NHTSA Clears Toyota of Sudden Acceleration Claims

Over the past year Toyota's name has been dragged through the mud by the media, lawyers and some consumers seeking a fat pay day, after allegations of several of their popular vehicles being prone to sudden acceleration. Toyota has been affected by this financially, losing market share due to this public relations nightmare. On Tuesday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) cleared the automaker, which was on track to overtake GM in new-vehicle sales in America last year prior to a series of recalls related to this and other safety issues.

Here's the statement that was released by NHTSA on Tuesday... The U.S. Department of Transportation released results from an unprecedented ten-month study of potential electronic causes of unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles. NHTSA launched the study last spring at the request of Congress, and enlisted NASA engineers with expertise in areas such as computer controlled electronic systems, electromagnetic interference and software integrity to conduct new research into whether electronic systems or electromagnetic interference played a role in incidents of unintended acceleration.

NASA engineers found no electronic flaws in Toyota vehicles capable of producing the large throttle openings required to create dangerous high-speed unintended acceleration incidents. The two mechanical safety defects identified by NHTSA more than a year ago – “sticking” accelerator pedals and a design flaw that enabled accelerator pedals to become trapped by floor mats – remain the only known causes for these kinds of unsafe unintended acceleration incidents. Toyota has recalled nearly 8 million vehicles in the United States for these two defects.