case 8
Toyota: Sudden Acceleration or Bad Drivers or Pesky Floor Mats?
Introduction and History of SUA Audi barely survived its sudden-acceleration problem in the 1980s, When about 1,000 Audi 5000 owner said their cars were suddenly accelerating. Audi would issue five recalls on the cars before it and the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration (NHSTA) were able to conclude that it was driver error, the accidental placement of the foot on the accelerator instead of the brake. However, there were dissenters among the causation teams. The dissenters felt that there was indeed a problem with sudden unintended acceleration (SUA) that could be solved only with the installation of a shift-interlock system, something the NHTSA was not willing to mandate on the basis of the Audi or isolated SUA cases that followed. However, SUA would reemerge in 2007 as another auto maker, Toyota experience the mysterious phenomenon.
Toyota’s Issues Begin The Audi SUA problem unfolded quickly and furiously and quite nearly destroyed a brand. The problems with Toyota’s cars and sudden acceleration progressed like a slow simmer of soup on a stove, One bubble would pop up, but then there was quite. For example, in 2007, Bulent and Anne Ezal drove their 2005 Toyota Camry to the Pelican Beach Restaurant in Pismo Beach, California. The restaurant is on a cliff that overlooks the Pacific Ocean. Mr. Ezal was applying the brakes as he drove the car down the steep grade to its parking lot below. When he stopped after finding a parking place, he said the Camry accelerated suddenly and took its two occupants over the seaside cliff, plunging 70 feet onto rocks below and overturning. Anne was killed, but Ezal recovered. Later in 2007, Jean Bookout tried to stop her 2005 Toyota Camry on a freeway ramp as she exited, The brakes would not respond, her use of the parking brake left 100 feet of skid marks, but still the car did not stop. The car came to a halt when it hit a bank of
Introduction and History of SUA Audi barely survived its sudden-acceleration problem in the 1980s, When about 1,000 Audi 5000 owner said their cars were suddenly accelerating. Audi would issue five recalls on the cars before it and the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration (NHSTA) were able to conclude that it was driver error, the accidental placement of the foot on the accelerator instead of the brake. However, there were dissenters among the causation teams. The dissenters felt that there was indeed a problem with sudden unintended acceleration (SUA) that could be solved only with the installation of a shift-interlock system, something the NHTSA was not willing to mandate on the basis of the Audi or isolated SUA cases that followed. However, SUA would reemerge in 2007 as another auto maker, Toyota experience the mysterious phenomenon.
Toyota’s Issues Begin The Audi SUA problem unfolded quickly and furiously and quite nearly destroyed a brand. The problems with Toyota’s cars and sudden acceleration progressed like a slow simmer of soup on a stove, One bubble would pop up, but then there was quite. For example, in 2007, Bulent and Anne Ezal drove their 2005 Toyota Camry to the Pelican Beach Restaurant in Pismo Beach, California. The restaurant is on a cliff that overlooks the Pacific Ocean. Mr. Ezal was applying the brakes as he drove the car down the steep grade to its parking lot below. When he stopped after finding a parking place, he said the Camry accelerated suddenly and took its two occupants over the seaside cliff, plunging 70 feet onto rocks below and overturning. Anne was killed, but Ezal recovered. Later in 2007, Jean Bookout tried to stop her 2005 Toyota Camry on a freeway ramp as she exited, The brakes would not respond, her use of the parking brake left 100 feet of skid marks, but still the car did not stop. The car came to a halt when it hit a bank of