Previous Toyota Complaints Being Scrutinized
With Toyota's safety issues under intense scrutiny, more problems could very well come to light. One safety group says the acceleration problems appear to involve more cars than Toyota has recalled so far. And there are rising complaints about the power steering in some Corollas. Still, others say these growing complaints reflect excessive attention to one company, not a serious danger to the public.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Im Renee Montagne.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
And Im Steve Inskeep. Toyotas admission of safety problems with its cars is now prompting more reports of safety problems. Its another sign of an automakers shifting reputation. The company was known for reliable vehicles. Now all the negative attention has prompted a lot of people to question their cars. In a moment, we'll ask about the safety of sophisticated electronics in cars.
We start with NPRs Chris Arnold.
CHRIS ARNOLD: Reports of sticky gas pedals and other problems have a lot of people worried about driving their Toyotas. But the odds are you have a much greater chance, for example, of getting hit and killed by a school bus than by dying in a crash due to a stuck accelerator in a Toyota. Still, a glitch that appears to have sent even a very small number of cars careening off the road at high speed is serious and scary and it definitely got this countrys attention.
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Unidentified Man: Toyota has a problem. The cars of those so called runaway Toyotas, cars taking off on their own, up to a 100 miles an hour, was still under
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Unidentified Woman: Becky Lane(ph) was coming down Main Street here, her car speeding out of control. She turned in here
ARNOLD: Toyota is not the only company to have complaints about whats called sudden unintended acceleration. Ford has had complaints too. Honda is now facing a safety issue involving air bags. With 300 million people in the U.S., all kinds of complaints have been filed about all the major carmakers. Federal safety regulators have 40 active investigations; only three of those 40 involved Toyota, but now everybody is watching Toyota, and all the scrutiny will undoubtedly turn up some more problems.
Ms. REBECCA LINDLAND (IHS Global Insight): There is definitely more that could be coming out.
ARNOLD: Thats Rebecca Lindland, an auto analyst at IHS Global Insight. She says more people are now digging through Toyota-related complaints filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or NHTSA.
Ms. LINDLAND: We just received an alert from Automotive News, saying that NHTSA is fielding complaints about 2009 and 2010 Toyota Corolla power steering issues.
ARNOLD: Earlier this week, this article on the auto trade press had federal safety regulators fielding lots of calls from reporters. The article found some very dramatic sounding complaints from Corolla drivers about the power steering.
Ms. LINDLAND: And so there's a woman that wrote on - this is the most terrifying thing that has ever happened to me in my life as well as my grandchildren. She said her Corolla veered on its own to the right, hurtling down a cliff and hit a tree and a fence. So again, this is just coming out now. We havent even really had time to fully investigate.
ARNOLD: But when you dig into the complaints some more, the problem doesnt sound quite as dramatic. David Champion is the director of automobile testing for Consumer Reports.
Mr. DAVID CHAMPION (Consumer Reports): Yes, I think the, you know, that one complaint does sound very alarmist. But I read through all the complaints last night.
ARNOLD: After reviewing the 83 complaints about Corollas, Champion says it does sound like there is probably some kind of an issue. Many of the Corolla drivers said it was basically hard to keep the car from drifting out of its lane on the highway.
Mr. CHAMPION: When we tested the vehicle in 2009, we thought the steering was a little vague on center and overly light, which may not fit everybodys liking. Although there may be some variability that causes some vehicles to be more prone to this wander and uneasy feeling driving down the highway.
ARNOLD: Champion says Toyota should look into this, but he says it doesnt sound particularly more serious than lots of other issues that all the automakers deal with.
Mr. CHAMPION: The average car today is a very, very complex vehicle. You know, its supposed to work perfectly well in the, you know, the streets of Phoenix in the middle of the summer. Its supposed to work extremely well in, you know, really cold climates up in Alaska and everything in between. And its amazing in some ways that we dont have more problems.
ARNOLD: Champion says Toyota has always built high quality and safe vehicles. Still, there are plenty of people who think that there are more shoes to drop at Toyota. One outstanding question is whether the company has recalled enough cars. One safety groups says it believes that the recalls so far do not include some models and years where drivers have reported acceleration problems.
Chris Arnold, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.
