Lots has been happening with Toyota and we have had trouble keeping up. However there are couple of numbers and graphs that are worth noting. The first is from the Wall Street Journal (Cause of Sudden Acceleration Proves Hard to Pinpoint, Feb 25). Click on the graphic for a better view:
Gady had posted an earlier version of the same data all plastered onto one graph but having it broken out makes the scope of Toyota’s issues a little bit clearer. Ford obviously has had some issues but they have an explanation:
Ford spokesman Said Deep said, “When you analyze NHTSA data and remove the complaints due to the speed control deactivation switch, which we recalled in 2005, Ford’s performance in this category has improved each year and our complaints have been significantly lower than Toyota’s each year since 2005.” Still, Mr. Deep said Ford’s speed deactivation switch—which shuts off the cruise control when the driver hits the brakes firmly—had no connection to sudden acceleration, and that about 14 million vehicles were recalled due to the potential of the switch causing fires while vehicles were parked.
For those keeping score at home, that 14 million vehicle recall still stands as the biggest in US history.
What these numbers obscure is that all else being equal the number of complaints should go up with the number of vehicles on the road. So Nissan’s low numbers might reflect that there are fewer Maximas out there than Camries. Edmunds thus did a study comparing how many complaints (that is, total complaints not just for acceleration issues) were filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration relative to market share. The short summary amounted to Toyota was one of the best performers. Also, don’t buy a Land Rover. Now Edmunds has released a new bit of research looking specifically at complaints about unintended acceleration (Industry’s Unintended Acceleration Issue Requires Attention, Edmunds.com Comments, Feb 26). Here is the punchline from that:
Manufacturer Complaints Complaints per 100,000 Vehicles Sold Chrysler Group (Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep) 156 1.72 Ford Motor Corporation (Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Volvo) 339 3.12 General Motors (Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC, Hummer, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn) 134 0.81 Honda (Honda, Acura) 89 1.26 Nissan (Infiniti, Nissan) 50 1.07 Toyota Motor Corporation (Lexus, Scion, Toyota) 532 4.81Some details behind these numbers:
Edmunds.com analyzed NHTSA databases for those complaints filed against them before Sept. 30, 2009 and after that date. On Sept. 29, 2009, Toyota announced a consumer safety advisory regarding potential floor mat interference with the accelerator pedal. The analysis, which looked at 2005 to 2010 models, showed after the safety advisory was issued and received intense media attention, 601 unintended acceleration complaints were filed against Toyota Motor Corp. from October 1, 2009 to February 3, 2010. In the nearly five years prior to the advisory, Toyota had 532 such complaints.
Now one might quibble that Edmunds is cherry picking a time in which Toyota was all the news but it does re-emphasize the historical data above: something was up with Toyota. This apparently was also notices by the folks at State Farm Insurance (Inside Toyota’s epic breakdown, Automotive News, Feb 10).
About the same time in Bloomington, Ill., a team of number-crunching accident investigators was seeing a worrying pattern. A team known as CRASH at privately held insurer State Farm had noticed a spike in accidents involving Toyota vehicles including the top-selling Camry. State Farm, the largest U.S. auto insurer, notified U.S. regulators of the pattern. “If we believe a vehicle played a significant part in causing damages, we go back to the manufacturer,” said spokesman Kip Diggs. “We tell them ‘We believe your product is faulty and you need to pay us for the damages.’”
“When you start to see significant claims activity that indicates there may be widespread problems with a product, that’s when you go to NHTSA,” said Diggs. “There had to have been significant activity, a noticeable trend for that to happen.”
That Automotive News story has another interesting number in it. How much does that pesky accelerator peddle that Toyota is blaming everything on actually cost? Answer: $15.
How could Toyota ignore all this data? Well they could just blame driver error. That is the industry — and NHTSA — stock answer. Where does that answer come from? That’s our final number: A report that is 21 years old. This is from the Wall Street Journal article cited above:
The NHTSA’s official view, detailed in a 454-page 1989 report, is that the vast majority of sudden acceleration incidents in which no vehicle malfunction is present are caused by drivers mistaking the gas pedal for the brake. However the NHTSA continues to investigate all potential causes for sudden acceleration, including the electronic throttle control system in Toyota vehicles.
It is worth noting that there were no electronic throttle systems in mass-produced cars when the first Bush was president.
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