Quality Weenie

Toyota Refuses Blame For Recall

As usual, Toyota will not accept the blame for recalling 3.8 million vehicles last week.

The Japanese automaker officially launched its largest recall in the United States, saying in a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that it was "willing to identify this campaign as a safety recall."

But Toyota said it "has not determined that the vehicles ... contain a safety-related defect."

So they admit their is a "safety issues" but are not willing to admit that it has anything to do with their vehicle.

And this isn't the first time that this issue has killed people.

In September 2007, Toyota recalled an accessory all-weather floor mat sold for use in about 50,000 2007 and 2008 model year Lexus ES 350 and Toyota Camry vehicles because of similar problems.

A crash and death instigated the above recall

And it sounds like the only reason Toyota agreed to the recall was because NHTSA was going to begin and investigation into the crashes that had happened.

NHTSA says that under certain conditions, the mats from 2004-09 model year vehicles could cause the accelerator to stick in the full open position, which may result in high speeds and serious crashes.

The agency said the incidents appear to be related to factors including unsecured mats, accelerator pedal configuration, and the shutoff procedure in some vehicles with keyless ignition.

If Toyota hadn't agreed to the recall, NHTSA was planning to open an investigation into the vehicles. NHTSA received 100 complaints, with 17 crashes and five deaths, including the California accident.

So at this point no investigation will be done by NHTSA because Toyota agreed to recall the vehicles.

Got to wonder what Toyota is hiding?

Posted by Quality Weenie at October 6, 2009 12:14 PM