Toyota Bragged About Limiting 2007 Recall
Personal Injury News
Article Date: 2/23/2010 | Resource: MLG
Toyota Bragged About Limiting 2007 Recall
“Document cites savings to company in recalling only floor mats”
Toyota may have some explaining to do. In an internal document obtained by Congressional investigators, company executives noted they had saved $100 million by persuading U.S. regulators that a sudden acceleration problem with 2007 Camry and Lexus models was caused by floor mats.
Citing it as a “win” for the company, the document said Toyota had been successful in negotiating with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to recall the floor mats rather than finding a defect in the cars that required a repair.
Toyota ultimately suspended US sales of eight of its models and recalled millions of vehicles to address the sudden acceleration problem.
In September 2007 Toyota announced a recall of 55,000 floor mats which were used in the 2007/2008 Lexus ES 350 as well as the 2007/2008 Camry. At the same time, NHTSA strongly urged owners to “make sure the driver-side, all weather floor mat is properly secured before driving the vehicles.”
At the time, NHTSA and Toyota noted that, if unsecured, the mats could slip forward and trap the accelerator pedal, causing the vehicle to accelerate uncontrollably. Though the recall was limited to the Camry and Lexus, ConsumerAffairs.com had logged many complaints from Toyota Prius drivers about the sudden acceleration problem. And at the time, not all were buying Toyota and NHTSA’s solution.
The Rub
“Here is the rub,” one California reader told us in 2007. “If it truly were the mat catching the accelerator, why did turning the car off solve the problem? There is nothing with the power button that would do this. And yet each time when I restarted the Prius it was fine. If the accelerator were caught under the mat once the car was turned off the problem did not persist,” she wrote.
Fast-forward two years and Toyota recalls more floor mats to deal with the same problem. In September 2009 Toyota announced a recall of 3.8 million Lexus and Toyota cars, again blaming the sliding floor mats. At the time, owners of the affected models were asked to remove the floor mats until they could be replaced with a safer version.
Then, just over a month later, NHTSA took the unusual step of correcting what it called “misleading” information from Toyota. In an early November 2009 statement, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it was correcting what it called “inaccurate and misleading” information in a Toyota press release, concerning its recent recall of 3.8 million Toyota and Lexus models.
The release in question stated that NHTSA had reached a conclusion “that no defect exists in vehicles in which the driver’s floor mat is compatible with the vehicle and properly secured.” Not so, the agency said.
Must Address Design Flaw
“NHTSA has told Toyota and consumers that removing the recalled floor mats is the most immediate way to address the safety risk and avoid the possibility of the accelerator becoming stuck. But it is simply an interim measure,” NHTSA said in a November 4 statement. “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.”
In other words, NHTSA said Toyota couldn’t resolve the problem simply by removing the floor mats. They must address what safety researchers by then saw as a design flaw. Not long afterward, the carmaker capitulated, beginning what has turned into a financial and public relations nightmare.
Congress, meanwhile, wants to know what Toyota knew and when it knew it. The document citing the savings in limiting the 2007 recall to floor mats may take center stage as the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform holds hearings on the subject. The Obama Administration is also looking closely.
“Unfortunately, this document is very telling,” Olivia Alair, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Department, said. “We’re going to hold Toyota’s feet to the fire and make sure they do what’s necessary.”
For more information regarding this article please contact:
Jeffrey Marquart
(949)589-0150
jmarquart@marquartlawgroup.com