U.S. studies suggest driver error a factor in Toyota safety issues
Late in 2009, Toyota Motor Corporation initiated a recall after reports of several vehicles experiencing sudden unintended acceleration, but it turns out that the automakers only real mistake was taking full responsibility. The sudden acceleration of the runaway vehicles was reportedly due to stuck accelerator pedals under floor mats and caused almost 3.2 million vehicles to be recalled. After swapping a reputation of building safe, reliable vehicles for one of infamy, Toyota may be exonerated based on recent studies conducted by the U.S. Department of Transportation which suggest that drivers were at fault for some of the sudden acceleration accidents.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s investigation examined vehicles that had been in an accident because the sudden acceleration and found that throttles were wide open and brakes were not engaged. The Wall Street Journal reported that these preliminary findings suggest that drivers were mistakenly hitting the accelerator when they meant to hit the brakes.
Fully equipped with the ability to differentiate the gas pedal from the brake pedal, New Jersey drivers are confident in the safety of Toyota vehicles. For Toyota car dealers, NJ residents have continued to flock to the dealership, indicating that they have kept their faith in Toyota. New York residents have also maintained their trust in Toyota vehicles which is evident in the increased sales that the automaker is experiencing that were up as much as 50% in March.
Regardless of if these findings develop further and validate driver error, Toyota has already been exonerated by the general public as evidenced by the Toyota dealers NY drivers continue to flock to. All blame aside, the automaker has since erred on the side of caution, initiating vehicle demonstration programs which intend to put only the safest possible vehicles on the market. The Prius Plug-in Hybrid is currently participating in the program which consists of 150 individuals test driving the vehicles and providing feedback to Toyota to give them the opportunity to work out any kinks before releasing the vehicles to dealers.
Whether it’s driver error or Toyota error, an error doesn’t become a mistake unless you refuse to correct it. With reconfigured gas pedals and newly designed floor mats, Toyota has done their part to prevent turning this error into a mistake.
