WASHINGTON — The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has taken quick action after tearful testimony before Congress by the owner of what she said was a sudden-accelerating Lexus. NHTSA has tracked down and purchased the Lexus ES 350 and will test it to see if it has any defects.
Rhonda Smith of Tennessee made headlines worldwide when she told a harrowing story to the House Energy and Commerce Committee last week about how the Lexus suddenly accelerated out of control on October 12, 2006, on a freeway, making her fear for her life. Smith and her husband, Eddie, traded the car in at a Toyota dealership at about 3,000 miles. NHTSA said it acquired the car from its current private owner, who has not reported any problems with it.
The Lexus, which now has about 30,000 miles on its odometer, is slated for examination at NHTSA's Vehicle Research and Test Center in East Liberty, Ohio. NHTSA administrator David Strickland says the agency "is committed to finding possible causes for sudden acceleration."
Inside Line says: If only NHTSA had taken this car in for testing on October 13, 2006. — Laura Sky Brown, Correspondent
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aston_dbs says:
08:38 AM, 03/09/2010
Aahhh...
I've seen this hearing and I think the lady was just overly DRAMATIC...
Well, lady, you've got your 15 minutes of fame... Now go back to your average life and move on...
Geez!! Next time, put the gear to NEUTRAL!!
arock says:
08:42 PM, 03/01/2010
Toyota is tarnished enough, Is Lexus the next, How about Scion?
dg0472 says:
03:53 PM, 03/01/2010
Where has someone gained information on what she traded it in on? I've only heard that she traded it in at Toyota of Kingsport. They do have used cars there that aren't Toyotas, you know. I've been to the Sevier County website and unlike in my county was unable to find any online records to use to determine what she has now. How do you folks who are asking why she'd buy another Toyota know it was another Toyota?
Also, does everyone understand exactly what Dr. Gilbert was saying? He's claiming Toyota's system lacks key diagnostic capabilities. Read his testimony:
http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_111/20100223/Gilbert.Testimony.pdf
Note what he says he was able to do: short the two sensor leads together and then to one of their 5V reference leads. The result was WOT with no DTC/MIL.
Now go read the Toyota recall procedure:
http://images.thetruthaboutcars.com/2010/02/Tech-Instructions-Preliminary-Posting-BIL.pdf
Look at the specs on page 8-9. They clearly show that: A) Full reference voltage is a valid, in-range reading. B) An identical voltage on both sides is a valid, in-range reading at WOT. They hint that perhaps 5V on side one would cause a DTC, but his tests show that's not the case.
Now remember, he told ABC News he could NOT do this on a GM car due to the way it's designed. I've checked the Azera shop manual and found that Hyundai uses resistors on both sides. One side one, it chokes the maximum acceptable voltage to 4.35 so the system can know if there's a short to the reference feed. On side two, the resistance is double and the system monitors the difference between the two sides and if it's not very close to 50%, it sets a DTC. So the system would know if the two sides were shorted or if a foreign voltage was being introduced into the leads.
So we know GM and Hyundai sure thought it important their systems be able to detect these kinds of things. But Toyota didn't include these functions and has probably avoided huge costs in warranty claims on UA because no code was found and the MIL never came on. Further, they likely also avoided turning on the Check Engine light in many more vehicles that never experienced UA, thereby avoiding more costs AND avoiding bad survey results.
So we know that Toyota's system lacks self-diagnostic capabilities and that they lead in UA complaints to NHTSA, yet somehow lots of people know for a fact that Rhonda Smith pushed the wrong pedal?
One last note: according to WATE in Knoxville, Toyota replaced the transmission, so this is not exactly the same car that Rhonda Smith was driving on I-40.
babber says:
02:22 PM, 03/01/2010
after hearing rhonda's testimony, one committee member said that it was obvious that she was a credible witness and that she was intelligent and sophisticated. weird.... i read something totally different from that after listening to her.
the african-american lady who was sitting in as chair while the chair was out of the room was the best. she said she wanted to buy an american made car but reluctantly bought a camry hybrid because the big 3 fell behind on hybrids. the toyota ceo corrected her by saying her car was in fact american made. she followed that by asking him if he was saying that was why the car had recalls.... what an absolute retard she is for saying that. no wonder the japanese think americans are stupid!
babber says:
12:51 PM, 03/01/2010
i agree that it was probably driver error or a floor mat. these people are looking for money.
lucky for Rhonda, god (whoever that is) intervened.
i enjoyed watching the hearings.... it was very entertaining in a funny way. future politicians should have to take aptitude tests.... it appears that 75% aren't too bright.
mp23 says:
12:07 PM, 03/01/2010
Lexus didn't make a ES350 in 2006...
hr_sea says:
10:07 AM, 03/01/2010
Probably traded in for a V6 Camry. I stepped on the brakes and the car started accelerating, I stepped on the brakes harder and the car accelerated even faster!
atenza94546 says:
09:29 AM, 03/01/2010
The NHTSA now have to put up a good show for everyone to think stay are still exist for a reason. Otherwise the administration will start cutting payroll on that agency.
But however, this Toyota incident should hae the NHTSA and the Transportation Dept. reform once and for all.
Really they haen't serve their purpose lately.
trjnflip says:
09:24 AM, 03/01/2010
So the 2nd owner had 27,000 trouble free miles? Hmm...sounds like driver error with the first owner!
trapperrotsap says:
09:01 AM, 03/01/2010
Why are they doing this now. I would say it is a little after the fact. After they have tried to make Toyota look bad.
There is something wrong with our lawmakers.