State Farm Found Toyota Problem in 2007; U.S. Government Did Nothing

(MoneyWatch)  As the nation's largest auto insurer, State Farm has vast statistical resources and an ear to the ground in the form of thousands of agents and adjusters. When the insurer says, "something's wrong," then something's wrong.

In an incident eerily reminiscent of the way the Securities and Exchange Commission ignored complaints about financial fraudster Bernard Madoff, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which is supposed to investigate unsafe vehicles, ignored State Farm's complaints about "sudden acceleration" of Toyota vehicles going back to 2007.

As a result, lives were lost as Lexus models roared off cliffs and gas pedals stuck on other Toyota models, causing hundreds of highway crackups.

We know this now, but State Farm knew it nearly three years ago and told the NHTSA, according to USA Today. The newspaper said the federal agency started an investigation that lasted seven short months and then pulled the plug. Nothing happened until a California state police officer lost his life, an event that was recorded on a 911 call that sparked an ABC investigation, which ultimately forced the NHTSA to react once again.

The federal government's slow response is even more remarkable given that State Farm was a key contributor in identifying a trend of tire separation in the 1990's, also according to USA Today, leading to the recall of Ford Explorer tires.

We may learn more on Feb. 10 when the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform - the same group that investigated the American International Group and Goldman Sachs connection - probes more deeply into what the NHTSA learned, or didn't learn, from State Farm, and what it did with the information.

When USA Today asked other major insurers if they knew about the Toyota problems and if they did what had they done, the insurers either didn't respond or said they didn't track that kind of information. Obviously they too believe in the government's philosophy of "See no evil."