Sudden Acceleration Accidents in Toyota and Lexus Automobiles

Toyota has linked the San Diego incident and others to a “floor mat entrapment” problem. Toyota insists that the gas pedal design makes them vulnerable to being trapped open by floor mats. Toyota recently announced a recall to fix this problem. However, accounts from motorists such as Weiss and interviews with experts lead to a different potential source. Auto safety experts indicate that the electronic throttles that have replaced mechanical systems in recent years do not truly allow the driver to control the engine. Rather, the electronic throttle mechanism uses sensors, microprocessors and electric motors to link the driver’s foot to the engine. Because there is no traditional link such as a steel cable, there is a lot of room for error and potential malfunction. 

Although Toyota has repeatedly dismissed the claim that electronic throttle control systems are to blame, reports and statistics show otherwise. The Times found that complaints of these incidents in many Toyota and Lexus vehicles spiked almost immediately after the automaker adopted the “drive-by-wire” system over the past decade. In addition, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), for some Toyota models, reports of unintended acceleration increased more than five times after these new systems were adopted. The Times reported that sudden acceleration events involving Toyota vehicles have resulted in at least 19 deaths since the introduction of the 2002 models.  The NHTSA reports that all other automakers combined had 11 fatalities related to sudden acceleration in the same period.