...Toyota had received more than 37,900 complaints concerning the ETCS, which have been installed in Toyota-brand vehicles sold in the United States since 1998....
— The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has been petitioned to investigate alleged slow-speed unintended acceleration events in model year 2010 Lexus HS250H cars.
The Virginia driver said she was slowly turning into a parking space when the Lexus suddenly accelerated and crashed into a brick building. The car was considered a total loss from the crash.
The driver said a contractor was hired by Toyota to investigate the event data recorder. The recorder allegedly indicated the driver was applying light pressure to the gas pedal five seconds before the crash until less than a second before the crash. Allegedly the data recorder proves the brake pedal was applied at .8 seconds before the crash and the car was almost at full throttle.
During the last second of the crash, the Lexus allegedly went from 5 mph to 9.9 mph and the engine jumped from 1200 to 2800 rpm, although the driver says she wasn't touching the gas pedal.
The driver says faulty electronic throttle control software is to blame for the crash and NHTSA should open an investigation into 18,000 model year 2010 Lexus HS250H cars.
Toyota and Lexus Slow-Speed Unintended Acceleration
This isn't the first time NHTSA has been petitioned to investigate alleged slow-speed unintended acceleration events in Toyota and Lexus vehicles.
In September 2014, a Rhode Island man petitioned NHTSA to open an investigation into Toyota after the man's wife said her 2010 Toyota Corolla accelerated while the brake pedal was applied, with one event allegedly causing a minor accident.
NHTSA declined to open an investigation after the agency said it proved the brakes could keep the car from moving even with the engine at full throttle.
In August, NHTSA denied the Lexus ES 350 petition by saying allegations are based upon misconceptions about the manner in which the data recorder works in pre-crash data in the Lexus ES 350. The government said all the evidence points to a driver applying the gas pedal instead of the brake pedal.
Oct 05, 2015 - Clifton, VA - Vehicle Speed Control PETITION FOR A DEFECT INVESTIGATION UNDER 49 U.S.C. 30162 BY INTERESTED PERSON FOR STANDARDS AND ENFORCEMENT (2 CD' S ENCLOSED). ACCORDING TO THE CONSUMER'S WIFE, THE ACCIDENT WAS CAUSED BY SUDDEN ACCELERATION. AS SHE WAS SLOWLY TURNING RIGHT INTO A PARKING SPOT, THE VEHICLE SUDDENLY ACCELERATED AND CRASHED INTO A BRICK BUILDING. THE FORCE OF THE CRASH CAUSED THE AIR BAGS TO DEPLOY. THERE WAS SO MUCH DAMAGE TO THE VEHICLE, IT WAS DECLARED A TOTAL LOSS. ACCORDING TO THE EDR RECORDING, THE LAST FIVE SECONDS BEFORE THE CRASH, IT SHOWED SHE WAS APPLYING LIGHT PRESSURE TO THE GAS PEDAL UP UNTIL THE LAST .8 SECONDS. FOR THE LAST .8 SECONDS THE EDR SHOWED HER FOOT WAS ON THE BRAKE AND THE THROTTLE WAS A T NEARLY MAXIMUM VALUE. DURING THE LAST .8 SECONDS THE VEHICLE WENT FROM 5 MPH TO 9.9 MPH AND THE ENGINE RPM WENT FROM 1200 TO 2800.
