Safety Agency Rebukes Toyota Over Floor-Mat Issue - Wheels Blog ...
In a highly unusual move for an agency that prefers low-profile discussions, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has publicly rebuked Toyota, accusing it of putting out “inaccurate and misleading” information about the unintended acceleration problem that could affect 3.8 million of its vehicles .
The agency said a news release that Toyota issued Monday inaccurately stated that the agency 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.”
Simply removing the floor mats “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,” the agency said Wednesday.
In an statement sent by e-mail Wednesday afternoon, a Toyota spokesman, John Hanson, said:
“It was never our intention to mislead or provide inaccurate information. Toyota agrees with N.H.T.S.A.’s position that the removal of the floor mats is an interim measure and that further vehicle-based action is required. We are in the process of developing vehicle-based remedies to help avoid the potential for an unsecured or incompatible floor mat to trap the accelerator pedal.”
Toyota and the safety administration issued a warning in September to the owners of the Toyota and Lexus vehicles to remove the driver-side floor mat because it could jam the accelerator pedal. The warning was issued after the problem led to the deaths of four people in a Lexus in August in California.
Clarence Ditlow, the executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, an advocacy group, said he could not recall any other case in which the safety agency had publicly chastised an automaker in such a manner.
It really is about engineering and software that controls the vehicle. When in doubt ALWAYS put the vehicle...
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