SOUTHLAKE, Texas — An accident here on Saturday may not be related at all to Toyota's November recall over supposed "sudden acceleration," but the question has been posed and investigators are looking into it. A 2008 Toyota Avalon was in an accident on Saturday in which the vehicle reportedly ran a stop sign, crashed through a fence and into a tree, then landed upside-down in a pond. Four people died, two shortly after the crash and two on Sunday. Toyota recently recalled the 2008 Avalon and several other models to fix a problem with a driver-side floor mat that could cause the accelerator pedal to become stuck.
A Southlake police officer interviewed by the Dallas Morning News said investigators are not sure yet whether the cause of the accident was driver error or a problem with the Avalon. Toyota has recalled more than 4 million vehicles to fix the potential stuck-accelerator issue. The automaker has directed owners of the affected vehicles to remove their driver-side floor mats and padding and is changing the accelerator pedal shape to fix the problem.
The automaker issued an advisory in late September asking owners of the affected Toyota and Lexus models to take out the removable driver-side floor mat and not replace it with any other mat. The advisory included the 2005-'10 Avalon, 2007-'10 Camry, 2004-'09 Prius, 2005-'10 Tacoma, 2007-'10 Tundra, 2007-'10 Lexus ES 350 and 2006-'10 IS 250 and IS 350.
The Los Angeles Times published an investigative report on December 23 that claims Toyota has "delayed recalls and attempted to blame human error" for reported problems. The paper also notes that Toyota has recalled vehicles eight previous times in the past decade over unintended-acceleration issues, which it says is "more than any other automaker." In an earlier story, the Times suggested Toyota's electronic throttle may be the root of the problem rather than the floor mats.
Toyota issued a statement saying the Times story "wrongly and unfairly attacks Toyota's integrity and reputation" and released a list of the paper's questions and the automaker's answers, which it says the newspaper story "distorted" or failed to use at all.
Inside Line says: There's enough controversy here to make people on every side nervous, from consumers to auto companies. — Laura Sky Brown, Correspondent
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temple4 says:
06:35 PM, 02/12/2010
I have Avalon under accelerator pedal recall. I had two times experience sudden acceleration. Also brakes are not good . .. it does not stop right away. These problems seems to be related to "electronics" rather than mechanical.
atenza94546 says:
10:31 AM, 12/31/2009
That why our country is in a deep trouble for financial sector and auto industry sector. We just blem others for wrong. That's BIAS
dg0472 says:
03:53 PM, 12/30/2009
atenza94546,
Who are you to be talking about facts when you're claiming that a car, an Avalon no less, full of mid-30's to mid-50's Jehovah's Witnesses doing door-to-door missions was being driven by someone under the influence? What possible basis could you have for making such a statement?
atenza94546 says:
10:51 AM, 12/30/2009
But wait, as the above article have had said. The fault was a floo mat being stuck to the pedal, why even on makes it sound like Toyota's mechincially have problem, which no one have any FACT about the defects are being the engineering problem??
Bias Americans !! Ha no wonder American Auto industry went south, the so call big 3 are utilizing European engineering and design to keep alive. So are we buying Americans or what?? ha ha
atenza94546 says:
10:37 AM, 12/30/2009
Yeah, right people proud Americans should all just buy American made products. Wiat, what is Made in USA anymore in this Bright Country that we are living in. Look at everything that are built or Made somewhere else. Except Toyota are still manufactoring in US. All the models that have trouble right now are made in U.S. so god bless our country. And by the way I still think their could be more behind these crashes. Imagine if this case happen in a bigger city like NYC.
The investigator will look into any kind of irregular drive coniditions, habits, wheather condidtions, road conditions, vehicles maintaince histpry, history of manufacturer findings, and OH ALSO NHSTA FOR INCIDENT REPORT BEFORE THE ACCIDENT ACTUALLY TAKE PLACE.
Now don't be offended this is a blog is for all of us to spill out what we think.
Look under the influence can be a broad subject. So look into this before making your common.
colorado1974 says:
07:17 AM, 12/30/2009
NATIONALITY IS A BIG ISSUE! Every other country in the world, including the Europeans, protect their own industry with tariffs and such. A country has to have a manufacturing base otherwise it will fail. Our country is the only one in the world that doesn't care and it will be our undoing. Regardless how good the Challenger, Camaro and Mustang are, they cannot compete with the Korean Genesis coupe. When you pay your korean workers 1/2 the pay, it isn't fair trade practice.
Sony dumped cheap electronics into our country and that's why Magnavox and Zenith went under. The big three are next unless we do something. BUY AMERICAN EVERY CHANCE YOU GET! Whether it's clothing, cars or furniture we have to support out country first.
2012aveo says:
04:19 PM, 12/29/2009
yamahr1
I just knew someone like you would make a nationality issue of this new problem with just one 2008 Avalon. Their are many incidents of drivers losing control of their cars with the immature way younger Americans drive nowadays. But calling Toyota a "false god from the east" reveals your prejudices against Asian products and therefore discredits your biased comments. The only people throwing America under a bus are people like you who like to create animosity and division among Americans, while being totally unproductive at the same time.
colorado1974 says:
12:40 PM, 12/29/2009
atensa: unjustified bias is a wonderful thing.
My mother in law does the same thing during an argument. "That can't be true..." she says only because it is counter to what her belief is.
"Toyota can't have these faults..." Why, because back in the 1980's they built cheap little cars that ran forever? It's almost 2010 and I'm sorry to say they no longer build a higher quality product.
says:
10:56 AM, 12/29/2009
Do you know that a local CHP police officer (who safety inspected CHP vehicles) died with his family because of this. He could not shift to neutral, could not stop with the brakes...witnesses said brakes were smoking, passenger in the car called 911 to tell them they couldn't stop, could not shift to neutral, could not turn off the car. Don't tell me that you know how to handle a situation you've never encountered.
There have been many documented cases of unable to shift to neutral and unable to use the brakes to slow the vehicle (NHSTA...look it up buddy!) Toyota/Lexus has the most complaints of any automaker. If this were a random issue, it should be spead evenly throughout the automakers.
atenza94546 says:
10:49 AM, 12/29/2009
Bias my asx, look if the car accelerate by itself their are many ways to stop it. The shiftgate does not get stuck, on Toyotas' shiftgate Neutral position is just right above Drive and all cars design the same way from D to N you will never have to step on the brake its a passive safety feature on every cars incase of these thing happens. I still think these folks are drunk or under the influence.