Aug 17, 2015 - Clifton, VA - Vehicle Speed Control MY ACCIDENT WAS CAUSED BY UNINTENDED ACCELERATION. AS I WAS SLOWLY TURNING RIGHT INTO A PARKING PLACE, THE CAR SUDDENLY ACCELERATED AND CRASHED INTO A BRICK BUILDING. THE FORCE OF THE CRASH CAUSED THE AIR BAGS TO DEPLOY. THERE WAS SO MUCH DAMAGE TO THE CAR THAT IT WAS A TOTAL LOSS. AFTER THE CRASH I OBTAINED THE EVENT DATA RECORDER (EDR) READING FROM A CONTRACTOR HIRED BY TOYOTA. IT SHOWED THAT FOR THE LAST 5 SECONDS BEFORE THE CRASH, I WAS APPLYING VERY LIGHT PRESSURE TO THE GAS PEDAL UP UNTIL THE LAST .8 SECONDS. FOR THE LAST .8 SECONDS THE EDR SHOWS THAT MY FOOT WAS ON THE BREAK AND THE THROTTLE WAS AT NEARLY MAXIMUM VALUE. DURING THE LAST .8 SECONDS THE CAR WENT FROM 5 MPH TO 9.9 MPH AND THE ENGINE RPM WENT FROM 1200 TO 2800. I DID NOT APPLY PRESSURE TO THE GAS PEDAL AT THIS TIME. I WAS APPLYING PRESSURE TO THE BREAK PEDAL. THIS IS A CASE OF UNINTENDED ACCELERATION CAUSED BY FAULTY ELECTRONIC THROTTLE CONTROL (ETC) SOFTWARE. SINCE THE EDR GETS IT DATA FROM THE ETC SOFTWARE AND NOT THE GAS PEDAL ITSELF, IT IS MOST LIKELY THAT THE SOFTWARE WAS A FAULT, AS I WAS NOT APPLYING THE GAS DURING THE LAST SECOND BEFORE THE ACCIDENT. IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE FOR ME TO APPLY FULL PRESSURE TO THE GAS PEDAL WHILE APPLYING THE BREAKS AT THE SAME TIME ON THIS CAR. FIRST OF ALL MY SHOE WIDTH IS SMALLER THAN THE SPACE BETWEEN BREAK AND GAS PEDALS. FURTHERMORE THE BREAK PEDAL IS ABOVE THE GAS PEDAL MAKING IT NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR ANYONE TO APPLY THE BREAKS AND FLOOR THE GAS AT THE SAME TIME. THIS IS A CASE OF FAILED ELECTRONIC CONTROL SOFTWARE, WHICH HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED IN SEVERAL LAWSUITS THAT TOYOTA HAS LOST RECENTLY. IN SPITE OF ALL THESE LOST CASES, A LOST CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT, AND NUMEROUS DOCUMENTED ACCIDENTS WITH NHTSA, TOYOTA HAS DONE NOTHING TO FIX THE PROBLEM, WHICH IS FAULTY ELECTRONIC THROTTLE CONTROL SOFTWARE.
Jun 23, 2015 - Clifton, VA - Vehicle Speed Control I WAS TURNING TO THE RIGHT INTO A PARKING SLOT. ALL OF THE SUDDEN, THE CAR SHOT FORWARD AND SLAMMED INTO A BRICK BUILDING. THE AIRBAGS DEPLOYED BECAUSE OF THE FORCE OF THE CRASH. PLEASE NOTE THIS IS AN EDITED VERSION OF AN EARLIER REPORT I SENT. THE CHANGE IS IN THE AFFECTED PARTS. THE PART THAT CAUSED THE ACCIDENT WAS A FAULTY ACCELERATOR (PROBABLY THE THROTTLE CONTROL SOFTWARE).
Jul 22, 2012 - Norfolk, MA - Vehicle Speed Control I WAS PARALLEL PARKING THE CAR. I PULLED ALONGSIDE THE CURB BEHIND A VOLVO AND STOPPED THE CAR. WITH THE CAR STOPPED AND MY FOOT ON THE BRAKE I MOVED MY RIGHT HAND TO PRESS THE PARK BUTTON AND TO MY SURPRISE THE CAR LEAPED (5 FEET) FORWARD INTO THE VOLVO CAUSING DAMAGE TO MY CAR (HOOD, GRILL, BUMPER AND RIGHT QUARTER PANEL) AND THE VOLVO (REAR END). THE GAS ENGINE WAS NOT RUNNING WHEN I WAS PARKING ONLY THE ELECTRIC ENGINE WAS RUNNING. WE WERE FORTUNATE THAT MY WIFE, SON AND I WERE NOT INJURED. THEY WILL NOT GET BACK IN THIS CAR AGAIN. I BOUGHT THE CAR NEW AND HAVE BEEN DRIVING IT FOR A LITTLE OVER 2 YEARS.
Your vehicle may be involved in a safety recall and may create a safety risk for you or your passengers. Safety defects must be repaired by a dealer at no cost to you. However, if left unrepaired, a potential safety defect in your vehicle could lead to injury or even death. Read this entire email to find out more and learn what you should do next.
What is a recall?
When a manufacturer or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) determines that a car or item of motor vehicle equipment creates an unreasonable risk to safety or fails to meet minimum safety standards, the manufacturer is required to fix that car or equipment at no cost to the consumer. That can be done by repairing it, replacing it, offering a refund (for equipment) or, in rare cases, repurchasing the car.
Why am I getting this email?
You are receiving this message because you requested to be notified by NHTSA if there is a safety recall that may affect your vehicle.
The following recall may apply to one or more of your vehicles if your vehicle is listed below. Click on the NHTSA Campaign ID number below to read more about the safety issue and the reason for the recall.
To find out if your vehicle is included in the recall, use our VIN Look-up Tool.
