says
that no Vibe owners have reported the problem. Adler says the recall
repairs will be made by GM's Buick and GMC dealers.
Toyota won't say how much leeway dealers have —
whether, for example, they can install new pedal assemblies, or provide
long-term loaner cars until there is a recall remedy.
Toyota says the problem appears to be due to
premature wear of some mechanical parts in the CTS throttle assemblies.
Hanson says that means new vehicles should be risk-free, at least long
enough for Toyota to come up with a fix.
Throttle-pedal assemblies from Toyota's other
supplier, Denso, are not all interchangeable, eliminating that as a
quick-fix solution, Toyota says.
CTS also supplies throttle assemblies to Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi. Those companies say their designs are different and pose no risk of sticking open.
Hanson says the first symptom of the latest
throttle problem is when the gas pedal feels rough, instead of smooth,
when the driver presses down. The next stage: The throttle pedal
doesn't return promptly when the driver lets off. Finally, the throttle
sticks open even after the driver's foot is removed.
Hanson says drivers should contact dealers if
they experience the first step and not wait for the gas pedal to begin
working sluggishly. "We don't want that vehicle on the road, and we
want to keep that owner mobile. We'll do whatever we can on a
case-by-case basis," Hanson says.
Toyota continues selling models involved in the
recall, expecting that they work fine because they are new and the
throttles don't seem to begin sticking until the vehicle ages, Hanson
says.
SO,.....IF YOU OWN A TOYOTA....GET RID OF IT,...NOW !! DON'T TRY TO SELL IT AS ONLY AN IDIOT WOULD BUY A TOYOTA TODAY. JUST TAKE IT TO A SHOPPING MALL PARKING LOT AND HAVE YOUR FRIEND WITH THE 4x4 PICKUP RUN OVER IT A FEW TIMES, THEN CALL YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY AND TELL THEM YOUR CAR GOT TOTALED WHILE YOU WERE SHOPPING !!...
....& THEN GO BUY A CHEVY !
^ 2011 CHEVROLET CRUZE - ALREADY A BEST SELLING CAR WORLDWIDE !!
Congress: Mother of Lexus crash victims to testify at Toyota hearing
2/22/10
This Wednesday, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
will hold a hearing on Toyota's recent recall woes entitled "Toyota Gas
Pedals: Is the Public at Risk?" The committee released a full witness
list today, which includes a number of people we were expecting to
testify like Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, National Highway
Traffic Safety Administrator David Strickland, President and CEO of
Toyota Motor North America Yoshimi Inaba and his boss, the President
and CEO of Toyota Motor Corporation, Akio Toyoda.
Along with representatives from a couple of consumer safety groups,
there's one witness on the list who took us by surprise: Mrs. Fe
Lastrella, a relative of four family members who perished late last
August when off-duty California Highway Patrol officer Mark Saylor lost
control of a loaner Lexus ES350 when it experienced sudden unintended
acceleration. Mrs. Lastrella is the mother of Saylor's wife, Cleofe,
and brother-in-law, Chris Lastrella, who were both killed in the
accident. Lastrella's 13-year-old granddaughter Mahala also died in the
accident.
The fatal crash was arguably the catalyst for Toyota's recent fall from
grace, as it led to the first recall last October of 3.8 million
vehicles for defective floor mats that could entrap accelerator pedals
on certain models. That recall has since been expanded to 4.9 million
vehicles and was followed by another recall in late January of 2.3
million Toyota vehicles with pedals that could also experience
unintended acceleration in certain situations.
What effect will Mrs. Lastrella's testimony on Wednesday have on the
hearing's outcome? The presence of a family member, a mother no less,
who has been so devastatingly impacted by an accident involving a
Toyota, will serve to put a human face on the question of whether or
not the tragedy could have been prevented – and equally important,
whether Toyota, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration – or
both – are to blame.
link:
http://www.autoblog....toyota-hearing/
READ THE FULL STORY BELOW ...THIS IS REALLY HOW TOYOTA DEALS WITH THE JUNK THEY SELL YOU :
(CBS) By CBS News Investigative Unit Contributor Myron Levin
Automaker Toyota has been charged in a class action suit with
illegally hiding evidence from plaintiffs in cases stemming from
highway deaths and injuries across the U.S.
