NHTSA Drops the Ball, Toyota Avoids Recall & Saves $100M
According to a House committee investigating NHTSA's handling of Toyota owners' complaints of sudden acceleration, Toyota executives were told the company saved $100 million by convincing NHTSA to drop an investigation into a recall of the company's Camry and Lexus vehicles.
The House committee also noted NHTSA lacked the expertise to evaluate the complaints of sudden acceleration. Incredibly, NHTSA officials told the Committee staff that the agency does not employ any electrical engineers or software engineers. As a result, NHTSA lacks the expertise to investigate incidents of sudden unintended acceleration that may be caused by the cars' electronic systems.
NHTSA conducted only one cursory investigation in 2004 into the possibility that defects in electronic controls could be responsible for these incidents. This investigation was led by Scott Yon, who informed Toyota in an e-mail that he was "not very knowledgeable" about the electronic throttle control system used in Toyota vehicles.