What should I do if my vehicle is included in this recall? If your vehicle is included in this recall, it is very important that you get it fixed as soon as possible given the potential danger to you and your passengers if it is not addressed. You should receive a separate letter in the mail from the vehicle manufacturer, notifying you of the recall and explaining when the remedy will be available, whom to contact to repair your vehicle or equipment, and to remind you that the repair will be done at no charge to you. If you believe your vehicle is included in the recall, but you do not receive a letter in the mail from the vehicle manufacturer, please call NHTSA's Vehicle Safety Hotline at 888-327-4236 or contact your vehicle manufacturer or dealership.
Thank you for your attention to this important safety matter and for your commitment to helping save lives on America's roadways.
Frank S. Borris II
Director
Office of Defects Investigation
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
U.S. Department of Transportation
Manufacturer: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing
SUMMARY:
Toyota Motor Company (Toyota) is recalling certain model year 2009-2011 Tundra, Sequoia, Corolla, Corolla Matrix and Scion xB, 2008-2011 Highlander and Highlander Hybrid, 2007 Camry and Camry Hybrid, 2009 Camry and Camry Hybrid, 2006-2011 RAV4, 2006-2010 Yaris, and 2009-2010 Scion xD and Pontiac Vibe vehicles. During the manufacturing of the Power Window Master Switch (PWMS), grease lubricant may have been inconsistently applied to the sliding electrical contacts.
CONSEQUENCE:
If the sliding electrical contacts are not protected by lubricant, debris and moisture that get into the switch may cause a short circuit and the switch assembly may overheat and melt, increasing the risk of a fire.
REMEDY:
Toyota will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the switch, applying a lubricant or replacing it, as necessary, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin December 20, 2015. Owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-800-331-4331. Toyota's number for this recall is C0M.
NOTES:
Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.safercar.gov.
George Steward II and his girlfriend Sabrina Castillo were killed near the State Route 60 off-ramp to 7th Avenue after a speeding Lexus sedan hit their truck at about 7 p.m., according to the California Highway Patrol.
Steward and Castillo, both 18, died at the scene.
The CHP said the Lexus was driven by 68-year-old Key Kim and was traveling about 90 mph down the off-ramp when he hit a dip, bottomed out and collided with the concrete median.
The impact of the crash caused the Lexus to veer off the freeway, smash the top of the pickup truck's cabin and overturn into a nearby Denny's parking lot.
Kim's passenger was identified as 62-year-old Young Kim. Both were taken to Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center, and Key Kim was last listed in stable condition.
The CHP said the driver claimed the car had a mechanical failure.
"We want to conduct a very thorough investigation and do not leave anything out, and one of the possibilities is any mechanical error on the vehicle, and it will be properly documented on the investigation as well," said CHP Officer Al Perez.
Toyota, which owns Lexus, released the following statement to Eyewitness News Wednesday night:
"We sympathize with anyone in an accident involving one of our vehicles, and we will work in close partnership with law enforcement agencies with jurisdiction over accident scenes whenever requested."
If it is a mechanical failure, it wouldn't be the first time a similar issued happened with a Lexus.
In 2009, a family of four was killed when the accelerator of their Lexus rental got stuck, leading to a horrific crash.
That crash led to a massive recall and a $1.2 billion fine for the manufacturer.
"Just when two young people, with their lives barely starting, something so quick and so tragic happened to them. It's a total loss to the community," Art Negrete said.
SUV crashes into south Tulsa frozen custard shop; no injuries
A red Mitsubishi Montero is seen after its driver crashed into Freckles Frozen Custard, 8011 S. Sheridan Road, in south Tulsa on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2015. No injuries were reported. PAIGHTEN HARKINS/Tulsa World
By PAIGHTEN HARKINS World Staff Writer
No one was injured when a woman driving an SUV crashed the vehicle into a frozen custard shop in south Tulsa on Saturday afternoon.
About 2 p.m., a red Mitsubishi Montero crashed into Freckles Frozen Custard, 8011 S. Sheridan Road. The vehicle hit the side of the building facing East 81st Street.
No injuries were reported. The woman driving the SUV wasn't cited.
The woman told the store manager, who wasn't there at the time, that she either mistook the gas pedal for the brake or that the brakes on her vehicle weren't working.
The store will be closed for at least the next two days following the crash. Weekends are its busiest times, the manager said.
A wrecker removed the vehicle. Firefighters ensured the building was structurally sound before they left the scene.
A woman drove her SUV into a south Tulsa business Saturday afternoon. The Freckles Frozen Custard at 81st and Sheridan was badly damaged but no one was hurt, authorities say.
