Toyota Motors fires back at ABC

Toyota held a news conference in which it claimed that the allegations made by David W. Gilbert of Southern Illinois University-Carbondale were all false and were made up in order to defame the company.

The report by ABC
An ABC report aired on Feb. 22 showed a Toyota Sedan traveling at about 20 miles per hour automatically speeding up when Gilbert sparks a short in the car’s electronics.

The modifications made by Gilbert in the vehicle’s electronics were of similar nature to a fault in the accelerator, claimed the news.

Toyota condemns the report
At the conference, engineering consultants from the firm Exponent, who were hired by Toyota, showed three vehicles from other manufacturing companies, including a BMW 325 Sedan, accelerating similarly due the same modifications that were made by Gilbert.

"There is no defect with this vehicle," Matthew Schwall, an engineer, said. "The engine only accelerated because we rewired the same way as in Dr. Gilbert's method." Two other vehicles also raced in similar demonstrations.

Toyota said that the acceleration had been provoked forcibly by cutting into the wires and creating a new connection, instead of an existing one as claimed by the news.

"You cannot rewire a circuit and expect it to behave the way it was designed," said the Stanford professor, J. Christopher Gerdes.

Schwall stated that the shots in the ABC report were that of a parked car, and not a moving car as depicted in the video. He also presented a magnified still shot from the video to prove his point.

Toyota also went a step further and alleged that Gilbert was bribed $1,800 for his malicious act by an advocate who had earlier filed lawsuits against Toyota Motors.

Many take it to be a publicity stunt
Japanese car manufacturers are of view that Toyota’s reaction towards the report is a move to regain the support and confidence of its customers, which was hit hard by the gas pedal issue.

It is to be noted that sudden accelerations by the Toyota cars due to gas pedals and floor mats had made the company recall 6 million U.S. vehicles, the largest auto recall in U.S. history.

“Monday's webcast was somewhat effective,” said George Magliano, director of auto research in North America for IHS Global Insight. "It does help them a little bit, not a heck of a lot.”