Toyota Acceleration Problem Seen by Feds in August 2007
Automotive News is reporting this morning that in August 2007 federal safety investigators at NHTSA, the people in charge of motor vehicle recalls, saw electromagnetic interference cause a Toyota-built engine to rev up on its own. But they decided to do nothing about it.
"Federal investigators had just bought a 2007 Lexus ES 350 and were running it through a battery of tests at the government's Vehicle Research and Test Center in East Liberty, Ohio, when they noticed something funny with the electronic throttle control.
"The vehicle was rigged with monitors to root out possible causes of unwanted acceleration. The engineers, from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, were testing yaw rate, speed, acceleration, brake pressure, brake pad temperature, throttle-plate position, gas-pedal position and the brake booster vacuum, among other things.
"And when they introduced magnetic fields in proximity to electronic controls for the throttle body and accelerator pedal, the engine mysteriously started revving by itself." Read more here.
The article is from within the auto industry itself and recites a lot of detail that convincingly explains that floor mats and gas pedal shims may not be the real fix for the problem at all, even though Toyota still insists it has found the problem.
Until federal safety investigators get finished going back over everything, including the things they missed years ago, Toyota owners can't be sure. They can only be careful.
If you've got a lemon Toyota, don't take a chance. Get a Burdge attorney and get rid of your lemon. It's what we do. Every day. Since 1978.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Known nationwide as a leading Lemon Law attorney, Ronald L. Burdge has represented literally thousands of consumers in "lemon" lawsuits and actively co-counsels and coaches other Consumer Law attorneys. From 2005 through 2018, attorney Ronald L. Burdge has been named as the only Lemon Law Ohio Super Lawyer by Law and Politics magazine and Thomson Reuters Corp., Professional Division. Burdge restricts his practice to Lemon Law and Consumer Law cases. The Ohio Super Lawyer results are published annually in the January issue of Cincinnati Magazine. Ronald L. Burdge was named Consumer Law Trial Lawyer of the Year 2004 by the National Association of Consumer Advocates, the nation's largest organization of consumer law private and government attorneys. "Your impact on the auto industry has been magnified many times over because of the trail you blazed for others," stated NACA's Executive Director, Will Ogburn. Burdge has represented thousands of consumers in Ohio, Kentucky and elsewhere since 1978 and is a frequent lecturer to national, state and local Bar Associations and Judicial organizations. Burdge is admitted to Ohio's state and federal courts, Kentucky's state courts, and Indiana's federal courts. Other court admissions are on a "pro hac" temporary, case by cases basis.