Autoblog

Toyota asks ABC News for apology, retraction of Brian Ross report

Jeremy Korzeniewski — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 16:58:00 EST

Filed under: Government/Legal, Recalls, Safety, Toyota

"Toyota deserves a public retraction and formal apology from ABC News." At least according to the automaker itself. For what, you ask? For ABC's "irresponsible broadcast entitled "Expert: Electronic Design Flaw Linked to Runaway Toyotas." You surely remember the piece, which originally aired the night before a Congressional Panel began investigating the issue of unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles.

That dubious timing has also drawn ire from Toyota, which says ABC News "Rushed out the report" and "denied Toyota the opportunity to review specific manipulation" ABC and its expert, Dr. David Gilbert, "performed in the broadcast." If it had been given an opportunity to respond, Toyota claims it would have shown that Gilbert's technique required conditions that are "virtually impossible to occur in real-world conditions."

It's also pointed out in Toyota's four-page letter, which you can see in its entirety below, that ABC News faked at least one shot of a tachometer shooting from 1,000 to 6,200 RPM, insinuating that the vehicle was speeding out of control with Brian Ross behind the wheel when it was actually sitting in a parking lot with the transmission firmly in Park.

Toyota concludes that Brian Ross "failed in his basic duty as a journalist" by not disclosing that Dr. Gilbert's work was being paid for by a group of "trial lawyers involved in litigation against Toyota." Finally, the Japanese automaker "reserves the right to take any and every opportunity to protect and defend" its reputation.

The ball is officially in your court, ABC News.

Gallery: Toyota letter to ABC News

[Source: Gawker]

Toyota asks ABC News for apology, retraction of Brian Ross report originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 18 Mar 2010 16:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: ABC News faked at least one part of runaway Toyota report

Sam Abuelsamid — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 09:58:00 EST

Filed under: Recalls, Safety, Toyota

Late last month we wrote a lengthy post about problems with an ABC News report that purported to show a Toyota Avalon racing out of control without setting a diagnostic fault code. While we primarily focused on the technical side and analyzed whether the problem was realistic, the crew at Gawker took a hard look at the video in question and noticed something fishy.

It appears that an editor or producer at ABC felt they could pull a fast one on the audience and used some B-roll in the report showing the tachometer needle sweeping rapidly from near idle to over 6,000 rpm. That clip was injected at the precise moment when David Gilbert triggered his simulated sudden acceleration. As you can see from the screen cap above, the shot of the tachometer clearly shows the warning lights for the parking brake on, the doors open and the transmission indicator in park. The camera operator shot this segment separately so it could be used to illustrate a point in the report, and ABC claims that getting a steady shot during the test would've been both difficult and dangerous.

The B-roll shot doesn't indicate anything conclusive one way or the other about the validity of the test and certainly doesn't stand as proof of anything being rigged. However, the lack of transparency by ABC and Mr. Gilbert regarding the specific procedure doesn't add to the credibility of either the claims or the report, and the lack of clarity by Toyota in its response to Gilbert's assertions doesn't do the automaker any favors, either.

[Source: Gawker]

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Report: ABC News faked at least one part of runaway Toyota report originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 08 Mar 2010 09:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Toyota rebuts Professor Gilbert, reports nothing found wrong with remedied vehicles

John Neff — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 13:35:00 EST

Filed under: Recalls, Toyota

During the first round of Congressional hearings last month, Toyota was blindsided by one Professor David Gilbert who was added to the witness list at the last minute to talk about an experiment in which he induced sudden unintended acceleration (SUA) in a late model Toyota Avalon. His test was reproduced in a shoddy ABC News report with Brian Ross behind the wheel and referenced often in the Congressional hearings by politicians trying to understand the complicated method by which Gilbert got the Avalon to take off running.

Well, Toyota and its independent consulting firm Exponent (they're funded by Toyota but produce results reportedly not influenced by their client) have studied Gilbert's experiment and been able to reproduce the results themselves. In Toyota's words:

The analysis of Professor's Gilbert's demonstration establishes that he has reengineered and rewired the signals from the accelerator pedal. This rewired circuit is highly unlikely to occur naturally and can only be contrived in a laboratory. There is no evidence to suggest that this highly unlikely scenario has ever occurred in the real world. As shown in the Exponent and Toyota evaluations, with such artificial modifications, similar results can be obtained in other vehicles.

