(WXYZ) - It's a dangerous defect inside automobiles touted for their safety has led to the largest recall in Toyota history. As Chief Investigator Steve Wilson reports, it’s a potentially deadly problem that seems to affect Toyota Avalons down to the Prius, and even some Lexus models, too. Toyota first said the problem was solved with a recall of 3.8 million vehicles, but some owners and safety experts are saying “not so fast.”
911 Call: We can’t stop! We’re approaching the intersection. Pray for us!
As Brian Ross reported on ABC News, concern about these runaway Toyotas heightened when one of them sped off a California cliff this summer killing a family of four, including the driver, an off-duty highway patrolman who couldn’t stop it.
Toyota Advertisement: No other automaker has won more top safety pick awards than Toyota.
It’s the promise of safety that’s helped earn Toyota the trust of legions of devoted customers, like Bernie and Patricia. Through the years, the Oakland County couple has bought five Toyotas, and last year their new Camry made six. Car after car, and never a problem, until one day last April as Bernie was headed north on I-75.
Bernie/Toyota Owner: I was doing about 65, 60 or 65 miles an hour and I was in the left lane. And before I knew it, the car developed a life of its own and I was doing 100 miles an hour.
Still gaining speed, Bernie struggled to keep his Camry from colliding with other vehicles on the expressway.
Bernie/Toyota Owner: So I started swerving in and out and could not stop the car. I really leaned on the breaks and the car just barely slowed down and I started thinking, "Well what am I going to do?"
What he did was put the car in neutral. Eventually it slowed down and he was able to pull off at the next exit. His dealer told him the problem was caused by the car’s all-weather floor mat. If it’s too big, or not secured to the floor, it could get caught and hold down the accelerator, they said.
Sean Kane/Safety Analyst: I think they have a corporate line, and their position, anybody goes into a dealer who complains about this problem, they all walk out with the same information. It was the floor mat. "You must have made a mistake. It was the floor mat." Even in complete face of evidence that shows it’s not.
Sean Kane is a safety analyst who’s found more than 2,000 consumer claims of sudden acceleration in Toyota models as old as 1998. He says while floor mats have been responsible for some cases of sudden acceleration, he believes that many others are the result of a glitch in the electronic computer system that controls the vehicles’ throttle. According to Kane, cases of Toyotas taking off started increasing in 2002 at about the same time the company widely introduced a new electronic throttle control.
Sean Kane/Safety Analyst: They’re saying, "Look, you’re telling me it’s a floor mat, but my car didn’t have an all-weather floor mat. How does that happen?"
Headed down this quiet residential street in Flint in her 2005 Camry, 77-year-old Guadalupe Alberto was taking lunch to her husband. Suddenly, she was going what investigators say was 80 miles per hour, more than three times the speed limit.
Doug Alberto/Son: And when she hit these stones, she went airborne all the way over here, going at a high rate of speed, and you can tell how high she hit.
The grandmother of ten, who never even had a speeding ticket, died instantly. When investigators examined her vehicle, they found no floor mat in it.
Lilia Alberto/Daughter: One week before, she said these floor mats are greasy, they’re dirty, they need to be cleaned. So she took the floor mats out.
Federal investigators say since 2003, they’ve studied six cases of sudden acceleration in Toyotas but haven’t confirmed a defect in the electronic throttle control. The government has recommended removal of the floor mats, calling it “the most immediate way to address the safety risk.” But they also said that’s just an interim measure that “does not correct the underlying defect in the vehicles” which the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it’s still looking for.
In the meantime, the family of Guadalupe Alberto and at least six others across the country have filed suit against Toyota, alleging a design defect built into the throttle control system.
Lilia Alberto/Daughter: It’s costing lives right now. They should step up and say, "yes, there’s a problem, we want to fix it" and keep up their name, instead of trying to cover it up with floor mats.
Toyota maintains that there’s no evidence of a problem with its electronic throttle system, and says that its vehicles are built with multiple backup capabilities that would prevent what the family of Guadalupe Alberto alleged caused her death.
The following models are affected by Toyota's voluntary safety recall campaign:2007-2010 Toyota Camry
2005-2010 Toyota Avalon
2004-2009 Toyota Prius
2005-2010 Toyota Tacoma
2007-2010 Toyota Tundra
2007-2010 Lexus ES350
2006-2010 Lexus IS250 or IS 350
VIDEO: What to do if your car accelerates out of control?
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If you have a tip for the Action News Investigative Team, contact us at wilson@wxyz.com or at (248) 827-9466.
