BREAKING: WSJ says crash data points to pedal misapplication in Toyota sudden acceleration cases
After receiving more than 3,000 reports of sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles, the U.S. Department of Transportation has concluded that driver error was actually at fault. According to The Wall Street Journal, investigators analyzing different data recorders from Toyota vehicles found that at the time of these sudden acceleration crashes, the throttles were wide open rather and the brakes were not depressed. Thus, they have reason to believe that drivers were mistakenly stomping on the accelerator rather than slamming the brakes in an attempt to avoid these crashes.
Of the 75 fatal crashes blamed on sudden acceleration, only one incident has actually been verified as being caused by vehicle fault – the Lexus ES350 accident that killed a California highway patrolman and three other passengers last August. Even so, this case was chalked up as an incident where the floor mat trapped the gas pedal, which Toyota quickly issued a recall for.[/quote]
flu, all you have wrote here is exactly what I have been suspecting all along. I am VERY familiar with the facts of the SD County case and believe it to be caused by a wrongly-placed, improperly-fitting floor mat which trapped the gas pedal under it.
I find it ridiculous the lengths that Toyota felt they had to go to to salvage their reputation due to excessive media hype when all the facts regarding these “copycat” allegations weren’t yet “fleshed out.”