Emergency responders said the woman apparently mistook the gas for the brake, going up three steps and ramming through the front glass and bricks of the store.
The general manager says the majority of the damage was to the restroom wall.
In the crash, the electric supply to the surveillance cameras was disabled. The store manager says seconds before the impact, one of her employees had just come out of the restroom.
Neither the driver nor any employees or customers were hurt.
"Shock," GM Angela Smith said. "I was just like, this is gonna kill my business -- the whole front of my store is wiped out. First thing I said is 'Are all of my employees all right?' Because I had three employees in the store at the time."
None of the employees were injured and neither was the person who caused the crash.
Smith expects the store will be closed for at least three days for repairs. During those days, employees will lose wages and orders they have to fill likely will be delayed.
The vehicle involved in the fatal crash below appears to be a NISSAN ARMADA with its distinctive roof line. If that is the case [which needs to be confirmed], below are a list of consumer complaints, including BRAKE FAILURE. Once again, where is NHTSA with the volume of complaints that have been filed?
Is this another case of SUDDEN UNINTENDED ACCELERATION? BRAKE FAILURE?
Family of 5 dead after car crashes in Tempe Town Lake
Garrett Mitchell, The Republic
11:07 p.m. MST October 18, 2015
A family of five, including three young children, are dead after their vehicle crashed into Tempe Town Lake early Sunday, Tempe police said.
While details of what led to the vehicle plunging into the lake were unclear Sunday afternoon, police said all five occupants of the vehicle drowned.
Tempe police were alerted to the scene near the north end of the Scottsdale Road bridge at 12:15 a.m. Sunday. There, they found a silver SUV submerged in water and upside-down. The driver, identified as Glenn Edward Baxter, 27; his wife, Danica, 25; and two of their children, son Nazyiah, 2, and daughter Zariyah, 1, were pulled out of the murky depths by police and witnesses who were unaware of another occupant inside.
Rescuers performed CPR until paramedics arrived to transport the four unconscious occupants to the hospital, where all were later pronounced dead, said Tempe police spokesman Lt. Michael Pooley.
During the initial investigation, police identified Danica Baxter and discovered her 3-year-old son, Reighn, was unaccounted for. Just before 9 a.m., divers discovered the 3-year-old still strapped to his car seat in the back row of the submerged vehicle, in what police described as a "horrible" scene.
The family resided in Phoenix.
Witnesses across the lake on the south side reported seeing the vehicle with its headlights on at the embankment. They said they later heard the crash and saw the vehicle flipped upside-down in the dark water.
Pooley said investigators did not yet know if Baxter intentionally drove over the embankment. The speed of the vehicle at the time of the incident was also being determined, he said.
"This is a very horrific thing. ... It touches all of us," Pooley said. "We don't know exactly what happened. We don't know what led the driver to do this."
Authorities remained at the scene throughout Sunday morning trying to determine how or why the car ended up in the lake.
14 years of complaints about unintended acceleration go nowhere
General Motors is currently in the hot seat over charges that it should have acted sooner to replace defective ignition switches. But some chronic automobile safety problems never seem to capture the attention of consumers and safety regulators.
By James R. Hood
ConsumerAffairs' founder and former editor, Jim Hood formerly headed Associated Press Broadcast News, directing coverage of major news events worldwide. He also served as Senior Vice President of United Press International and was the founder and editor of Zapnews, a newswire service for radio and television. Read Full
Take the "Jumpin' Jeep" complaints that have been filling our in-box since at least 2000. The general theme is that a Jeep Grand Cherokee takes off at high speed seconds after being started and put into gear.
Last October, a 15-year-old girl was killed in Yonkers, N.Y., when a 2000 Grand Cherokee plowed into a crowd attending a street fair. A police report attributed the accident to brake failure rather than unintended acceleration, USA Today reported. In 2006, a Connecticut man was killed when a Grand Cherokee suddenly accelerated at a car wash. In both cases, the Jeeps took off seconds after they were started and shifted into gear.
Car wash owners, in fact, have grown to be especially wary of the popular SUVs.
"My family has owned and operated automatic car washes for nearly 50 years. Over the past 10 years, we have had half a dozen incidents with Jeep Grand Cherokees accelerating out of control," a Pennsylvania car wash owner said in a 2011 ConsumerAffairs posting. "Every time it has happened, our employees have maintained that the vehicle took off on them and they could not stop it. The first few times it happened, we assumed it was driver error but not anymore."
The most recent report comes from Sandra of Waltham, Mass. She was moving her 2006 Grand Cherokee from the street in front of her house into her driveway a few nights ago.
