Toyota Acceleration Panic Officially Over
A year ago, Toyotas were running amok, accelerating down America's highways causing fear, carnage, and salivating plaintiffs attorneys. The alleged culprit? Gremlins in Toyata's Toyota's electronics. Not so, says the U.S. Department of Transportation today. The New York Times reports:
A federal investigation into the recall of Toyota vehicles found no electronic flaws to explain sudden, unintentional acceleration, according to a report released Tuesday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The latest report came after a 10-month investigation into whether faulty electronics were responsible for the unintentional high-speed acceleration problem. But the investigation found no evidence for any causes for the unintended acceleration beyond sticking accelerator pedals and floor mat entrapment, though officials said they would consider steps to prevent drivers from pushing wrong the pedal.
"We enlisted the best and the brightest engineers to study Toyota's electronic systems, and the verdict is in. There is no electronic-based cause for unintended high-speed acceleration in Toyotas," the transportation secretary, Ray LaHood, said in a statement.
I will say it: I told you so. See my March 16, 2010 column, The Wrong Kind of Toyotathon.