As Toyota Counterattacks, Feds Investigate Latest Runaway Car

Toyota probably won the latest media battle, but it may be losing the war for the hearts and minds of Americans in its ongoing sudden acceleration crisis.

An elaborate webcast Monday that was designed to show that any car will run away if you manipulate its wiring was probably too technical and detailed to make much of an effect on public opinion. Besides, Toyota's experts (in-house and from a consulting firm named Exponent) probably raised as many questions as they answered.

Here's one big loose end: Why are Toyotas (more than 60 at last count) still experiencing sudden acceleration even after they've been to the dealer for a recall fix of their pedals and floor mats? I raised exactly that question, and got this reply from spokesman Mike Michels:

We are aware of those reports of vehicles having problems after the repair was made. There are only a few we've been able to confirm and verify, and in some cases the repair was not done completely. We believe that if the repair is done properly, it will be effective--.We continue to look at it, but at this juncture we believe the causes are well known and that remedies are addressing many of them.

The controversy flared anew Monday, when a Toyota Prius sped away with its driver, James Sikes, on a San Diego freeway. Even as Toyota was once more trying to put the controversy behind it, Sikes's car sped up to 90 miles per hour and stopped only after a Highway Patrolman pulled alongside and instructed him by megaphone to put on the emergency brake. Sikes's 2008 Prius is on the recall list, but he says he brought it down to a local dealership and was turned away for the pedal fix. Federal and company officials are investigating the car, which was towed to a local dealership.

Toyota did score some important points in its webcast, however. It presented a parade of credentialed experts attempting to show that a February 22 ABC-TV report was misleading. On TV, reporter Brian Ross was a passenger in a Toyota Avalon wildly revving from 1,000 to 6,000 rpm as it takes off. That car had been prepared (and rewired) in the lab by Dr. David Gilbert, a professor at Southern Illinois University, to create a fault similar to one that could occur in consumers' Toyotas. Here's the company's position on video:

After Gawker broke the story, Toyota was able to show that ABC used an inappropriate image of a racing tachometer. (ABC has since re-edited the footage.) And Toyota's experts demonstrated, fairly definitively, that Dr. Gilbert's wiring faults are very unlikely to occur in the real world. "You fundamentally cannot rewire a circuit and expect it to perform as directed," said Dr. Chris Gerdes, a professor of mechanical engineering at Stanford, who also directs its Center for Automotive Research (CARS).

Unfortunately, that moves us only a little way forward because there's still the issue of those fixed cars taking off, and the possibility of software faults. Toyota uses not one but two accelerator pedal sensors, and both have to be in agreement or the car goes into fail-safe mode. But a comprehensive report showing that such code glitches are an impossibility has yet to be issued.

There were some dramatic moments: Toyota had brought a fleet of cars along, ranging from a Chrysler Crossfire to a Mercedes E-Class and BMW 3-Series, and it was able to artificially induce unintended acceleration in all of them with the same kind of wiring tricks Dr. Gilbert used.

Lawmakers remain restive, however. In February 22 and March 5 letters, House Committee on Energy and Commerce's Henry Waxman and Bart Stupak raise questions about Exponent's preliminary report on sudden acceleration. According to the committee, which is rigorously investigating Toyota, the Exponent report has "serious deficiencies." And it wants to know why, if Exponent's report is preliminary, the company is continuing to make (including on Monday) unambiguous statements about electronic interference not being an issue. "We have confidence in our electronic throttle control systems," said Toyota's Michels during the webcast.

Toyota wants to slam the lid on the toughest problem it's ever faced, but it keeps popping open--and for the foreseeable future it will continue to do so.

Photo: Toyota