U.S. auto insurer says it warned on Toyota in 2007

"NHTSA said it has received about 80 complaints from drivers of 2009 and 2010 Corollas. Many said their cars could wander when they drive on the highway, making it hard to stay in lanes."

-all the more reason for Toyota drivers to drive with their hazards on. Not for the car, but for the other drivers that must share the road with these nutters.

OMG- Is there no end to the negative stories and evidence against Toyota ? I can honestly say I've never seen so much dirt come out about one company in just a few weeks as I've seen here with Toyota. Have they done anything right in the past few years ?

Have they done anything right in the past few years ?

Nothing except making trillions by selling defective cars world over !

Only recently I started following the details, but the more I read about the Toyota acceleration problem the more it becomes a mystery. Is it actually that the same problem has existed already since 2007? Was it that Toyota exchanged the floor mats simply because they had no better clue about the root cause, but were obliged by the public to do something, otherwise nobody would have bought a new Toyota? And now they still have no clue, but exchange gas pedals for the same reason? I can't imagine how any of the two, floor mats or gas pedals can lead to sudden acceleration. If they block, the motor wont decelerate, but certainly not accelerate.

On the other hand, it's beyond me how so many drivers cannot control their cars any more even if the motor suddenly accelerates. There's a brake and there is no indication that the brakes on Toyota cars don't do their job (*). And while you brake, you can engage the clutch or set the gear to neutral. Is it really a technical problem we are dealing with and not a user error, means people pushing the accelerator pedal instead of the brake pedal? Can it be that Toyota pedals are located a bit more to the left while maybe the cars those people were driving before had the pedals a bit more to the right? Then people would find the accelerator pedal in the place where they used to find the brake pedal...

() The Prius brake problem as I understood is not that the brakes won't work, but in the moment when the anti-lock system becomes active you would unexpectedly have to push the pedal a bit stronger than before to achieve the same effect, causing the feeling* for the driver that the brakes don't work in that situation.

You know, its about time Japanese companies take responsibility. There has been numerous amounts of complaints made by me and I got for a response was zanen..if you dont like our product go somewhere else. As much as like customer service when it comes to restaurants etc..customer service in regards to products issues are horrible in this country! Quite the opposite to N.A. Our services stink at restaurants but when a cell carrier makes a mistake..then make sure you are satisfied after.

NHTSA received complaints about acceleration problems in Toyota vehicles as early as 2003, and congressional investigators are looking into whether the government missed warning signs of the problems.

Based on the other JT report on how Toyota has corrupted influencial lobbyists, the government did not miss warning signs, but purposefully ignored them as long as possible. Hence the whole system is broken as too much money is at stake for too many people.

Separately, federal safety officials said they will review complaints from Toyota Corolla drivers about steering difficulties on their vehicles. NHTSA said it has received about 80 complaints from drivers of 2009 and 2010 Corollas. Many said their cars could wander when they drive on the highway, making it hard to stay in lanes.

Is that the next recall?

"Is that the next recall?"

There have been more than 40 reports of this problem and yes, it appears the US government is going to hold Toyota's feet to the fire on this also. Truly amazing how screwed up Toyota has become, and all for one simple reason- to be #1 in the world. Well, they're getting their chance- to be #1- for the most recalled autos in the industries history ! Congrats !

Makes one wonder what the NHTSA is up to these days. With all these complaints and nothing being done one should wonder. At least companies like State Farm and the populace are still using the NHTSA complaint process system.

It is sort of like U.S. Big Government now --> don't listen to the populace unless someone is paying them $$$$ (Toyota) to do so. -and they wonder why people are upset and politicians are being voted out.

As a company I would bypass the NHTSA since they are ineffective. And have your own online process with stats/feedback.

"Makes one wonder what the NHTSA is up to these days."

I imagine they've been settling into and getting acquainted with the new Obama administration. Seems that many people have forgotten the George Bush is no longer president. Bush was interested in keeping markets open and growing- this new president has his own agenda, and seems willing and able to "pounce" on any and all industries that screw up. Housing, banking, and now auto have all felt the wrath of Obama. Bush seemed to trust that the good folks at Toyota would take care of their internal problems- Obama won't ! Let the investigations begin, starting February 24th.

Interesting. Slowly the news come out.

Over the prior seven years, the number of U.S. consumer complaints about unintended acceleration in Toyota cars had been steadily climbing, hitting 400 reported cases for the 2007 model year, according to an analysis of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) data.

But five previous investigations into Toyota opened by NHTSA under the Bush administration had hit a dead end, with no action taken. Two safety probes resulted in relatively cheap floormat recalls by Toyota in 2007 and early 2009. Neither attracted much notice.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61851220100209

"five previous investigations into Toyota opened by NHTSA under the Bush administration had hit a dead end, with no action taken."

