Toyota Motor Corp. knew about flaws that could cause unintended acceleration more than 3 1/2 years before it recalled cars and trucks to fix the defects, according to company timelines.
Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, learned that floor mats could entrap accelerator pedals as early as Feb. 7, 2006, and that pedals could stick five months later, according to documents dated March 24 that were submitted the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and obtained today.
The timelines show what Toyota has said was a slow response that led to the recall of more than 8 million vehicles worldwide starting last year to repair the two types of acceleration- related defects.
The first report was from a model year 2005 Prius hybrid “regarding floor mat interference with an accelerator pedal,” according to the documents, which were sent by the carmaker to the safety agency.
Toyota appointed a chief quality officer for North America and gave the regional officials more authority in making safety- related decisions following U.S. inquiries into the recalls.
“We are not going to elaborate on any documents provided to NHTSA,” Toyota said today in an e-mail statement. “We’ve already acknowledged on several occasions that the company did a poor job of communicating during the period preceding our recent recalls.”
Toyota, based in Toyota City, Japan, began recalls for the two pedal-related defects after an Aug. 28 Lexus sedan crash killed off-duty California Highway Patrol officer Mark Saylor and three family members when a floor mat jammed down the accelerator pedal.
via Toyota Documents Show It Knew of Pedal Flaws in 2006 (Update2) – BusinessWeek.
