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Since my RX-7 incident, I always look at the floor mats of every car I get into and straighten them before I drive! I know it’s an odd habit but I personally know how a floormat can ruin your day!
At first Toyota blamed the floormats for the tragic San Diego incident but further investigation showed that perhaps the pedal assembly of several models might be to blame. Toyota has at least two suppliers of drive by wire pedal assemblies, Denso, a Japanese supplier and CTS, an American supplier. The data shows that there might be a problem with the CTS pedals sticking.
I want to commend Toyota for their actions. First off to admit that there might be a problem before NHTSA orders a recall and to order a large scale inspection of floor mats immediately. Second to continue to investigate the problem even before the effectiveness of the first campaign can be analyzed, then to issue the second, all inclusive recall, even at a tremendous cost on an voluntary bases. This is Toyota stepping up and doing what is right for its customers and future customers.
Don’t believe what you hear about class action suits and Toyota ignoring the problem. Every auto manufacture is always under a constant barrage of lawsuits and threats of lawsuits. Constant lawsuits are part of the cost of doing business in litigation happy America. Don’t believe that what you read about 19 deaths caused by sticking throttle to be something entirely out of line either. Every auto manufacture has lots of data that blame it for deaths caused by something wrong with a cars components. I know that most automotive manufacture have teams of engineers that investigate these incidents and try to find the root cause and correct it if it is their fault (most investigations show driver error as the cause).
Toyota is an industry leader, producing the highest quality cars made and their actions are in line with what a company that stands behind its quality should do. It takes balls to man up on a mistake of this magnitude which will probably affect Toyota’s bottom line for years but they did the right thing. Lesser companies would probably try to let their PR agencies handle the flack and sweep things under the rug until NHTSA orders a recall. Bravo Toyota, you have actually earned more of my trust as a consumer.
I will continue to drive Toyota products with confidence.
