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Toyota confident about repairs; complaints rise to 60
by Anupreet Kaur - March 5, 2010 - comments
Federal Regulators have decided to contact each complainant to find the basic problems faced by them while driving Toyota.
Nearly 60 driver complaints of unintended acceleration have been received against Toyota till Thursday, which was less than 10 on Tuesday. But Toyota claims to be confident about repairs.
As the automaker said earlier, sudden unintended acceleration in Toyota and Lexus vehicles is caused due to gas pedals, or floor mats trapping the acceleration pedal.
Apart from Toyota and Lexus vehicles, recalls also included Pontiac Vibe, built last summer at General Motors Co. and Toyota’s joint venture in California.
New complaints, NHTSA reacts
New complaints were received by NHTSA, including recalled vehicles. The agency told that it had asked Toyota for any new complaints received after recalls. Due to sudden unintended acceleration in Toyota and Lexus vehicles, 52 reports of deaths were received by NHTSA this week.
NHTSA administrator, David Strickland, told Reuters “We are determined to get to the bottom of this.”
Despite of various modifications by Toyota Motor dealers, the new complaints specified several accidents and injuries caused due to sudden unintended acceleration.
Federal Regulators have decided to contact each complainant to find the basic problems faced by them while driving Toyota.
The new complaints are creating doubt as some are suspecting Toyota’s electronic throttle control system to be the reason and others are suspecting its computer system. But these complaints are raising a serious question: what is the root cause of these problems?
After these complaints from the agency, Toyota made it clear that as per recent evaluations, there is no evidence of faults in their electronic systems or brake override system.
NHTSA said that it can order Toyota, Japan automaker, to come with a new remedy if it found the present remedies are not apt.
Many lawsuits have been filed against Toyota by people who have lost their relatives due to sudden unintended acceleration.
The Toyota meeting
An “All Toyota Emergency Meeting” was held in the Toyota city to boost the morale of its workers. The meeting included Akio Toyoda, President of Toyota Motor, Yoshimi Inaba, Chief Executive Officer and President of Toyota Motor in North America and Technology Chief, Takeshi Uchiyamada.
Nearly 2000 workers were present in the company’s headquarters for the meeting. It was a live telecast viewed by 7000 workers at Toyota Motor plants.
Toyoda, grandson of company’s founder, encouraged workers to be confident and work with high spirits.
A hearing has been planned by The House Energy and Commerce Committee to check how NHTSA are handling complaints.