Quality Weenie

Proof Of Toyota's Hiding Problems

I have been saying for years now that Toyota isn't as good as everyone things it's just that they are better at hiding things.

Now there is proof of that.

Former regulators hired by Toyota Motor Corp. helped end at least four U.S. investigations of unintended acceleration by company vehicles in the last decade, warding off possible recalls, court and government records show.

Toyota has known about unintended acceleration problems for a decade but has been able to brush the government off from a recall or even an investigation.

NHTSA opened eight investigations of unintended acceleration of Toyota vehicles from 2003 to 2010, according to Safety Research & Strategies Inc., a Rehoboth, Massachusetts, group that gathers data from NHTSA and other sources for plaintiff’s attorneys and consumers. Three of the probes resulted in recalls for floor mats. Five were closed, meaning NHTSA found no evidence of a defect.

In four of the five cases that were closed, Tinto and Santucci worked with NHTSA on Toyota’s responses to the consumer complaints the agency was investigating, agency documents show.

Exactly what all the vehicles are being recalled for now had been closed as being a non-issue five times.

Twenty days after the probe began, NHTSA investigator Yon determined that the agency wouldn’t investigate “longer duration incidents involving uncontrollable acceleration where brake pedal application allegedly had no effect,” according to a document provided in the Michigan lawsuit.

NHTSA refused to investigate the exact problem for which 8 million vehicles are now being recalled for.

And instead investigated problems that were limited in scope and could be written off as using the wrong pedel.

NHSTA opted to limit the investigation to unintended acceleration events that lasted less than a second and those where the brake could be used to control the vehicle, or about 11 incidents with 5 crashes

The agency decided to limit the cases to eliminate instances where a driver may have used the wrong pedal, the Transportation Department’s Alair said.

They also only limited investigations to the Electronic throttle control, never looked at the drive-by-wire or gas pedel as the problems.

So in the end I guess it was a conspriacy with the government as people have been saying, a conspiracy to hide the defects so Toyota wouldn't have to be charged with recalls and the hit their image would take.

Posted by Quality Weenie at February 18, 2010 10:25 AM