Toyota to Provide "Black Box" Readers
Updated at 6:44 p.m. ET
Toyota executives are telling Congress that the automaker will give U.S. safety regulators special Japanese electronic data readers that will enable them to read the "black boxes" from Toyotas involved in sudden acceleration accidents.
Yoshimi Inaba, the president of Toyota Motor North America, told the Senate Commerce Committee on Tuesday that the company would be delivering three data readers to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Wednesday. And he said the company hoped to make the data more accessible to other systems by the middle of 2011.
"This loss of trust is more costly than anything else," Inaba said.
The damage from that loss of trust was apparent in CBS News poll, which found that nearly half of those surveyed - 49 percent - believe the company is "hiding something," and nearly half say they are now "less likely" to buy a Toyota.
Other major automakers saw their sales surge in February, led by Ford up more than 40 percent, but Ford's own analysts say little of its gains came at Toyota's expense, reports CBS News Correspondent Anthony Mason.
"The business that is leaking from Toyota is pretty modest, and their customers right now I think are sitting on the sidelines," said George Pipas, a U.S. sales analyst for Ford.
Inaba also told the congressional panel that Toyota is also dispatching its engineers to the United States to train U.S. technicians on how to use the devices. Such "black box" recording devices are common safety features on modern automobiles. But the ones on Toyotas can be read only by Toyota technicians with specialized readers.
Toyota Motor Corp. faced more questions from Congress over its troubled safety record when top company officials testified at a Senate hearing on the automaker's huge worldwide recall of 8.5 million vehicles.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said his agency may recommend that every new vehicle sold in the U.S. be equipped with brakes that can override the gas pedal. The idea seemed to be gaining support among lawmakers as Toyota officials returned for a third congressional hearing on lethal safety defects.
"We will not rest until these cars are safe," LaHood told the Senate Commerce Committee.
More on Toyota's troubles:
Senate Committee Members' Toyota Links
NYT: Troubles Predate Recalled Toyotas
Poll: 49% Say Toyota Hiding Something
More Toyotas Need Oil Hose Fix
Toyota New Car Sales Up Amid Recalls
Toyota Seized after "Near Death" Claim
Toyota Accused of Hiding Design Evidence
Toyota Woes Highlight Hi-Tech Car Pitfalls
Auto Industry Insider on Electronics Challenges
© 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Toyota executives are telling Congress that the automaker will give U.S. safety regulators special Japanese electronic data readers that will enable them to read the "black boxes" from Toyotas involved in sudden acceleration accidents.
Yoshimi Inaba, the president of Toyota Motor North America, told the Senate Commerce Committee on Tuesday that the company would be delivering three data readers to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Wednesday. And he said the company hoped to make the data more accessible to other systems by the middle of 2011.
"This loss of trust is more costly than anything else," Inaba said.
The damage from that loss of trust was apparent in CBS News poll, which found that nearly half of those surveyed - 49 percent - believe the company is "hiding something," and nearly half say they are now "less likely" to buy a Toyota.
Other major automakers saw their sales surge in February, led by Ford up more than 40 percent, but Ford's own analysts say little of its gains came at Toyota's expense, reports CBS News Correspondent Anthony Mason.
"The business that is leaking from Toyota is pretty modest, and their customers right now I think are sitting on the sidelines," said George Pipas, a U.S. sales analyst for Ford.
Inaba also told the congressional panel that Toyota is also dispatching its engineers to the United States to train U.S. technicians on how to use the devices. Such "black box" recording devices are common safety features on modern automobiles. But the ones on Toyotas can be read only by Toyota technicians with specialized readers.
Toyota Motor Corp. faced more questions from Congress over its troubled safety record when top company officials testified at a Senate hearing on the automaker's huge worldwide recall of 8.5 million vehicles.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said his agency may recommend that every new vehicle sold in the U.S. be equipped with brakes that can override the gas pedal. The idea seemed to be gaining support among lawmakers as Toyota officials returned for a third congressional hearing on lethal safety defects.
"We will not rest until these cars are safe," LaHood told the Senate Commerce Committee.
More on Toyota's troubles:
Senate Committee Members' Toyota Links
NYT: Troubles Predate Recalled Toyotas
Poll: 49% Say Toyota Hiding Something
More Toyotas Need Oil Hose Fix
Toyota New Car Sales Up Amid Recalls
Toyota Seized after "Near Death" Claim
Toyota Accused of Hiding Design Evidence
Toyota Woes Highlight Hi-Tech Car Pitfalls
Auto Industry Insider on Electronics Challenges
Popular on MoneyWatch
- Reverse cell phone lookup service is free and simple
- Why geniuses don't have jobs
- Microsoft slashes Surface prices to lure buyers
- Chrysler expected to make Jeep recall refusal official
- Look who doesn't deserve financial aid at NYU
- Chrysler agrees to recall of Jeeps at risk of fire
- Top 10 professional life coaching myths
- NSA-style spying has been around for years
Not true at all, not anymore. See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Event_data_recorder
You have a lot to learn about cars these days.
What's really going on here is a bit more sinister. The goal here is to be able to have your local police departments with one of these EDRs.
The way it is going to start will be simple enough. Every time there's a vehicular crash resulting in death, the cops will be there to read the crash data from both cars to be able to assess blame. There will be no more of these "I know I had my foot on the brakes" claims made in court.
While that may seem desirable, that isn't going to be where it is going to end. Eventually these black boxes will be able to be read from a distance, and municipalities will then be able to setup EDR readers along the highway. Every car coming along the highway will report it's VIN and rate of speed to the reader as well as take a picture of the driver. Speeding tickets will be mailed to the drivers. There won't be any more need for radar and radar detectors will be useless. That is where this is heading.
If the police are able to use data from these recorders to figure out who caused an accident, I'm all for it.
BTW, what the police will find WRT to speeders is that they're so many of them that maybe the laws should be changed to reflect reality -- but I'm of the opinion that they'll be used like the drug laws -- arrest whomever we damn well please, whenever we please and confiscate their property for the benefit of the local Police Dept.