"Data point to Toyota's throttles, not floor mats"

I hope they get this sorted out. Fast.

Amid widening concern over unintended acceleration events, including an Aug. 28 crash near San Diego that killed a California Highway Patrol officer and his family, Toyota has repeatedly pointed to "floor mat entrapment" as the problem.

But accounts from motorists such as Weiss, interviews with auto safety experts and a Times review of thousands of federal traffic safety incident reports all point to another potential cause: the electronic throttles that have replaced mechanical systems in recent years. . . .

Michael Pecht, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Maryland who has studied sudden acceleration for 10 years, said it's nearly impossible to replicate an electronic control system fault simply by driving a short distance.

"These are not things that occur every day. If it occurred a lot, you could track it down. If it occurs once in 10,000 trips, then it is difficult to find," he said.  

Comments

[Stuhlmann]

Wasn't there a similar problem reported maybe 20 years ago with Audis - this sudden, unexpected acceleration? I believe at the time that Audi was eventually cleared and that driver error was determined to be the cause - though not before Audi caved in and paid some hefty settlements.

I live in Germany and after an admittedly brief Internet search, I can't find any records of similar problems with Toyotas here. One news article I found discussed the incidents in the US and a recall of Toyotas there. The article went on to say that there have been no reported incidents of uncontrolled acceleration in Europe or in Japan. Maybe the problem lies with American feet?

http://www.handelsblatt.com/unternehmen/industrie/fehlerhaftes-gaspedal-toyota-ruft-millionen-autos-zurueck;2489518