"I started up the Jeep and had my foot on the brake, then put it into Drive. I kept my foot on the brake while it glided forward about 10 feet past our driveway, then I pushed down more on the brake to stop. I never touched the gas pedal ... no need to, it just idled forward," she said.
"Next I put the Jeep into Reverse, still holding down the brake. ... That’s when this Jeep just roared and peeled out going backwards. ... I could not stop the Jeep. Believe me, I was standing on this brake pedal. I had adjusted my foot to be sure I was on the brake and it would not stop at all," Sandra said.
She hit 3 other vehicles, knocked down a fence and ended up in a neighbor's yard, also damaging their parked vehicle.
"I never heard of sudden acceleration," Sandra said. "That evening I was looking on the Internet ... and couldn’t believe how many other stories sound just like mine," she said.
Attention but no action
There's been a lot of talk about the situation over the years -- much more than about the GM ignition-switch problems -- but so far, talk is all there's been.
Chrysler has denied the problem exists and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has found no smoking gun, although it should be noted that in its public statements, NHTSA tends to lump all unintended acceleration crashes together, treating them as a single problem, the notable exception being the massive Toyota recalls of a few years ago.
NHTSA has estimated that there are at least 15 "pedal misapplication" crashes in the United States every month. It has said that drivers in almost two-thirds of the crashes are women and the crashes most often occur in parking lots. It said drivers involved in the crashes tend to be shorter.
Critics say that dodges the question of whether there's a specific problem with the Grand Cherokee.
"More than simple coincidence"
Back in 2006, Richard Blumenthal -- who was then Connecticut Attorney General and is now a U.S. Senator -- urged federal regulators to look into the problem and asked Chrysler to release any information it might have collected.
"The rate and severity of these sudden acceleration incidents suggest a severe structural flaw -- certainly more than simple coincidence," Blumenthal said at the time. "These incidents -- in one case killing a Connecticut man -- call for aggressive and vigorous action to prevent another needless, preventable tragedy."
More recently, Chrysler said there are "few motor vehicle defect allegations that have been more exhaustively investigated or more thoroughly refuted than claims of sudden unintended acceleration (SUA)."
"Comprehensive studies by safety regulators at the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Japan’s Ministry of Transportation, Transport Canada, plus dozens of independent analyses all reached the same conclusion: these incidents are caused by driver error, specifically drivers who believe they are applying the brakes when they are actually pressing the accelerator," Chrysler's Michael Palese told ConsumerAffairs last November."No study has ever identified any specific defect in any vehicle that would cause sudden, unintended acceleration."
That explanation doesn't fly with Sandra.
"I know this is a real problem," she said. "The accidents are mostly in driveways or parking lots, and car washes, [and] it seems to happen when we first start up and shift the Jeeps. I wonder how Chrysler is getting away with this."
The California Highway Patrol is investigating a Greenbrae car wash employee’s claim that a Jeep suddenly accelerated at the car wash and crossed lanes of U.S. Highway 101 traffic Saturday afternoon.
Juan DeLeon, 52, of San Rafael, told the CHP the 1999 Jeep Cherokee was in neutral as required at the Lucky Drive Brushless Car Wash in Greenbrae when it accelerated around 4:20 p.m. Saturday, CHP Officer Andrew Barclay said.
The Jeep traveled over a sidewalk, across three lanes of the Redwood Highway Frontage Road, through an unoccupied bus stop shelter, across five lanes of northbound Highway 101, through a center divide and across two lanes of southbound Highway 101 before it stopped without hitting any vehicles, Barclay said.
The crash tore out approximately 150 feet of metal guardrail in the center divide and left debris in the fast lanes of both the northbound and southbound sides of the highway, Barclay said.
DeLeon said he tried to apply the brakes but the Jeep kept accelerating. The CHP held the Jeep for inspection, Barclay said.
The car wash management said because it has had problems in the past with that make and model of Jeep, employees sit inside as the vehicle moves through the car wash, Barclay said:
“Even if he inadvertently hit the gas, he went a very long distance and hit a lot of things.”
DeLeon did not have any health issues, and there is enough credence to his story for the CHP to look into what else could have gone wrong, the officer said.
Toyota's KILLER vehicles are STILL on the road
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*Update 11/21/2019 - This 11/3/2019 article exposes the scandal of thug
goon Toyota's many dangerous **vehicles that are still on the road.** If
the link d...
Highlights of an Injustice…
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Please note that as of July 1, 2017, the JoanTreppa.Wordpress.com blog has
been discontinued and in its place is my new website JoanTreppa.com. I have
tran...
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