Business Week
Toyota Motor Corp.’s accelerator flaws and electronic vehicle controls will be examined by engineers from NASA as the U.S. expands its probe into incidents linked to at least 51 deaths.
The government also recruited the National Research Council, part of the congressionally chartered National Academy of Sciences, to investigate unintended acceleration and electronics in vehicles from all automakers, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said yesterday in an interview. The research will cost $3 million, he said.
The studies will focus attention on the reliability of computers that help run today’s vehicles. Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, has said it found no evidence that the systems are at fault for sudden bursts of speed that led to a worldwide recall of more than 8 million cars and trucks. Consumer advocates and lawmakers have urged an investigation of vehicle electronics.
Congress “thought there was more to these issues, more to these problems with automobiles than just floor mats and sticky pedals,” LaHood said in the interview. “They felt electronics were a part of it. Even though our review does not show that and Toyota’s review does not show that, we felt we needed to address what Congress’s concerns are.”
The Japanese automaker has blamed mechanical flaws for sudden acceleration, modifying pedals it says can stick and replacing floor mats it says can snag on the accelerator.
The NASA study should resolve whether electronics are involved, said David Champion, director of automotive testing at Consumer Reports magazine.
‘One Way or Another’
“It’ll answer the question one way or another,” Champion said in an interview. “I don’t think anybody’s going to question the expertise of NASA.”
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which designed and managed U.S. missions to the moon, has experts in electronics, hardware, software, hazard analysis and complex problem-solving, the Transportation Department said. Nine NASA experts are involved in the sudden acceleration investigation.
Results from the National Research Council are possible within 18 months while NASA will report “probably sooner,” LaHood said.
“We want answers today,” he said. “We’re as impatient as the Congress, and we’re as impatient as car customers are and car drivers are that own Toyotas and also own other cars that have had issues.”
John Hanson, a spokesman for Toyota’s U.S. unit, said the company welcomes the new inquiries.
Toyota’s Response
“We heartily support investigations by any and all credible third parties,” Hanson said. “We look forward to the results.”
Toyota’s American depositary receipts, each equal to two ordinary shares, rose 27 cents to $81.25 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading and dropped 3.5 percent this year. The company has lost $15.6 billion in market value since announcing a recall on Jan. 21.
‘More Brains’
“It’s a good thing that people are trying to find answers,” said Steve Berman, a partner in Seattle-based Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, a firm that has sued Toyota on behalf of people who bought and leased the company’s cars, asking the automaker to take back the vehicles. “The more brains that are working on this, the better off that consumers will be.”
NHTSA data show complaints alleging 110 deaths linked to sudden acceleration, with 51 in Toyota cars and trucks and 20 in Ford Motor Co. vehicles. At congressional hearings last month, lawmakers urged LaHood, whose agency includes NHTSA, to consider electronics-related causes. The agency ran 141 investigations into the phenomenon since 1980 and closed 112 of them without taking corrective action.
The company today said it will create technology centers to speed decision-making on quality issues. Toyota will increase North American centers to seven, from one, and set up seven in Europe, six in China and more in other regions.
LaHood said his department decided to seek help from outside scientists and engineers for a fresh look.
“They have no vested interest in NHTSA or DOT and they can be very unbiased, unvarnished,” LaHood said.
$3 Million Cost
The National Research Council’s study will cost $2 million and NASA’s will add $1 million, LaHood said. The studies will include the possibility that electromagnetic interference can cause the controls that run today’s vehicles to go awry, LaHood said.
Auto-safety advocate Joan Claybrook, a former head of NHTSA, said bringing in NASA scientists “really breaks the mold” for an agency that has concluded driver error caused many of the accidents.
“They have finally come to the view that this is a vehicle issue,” she said today in an interview.
LaHood said he also asked the Transportation Department’s inspector general to determine whether NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation has sufficient funding and staff. The office faced criticism during congressional hearings for its handling of sudden-acceleration reports and for staff that left the office to go directly to work for automakers.
Electrical Engineers
LaHood told lawmakers last month that NHTSA has two electrical engineers among 125 engineers. The agency’s budget request would add 66 positions. The inspector general’s findings will help determine to which offices those people go, he said in the interview.
“NHTSA’s done a lot of work, but nobody seems to believe they’ve done the job correctly,” said Consumer Reports’ Champion, referring to the NASA and research council studies. “This is a way of getting an independent agency to look at it and say one way or another, is it electronic or not?”