The suit filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles echoes the
explosive claims of former Toyota attorney Dimitrios
As first reported Saturday by CBSNews.com, Biller charged that Toyota executives and lawyers thwarted his efforts to preserve and produce electronically stored data , such as e-mails, as part of a "ruthless conspiracy'' to withhold relevant evidence in vehicle rollover cases.
Toyota spokesperson Zoe Zeigler declined comment on the class
action complaint, saying company lawyers have not yet had a chance to
review it.
The suit seeks to represent all plaintiffs who lost or settled
cases in which Toyota allegedly concealed evidence. It was filed late
Friday by lawyers for Bella Basco and Crystal Ennis, both of whom
suffered catastrophic injuries in rollover wrecks when vehicle roofs
collapsed.
Basco, 36, of Saskatchewan, Canada, sued Toyota in 2005 after a
crash of a Toyota Corolla left her a quadriplegic. In August, 2007, a
jury in Los Angeles absolved Toyota on a 9-3 vote, finding that the
design of the roof structure was not a substantial factor in her
injuries.
Ennis, 24, of San Bernardino County in California, sued Toyota in
2003 after becoming quadriplegic in a rollover of a Toyota Camry. Her
case was settled on confidential terms in September, 2007.
Triggered by Biller's sensational allegations, the class action is
the first salvo in what will likely be a wider campaign to reopen cases
previously won or settled by Toyota. Richard McCune of McCuneWright,
LLP, in Redlands, CA., which represented Basco and Ennis and filed the
class action, acknowledged that he had no independent confirmation of
Biller's charges.
But in the Basco and Ennis cases, there was key information "that
a company like Toyota should have had, and which they claimed they did
not have, such as fundamental test reports,'' he said. If Biller is
correct, significant evidence was withheld, and everyone else who had
cases in the same time period "was in the same boat that we are,"
McCune said.
Biller, a managing counsel for Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc., in
Torrance, Calif., from 2003 to 2007, claimed in his lawsuit that he
repeatedly complained to supervisors that the company was illegally
withholding evidence. He said the conflicts caused him to suffer a
mental breakdown and leave the company in September, 2007, with a $3.7
million severance agreement.
Biller, 46, said that when he learned of the company's failure to
produce test data from an engineering subsidiary, he attempted to
collect and preserve the information. Nonetheless, the engineering unit
"was allowed to destroy relevant information and documents that should
have been produced in, approximately, over 300 rollover accidents
involving roof crush issues.'' The suit also claims that Toyota
regularly withheld records on its internal standard for roof strength,
and allowed witnesses to testify that the standard didn't exist.
In a statement issued Friday on the Biller case,
P. Biller, who in
a separate racketeering case accused his former employer of concealing
and destroying evidence that should have been provided to plaintiffs.
Toyota called his
accusations "inaccurate and misleading.'' Company lawyers have not
filed an answer to his lawsuit, but have brought a motion to seal the
complaint, claiming it is "rife with privileged and confidential
information'' that Biller, as a former Toyota lawyer, has no right to
divulge.
Like the Biller complaint, the class action names Toyota Motor
Corp. of Japan, Toyota Motor Sales, and five current or former
executives and lawyers with Motor Sales. It seeks certification of two
separate classes -- one of Californians and the other of plaintiffs
from other states who lost or settled cases with Toyota.
USE THE LINK BELOW TO FILE YOUR OPINION WITH CBS NEWS :
'
Lexus Crash: An Avoidable Tragedy
Toyota's Recall Highlights A Problem That Could Have Been Fixed
Posted: Dec, 10 2009
The Saylor Family: Cleofe Saylor, Mahala Saylor and Mark Saylor in an undated photograph (Facebook).
Recently,
Toyota Motor America recalled over 4 million of its Toyota brand and
Lexus brand vehicles to stem a problem that's hung over the automaker's
head for months.
Back in August, a family of four crashed in a Lexus ES350 after the
driver noticed he couldn't get the car to slow down. With a floor mat
stuck underneath the accelerator pedal, the car traveled out of
control, through busy intersections under its own uncontrollable power.
