A joint 10-month study at the request of the US Congress and carried out by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) with NASA engineers has given Toyota’s current products the green light following reported cases of uncontrollable vehicle acceleration in 2009.
The study – conducted at the Goddard Space Flight Centre in Maryland and at NHTSA’s Vehicle Research and Test Centre in Ohio – found that the two mechanical defects identified in 2010 – those of a “sticky” accelerator pedal and design flaws that meant that the accelerator pedal could get stuck behind the floor mats – “remain the only known causes for these kinds of unsafe unintended acceleration incidents.”
According to US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, “There is no electronic-based cause for unintended high-speed acceleration in Toyotas.” A spokesperson for NASA further commented that “no evidence that a malfunction in electronics caused large unintended accelerations could be found”.
“This investigation has confirmed the quality of our vehicles and we believe it will contribute to our programme of listening to our customers and restoring their trust in the safety and reliability of our vehicles,” says Dr. Johan van Zyl, President and CEO of Toyota South Africa Motors.
This has been the best news that Toyota has received in many years, but the damage to the company’s reputation and image has been done – with sales in especially North America having slumped. This report clears Toyota’s electronic throttle control system of causing unintended acceleration, other than those addresses by Toyota in recent recall programmes, but the lawsuits remain.
As a result of the study, the NHTSA is considering a few actions, including proposed new rules to require brake override systems, beginning broad research on the reliability of electronic control systems and researching the placement and working of accelerator and brake pedals.