Likewise, a small portion of owners with vehicles that have already received the fix for Toyota's sticky pedal recall have complained to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that the fix didn't work. These owners have reportedly experienced SUA after having their vehicles fixed. Toyota has moved quickly to evaluate these complaints and submit its results to NHTSA. Again, Toyota in its own words:

The evaluations have found no evidence of a failure of the vehicle electronic throttle control system, the recent recall remedies or the brake override system.

What these two moves by Toyota tell us is that the embattled Japanese automaker is finally sticking up for itself in the face of media pundits and politicians who have used this unfortunate situation to score points with their audiences and constituents.

[Source: Toyota]

Continue reading Toyota rebuts Professor Gilbert, reports nothing found wrong with remedied vehicles

Toyota rebuts Professor Gilbert, reports nothing found wrong with remedied vehicles originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 07 Mar 2010 13:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Will Toyota's unintended acceleration woes help free imprisoned Camry driver? [w/videos]

Chris Shunk — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 12:30:00 EST

Filed under: Government/Legal, Recalls, Videos, Toyota

Click above to watch the videos after the jump

In June 2006, Koua Fong Lee was driving his pregnant wife and other family members home from church when he says his 1996 Toyota Camry accelerated on its own and the brakes stopped working. Lee struck another vehicle, killing three people in that car. A Minnesota jury convicted Lee of vehicular homicide and the native of Laos was sentenced to an eight-year prison sentence even though there was no evidence of alcohol or drugs involved in the incident.

Fast-forward to over three years later, and Toyota's recall woes for unintended acceleration are casting doubt on the jury's decision to convict Lee. But while the 1996 Camry isn't involved in the current recall, some 1996 models were recalled for unintended acceleration. Further, ABC News says that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received at least 17 other complaints of unintended acceleration in 1996 Camrys with comments like "couldn't stop" and "had to crash into a tree and another car to stop."

Brent Schafer, the lawyer for Lee, has asked for a new trial, and for his client to be set free until the time of a new hearing. The prosecution in the case told ABC News that it supports examining the 1996 Camry involved in the crash to determine if the car is at fault instead of Lee. For its part, Toyota has chosen not to comment to ABC News due to the fact that there could be a future lawsuit brought against the company. Click past the jump to watch the network's video coverage of this story (*Warning: videos may be slow to play - if they fail to load, please click here).

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[Source: ABC News]

Continue reading Will Toyota's unintended acceleration woes help free imprisoned Camry driver? [w/videos]

Will Toyota's unintended acceleration woes help free imprisoned Camry driver? [w/videos] originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 24 Feb 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Autoblog Podcast #167 - Excitement builds for Geneva

Dan Roth — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:15:00 EST

Filed under: Podcasts, Geneva Motor Show, Audi, BMW, Chrysler, Kia, Lotus, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Citroën

Click above for the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes, RSS or listen now!

Episode #167 of the Autoblog Podcast is a fine quartet of Chris Shunk, Sam Abuelsamid, Chris Paukert and Dan Roth. We breeze through the Autoblog Garage, filled with a snow-tired Camaro, a pair of Audi cabrios and a Kia Forte Koup, before hitting the news.

Audi's updated RS5, with a clear-voiced 4.2-liter V8 is up first, followed by the want-it-now BMW 5 Series Touring. We're not done with Europe yet, kicking around the Mercedes-Benz F800 and Citroën DS3 Racing before heading across La Manche to check out the Lotus Proton PHEV and then discuss Kia's Magentis renderings. Wrapping it up, we surmise what Chrysler's purported refreshes might turn out to be and talk about the overwhelming crush of Toyota recall and Congressional hearing news before taking some questions and calling it a night.

Direct fanmail to Podcast at Autoblog dot com, review the show in iTunes, fill out our survey or even leave us a voicemail on our Google Voice line 734-288-8POD (734-288-8763). Until next week, hit up Joystiq and Engadget when podcast loneliness sets in. Thanks for listening!

Continue reading Autoblog Podcast #167 - Excitement builds for Geneva

Autoblog Podcast #167 - Excitement builds for Geneva originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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