Traveling at a rate of over 100 MPH, the car finally came to a stop
after it bounded through an intersection at a dead-end road, swiped
another car, crashed through a fence, jumped over a dirt berm and
landed into a riverbed below. All four people died from the injuries
sustained in the crash and the ensuing fire. The driver of the other
vehicle escaped with minor injuries.
Toyota's advice for owners of the above vehicles: Until
the company sends you a letter asking you to come into the dealership,
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 details of Toyota's safety advisory and recall are now known (view our story on the recall),
with hopefully no further accidents. Toyota says the full scope of the
recall, which includes the shaving of accelerator pedals and the
installation of a brake override system in some models, could take a
few months.
But, absent in the dry discussion of the recall are two critical
things: the loss of a young family and the tragic fact that the entire
thing could have been avoided.
On Their Way To Soccer Practice
Mark Saylor lived the kind of life most kids dream about. After a
childhood playing sports and trading baseball cards, he grew up to join
the Air Force, where he traveled the world, including a stint of two
years in Okinawa, Japan. Eventually he moved to his final Air Force
commission in Sacramento, achieving the rank of Sergeant E4. He was
well regarded amongst his friends and fellow soldiers.
Saylor's life of service didn't stop with the Air Force, however. He
joined the California Highway Patrol after the Air Force, serving for
20 years.
In California as a CHP, Saylor would go on to meet his wife to-be,
Cleofe. Cleofe Lastrella, born in the Philippines but raised in the
Midway Islands and San Francisco, was a smart and pretty young woman
with a degree in biochemistry from UC Davis. In 1995, the two wed in
Vallejo, California.
One year later they gave birth to their only daughter, Mahala, who
took to her father's love of sports. She was an avid soccer player and
loved playing with her friends. After graduating from St. John's Middle
School earlier in the year, she was due to start high school in the
fall.
The morning of August 28, 2009 started like any other for the Saylor
family, save for the fact that it was a Friday. Officer Saylor started
early like he normally did -- 5:30 a.m. -- with a brief break in the
morning to take his car for service at Bob Baker Toyota/Lexus. He
brought in his 2006 Lexus IS250 for a problem with the CD player and
was given a loaner vehicle, a 2009 Lexus ES350. He left the dealership
at 9:35 in the morning, returned to work at the California Highway
Patrol Special Duties School and finished his shift at 2:00 p.m. It
being Friday, he was looking forward to spending time with his family.
That afternoon Saylor returned home to the family's residence in
Chula Vista, where he picked up his wife, daughter and brother-in-law
(Cleofe's brother, Chris Lastrella). Officer John Concepcion, Saylor's
close friend at the CHP, said the family usually spent Friday evenings
at Mahala's soccer practice. They were on their way to such a practice
on Friday afternoon when their Lexus experienced problems.
Chris Lastrella, riding in the back seat next to Mahala, called 911.
"The accelerator is stuck," he said to the operator. "We're approaching an intersection..."
Santee, California's intersection of SR 125 and Mission Gorge Road
is one of the busiest intersections in San Diego County. The Saylors
and Lastrella died only moments later.
An Avoidable Tragedy
Any tragedy of this sort leaves plenty of tough, unanswered
questions. Chief among them is: why couldn't Mark Saylor get his car
stopped? With the sort of rigorous training a California Highway Patrol
officer goes through, there's little doubt that Saylor tried every
possible option in his attempt to slow the car and save his family.
Toyota called the issue one of "pedal entrapment," brought about by
the car's floor mat sticking under the pedal. The vehicle, on loan from
Bob Baker Toyota/Lexus, actually had the wrong floor mat installed. It
was an all-weather floor mat from a Lexus SUV, which -- given the angle
of the ES350's floor and its distance to the bottom of the accelerator
pedal -- caused the jamming. Saylor and his family were caught in the
wrong place at the wrong time. It was a complete and utter tragedy.
Was it Toyota's fault? Was it the dealership's fault? It's tough to say, but we can be certain it wasn't Mark Saylor's fault.
When the news broke that the vehicle had the wrong floor mats in it,
our hearts sank. Nobody double-checked it. Nobody from the dealership
considered what might occur. But, how could they see the future, right?
