Hearings on capitol hill kick off today on Toyota’s many recall problems. There are three congressional panels looking into the recall and defective product issues regarding Toyota vehicles that have lead to numerous personal injuries and thirty-four deaths, over eight million cars recalled worldwide, and a loss in confidence in the largest auto maker in the world.
The questions that lawmakers will be looking for answers to, the same questions that are always asked in these situations, are actually pretty simple – how did Toyota get here, have the problems been identified and addressed adequately, and what is Toyota doing to make sure this doesn’t happen again and that consumers are safe.
However, that would be if things were simple. They are not.
To begin with, things are not so simple because Toyota is emphatic that the cause of the current product recall and product defect concerns is bad floor mats and “sticky” gas pedals and not the electronic throttle system.
And why is this such a big deal? Because if the cause is electronic then the fix will require Toyota to recall millions of additional cars and trucks and possibly replace computer and electronic systems. This could be expensive, extremely expensive, even for a company the size of Toyota.
In prepared testimony given to the House Energy and Commerce’s investigative subcommittee, the president of Toyota’s U.S. operations, James Lentz, insisted that electronic problems did not contribute to sudden acceleration of its cars. But lawmakers insisted that such a possibility should not be ruled out.
Lentz Stated, “We are confident that no problems exist with the electric throttle control system in our vehicles[.]”
But Southern Illinois University auto tech professor David Gilbert testified to the committee that he had been able to duplicate the sudden acceleration problems in his lab and that he believed it is possible that electronics not “sticky” pedals are to blame.
California Representative Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the full Energy and Commerce Committee, dismissed Toyota’s insistence that electronics were not a possible cause of the produce defects that have caused numerous personal injuries, deaths, and underlined the product liability issues the company now faces. Rep. Waxman stated that the company should have investigated these problems and consumer complaints more thoroughly.
Testimony is scheduled to continue in the House this week and begin in the Senate next week.