The government also recruited the National Research Council, part of the congressionally chartered National Academy of Sciences, to investigate unintended acceleration and electronics in vehicles from all automakers, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said yesterday in an interview. The research will cost $3 million, he said.
The studies will focus attention on the reliability of computers that help run today’s vehicles. Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, has said it found no evidence that the systems are at fault for sudden bursts of speed that led to a worldwide recall of more than 8 million cars and trucks. Consumer advocates and lawmakers have urged an investigation of vehicle electronics.
Congress “thought there was more to these issues, more to these problems with automobiles than just floor mats and sticky pedals,” LaHood said in the interview. “They felt electronics were a part of it. Even though our review does not show that and Toyota’s review does not show that, we felt we needed to address what Congress’s concerns are.”
The Japanese automaker has blamed mechanical flaws for sudden acceleration, modifying pedals it says can stick and replacing floor mats it says can snag on the accelerator.
The NASA study should resolve whether electronics are involved, said David Champion, director of automotive testing at Consumer Reports magazine.
‘One Way or Another’
“It’ll answer the question one way or another,” Champion said in an interview. “I don’t think anybody’s going to question the expertise of NASA.”
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which designed and managed U.S. missions to the moon, has experts in electronics, hardware, software, hazard analysis and complex problem-solving, the Transportation Department said. Nine NASA experts are involved in the sudden acceleration investigation.
Results from the National Research Council are possible within 18 months while NASA will report “probably sooner,” LaHood said.
“We want answers today,” he said. “We’re as impatient as the Congress, and we’re as impatient as car customers are and car drivers are that own Toyotas and also own other cars that have had issues.”
John Hanson, a spokesman for Toyota’s U.S. unit, said the company welcomes the new inquiries.
Toyota’s Response
“We heartily support investigations by any and all credible third parties,” Hanson said. “We look forward to the results.”
Toyota’s American depositary receipts, each equal to two ordinary shares, rose 27 cents to $81.25 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading and dropped 3.5 percent this year. The company has lost $15.6 billion in market value since announcing a recall on Jan. 21.
‘More Brains’
“It’s a good thing that people are trying to find answers,” said Steve Berman, a partner in Seattle-based Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, a firm that has sued Toyota on behalf of people who bought and leased the company’s cars, asking the automaker to take back the vehicles. “The more brains that are working on this, the better off that consumers will be.”
NHTSA data show complaints alleging 110 deaths linked to sudden acceleration, with 51 in Toyota cars and trucks and 20 in Ford Motor Co. vehicles. At congressional hearings last month, lawmakers urged LaHood, whose agency includes NHTSA, to consider electronics-related causes. The agency ran 141 investigations into the phenomenon since 1980 and closed 112 of them without taking corrective action.
The company today said it will create technology centers to speed decision-making on quality issues. Toyota will increase North American centers to seven, from one, and set up seven in Europe, six in China and more in other regions.
LaHood said his department decided to seek help from outside scientists and engineers for a fresh look.
“They have no vested interest in NHTSA or DOT and they can be very unbiased, unvarnished,” LaHood said.
$3 Million Cost
The National Research Council’s study will cost $2 million and NASA’s will add $1 million, LaHood said. The studies will include the possibility that electromagnetic interference can cause the controls that run today’s vehicles to go awry, LaHood said.
Auto-safety advocate Joan Claybrook, a former head of NHTSA, said bringing in NASA scientists “really breaks the mold” for an agency that has concluded driver error caused many of the accidents.
“They have finally come to the view that this is a vehicle issue,” she said today in an interview.
LaHood said he also asked the Transportation Department’s inspector general to determine whether NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation has sufficient funding and staff. The office faced criticism during congressional hearings for its handling of sudden-acceleration reports and for staff that left the office to go directly to work for automakers.
Electrical Engineers
LaHood told lawmakers last month that NHTSA has two electrical engineers among 125 engineers. The agency’s budget request would add 66 positions. The inspector general’s findings will help determine to which offices those people go, he said in the interview.
“NHTSA’s done a lot of work, but nobody seems to believe they’ve done the job correctly,” said Consumer Reports’ Champion, referring to the NASA and research council studies. “This is a way of getting an independent agency to look at it and say one way or another, is it electronic or not?”
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