Like I said, the Japanese are finding out that Bush was the best friend they ever had ! Funny- you never learn to appreciate something till it's gone.

gonemad: There's a brake and there is no indication that the brakes on Toyota cars don't do their job (*)

Actually, there is. Toyotas had a problem where the car at full throttle was sucking the vacuum that was available for the brakes, creating a situation where pushing the brakes at max force wasn't enough to counter the power of the engine. In fact one of the reasons Toyota was able to hide the sudden acceleration problem was that they'd get the safety boards to classify the problems into different categories (ie. brake problem vs. sudden acceleration) which watered down the numbers on the acceleration issue. I think they recently came up with a kill switch for the engine if the brakes are fully engaged but before that people wouldn't be able to stop.

General Motors is already working for the government. Is the government working for General Motors? The Obama administration is cracking down on Toyota to enhance the value of the U.S. government’s 60% ownership of GM. Whether fair or not, the sentiment highlights the primary problem with government ownership of companies conflicts of interest. Can the government serve as a regulator of a company with which it is a putative competitor? Might a government, perhaps even unconsciously, tilt the regulatory environment in favor of a company it owned? The guidelines state that the government would manage its stake “in a hands-off, commercial manner” and not get involved in issuing day-to-day directives to GM. But these prinicples do not directly address the conflict of interest issue.

"The Obama administration is cracking down on Toyota to enhance the value of the U.S. government’s 60% ownership of GM."

Surely you jest ! First of all the automobile industry as a whole is dead in the water. The US government has absolutely nothing to gain by putting thousands of Toyota, tax paying, employees out of work. The US government really has nothing to gain by putting these people on the unemployment line where they can milk the US gov out of millions in benefits. Sfjp330- I sense you really don't know how America works.

SuperLib, thanks for providing that information. I wasn't aware of it. But does that mean when the sudden acceleration occurs, the motor will go (close to) full throttle? If that is the case, the fix which they are going to apply to the recalled cars clearly won't do anything. Whether there are more than one causes for the acceleration-related problems or whether they want to cover up their cluelessness, it pretty much looks like Toyota is hiding something.

I don't think this is something like GM-US versus Toyota-Japan. It's more safety related than politics related. Japanese industries are losing their quality touch, due to a miriad of factors that you guys living in Japan have a clear notion. Last week it was anounced that Malaysia Airlines and other carriers will postpone the entry of its first Airbus A380 due to false data, and lack of quality, on the passengers seat provided by the Japanese manufacturer. Expect a huge investigation with Boeing, Airbus, US, Japanese and other governments onboard. Truth is: Japanese industry is not what we think it is.

gonemad - Toyota was telling people it was a floor mat issue which caused acceleration, which was true to a certain extent. But what they didn't say was that even with a floor mat issue one should be able to stop the car anyway, which some couldn't. A stuck accelerator isn't something that's limited to Toyota, but not being able to correct it on the spot was. What Toyota probably has is a pretty significant design flaw that they're unable to really pinpoint because of the sophistication of the systems overall.

sfip330 - There's no doubt that Toyota is getting extra coverage on this issue, but on the other hand they had a lot of extra coverage praising their quality in the past so it cuts both ways. They built their reputation and dominance on quality, and now that that's being called into question it's naturally going to be a big story. Also, from most reports, Toyota really wasn't doing much of anything until the US government got on board. Toyota opened the door by their own inaction.

If your interest is seeing a government doing something to help out a domestic manufacturer then the 500 lb. gorilla in the room would be Japan.

ok, I did a little bit of search in the net. A good summary regarding the Toyota issues can be found here (180p heavy document): http://www.safetyresearch.net/2010/02/05/toyota-sudden-acceleration-the-full-report-from-safety-research-strategies/

It also shows the ongoing(!) failure of the NHTSA to address sudden acceleration problems properly.

In some other place I found that Toyota/Lexus accounts for about 40% of all sudden acceleration reports. That's clearly the lead, but it also shows that the problem is not unique to Toyota.

Last but not least: contrary to what Toyota claims, the fixes to the pedals will not eliminate the sudden acceleration problem and Toyota drivers in Japan should not think they are any safer.

Branded:

Do you actually believe what State Farm saids? Lawyers are currently investigating State Farm Auto Insurance on behalf of California policyholders who totaled their vehicle. It is believed that State Farm Auto Insurance used illegal methods to calculate customers compensation. Such methods are prohibited by regulations issued by the California Department of Insurance.