In a world of a thousand possibilities, it would be difficult for them
to expect acceleration problems with any of their vehicles, let alone
the Lexus they loaned Mark Saylor.
We believed that until something we learned this week.
When the San Diego County Sheriff's Department Report No. 09056454.1
became public information last week, we learned that the very same car
that Mark Saylor drove on August 28 had been reported as having
unintended acceleration problems.
Earlier in the week the
Saylor family died, Frank Bernard and his wife picked up the very same
loaner vehicle -- a white Lexus ES350 with California dealer plate
6DRT323. In a police report, Bernard told the San Diego Sheriffs that
that as he was merging onto a freeway, he saw a truck nearby and
accelerated briskly to get in front of it. Once in front of the truck,
he let his foot off the accelerator. The vehicle "kept accelerating on
its own, to about 80-85 MPH."
Bernard said he stepped on the
brakes and tried to lift up on the accelerator with his right foot. He
got over to the shoulder, was able to slow the car to 50-60 MPH, but
was unable to stop the car's ignition (the Lexus has a push-button
start system that requires a three-second hold to turn off the car).
Trying everything he could, he eventually placed the car into neutral.
The engine "made a very loud, whining, racing sound" but the car
stopped.
He was safe.
Bernard noticed the floor mat had
become stuck under the accelerator pedal. After he cleared the mat, he
drove normally, although likely a little shaken.
When Bernard
returned the vehicle to Bob Baker Toyota/Lexus on the evening of August
25, he reported the problems to the receptionist.
"I think the mat caused it," he told the receptionist upon handing her the keys. "You need to tell someone."
The message never got to the right person.
Three
days later, Mark Saylor picked up the same Lexus ES350 with the same
all-weather floor mat installed. Hours later, he and his family were
dead.
A Problem To Be Fixed
Consumer
Reports recently uncovered NHTSA's log books from 2008 that showed
Toyota and Lexus vehicles accounted for over 40% of the complaints
about uncontrolled acceleration in 2008 models. That's a significant
percentage, especially considering that Toyota doesn't sell 40% of the
cars on the market (it sells about 15% of all cars).
When
Toyota's President, Akio Toyoda, recently went on record to say,
"Toyota has become too big and distant from its customers," we knew the
tragedy had hit home at the mother company.
"We are grasping for salvation," Toyoda said.
It's
the cold, hard truth of the safety business that it usually takes a
tragedy to jumpstart a widespread innovation that eventually saves
lives.
It's heartbreaking that Mark Saylor and his family
became that tragedy, especially when it's now clear they didn't have to
suffer such a fate.
Toyota's told dealers to attach recalled floor mats to seat frames on the driver's side of affected vehicles with self-locking zip ties to prevent them from snagging on gas pedals, causing unintended acceleration and then, fiery death. Yes, zip ties.
Toyota spokesman Brian Lyons told Automotive News: "We have
reviewed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration what
we're calling a semipermanent floor mat installation process, and we're
providing these instructions to our dealers."
Lyons says the mats are to be secured to the driver's seat frame
with "nylon self-locking wire ties," described as plastic straps that
loop back into themselves and lock when pulled tight. In other words
"zip ties."
Dealers also are to attach a label to the wire tie warning dealers
and customers to ensure that the mat is secured with restraining straps
and not to stack one mat over another.
Although we always knew either duct tape or zip ties would save us
all from fiery death, but we'd love to see some proof in the way of the
"mat installation process" from a Toyota dealership. Anyone out there
have the instructions or can find them for us? Similarly, anyone have
pictures of the "semipermanent" solution in action?
The
death of a Japanese Toyota engineer in January 2006 has now been
attributed to working too many hours according to an official ruling
this past month. The 45-year-old man, lead engineer on the Toyota Camry Hybrid, was reportedly working an average of 80 hours overtime
per month during the several months before his death from ischemic
heart disease. The official ruling allows his family to collect
benefits from his work insurance, and Toyota is saying they will work
to improve monitoring of the health of their workers. Let's hope they
mean it, because this occurence, known as "karoshi," has steadily
increased since the Health Ministry first recognized the phenomenon in
1987.
