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Info - Toyota - The Washington Post
By Peter Whoriskey
Jan. 29, 2010
Toyota Motor began facing complaints of runaway cars years ago, but the company did not install "brake override" systems in those vehicles, even as several other automakers deployed the technology to address such malfunctions. The brake override systems allow a driver to stop a car with the footbrake even if the accelerator is depressed and the vehicle is running at full throttle. The systems are an outgrowth of new electronics in cars, specifically in engine control. "If the brake and the accelerator are in an argument, the brake wins," a spokesman at Chrysler said in describing the systems, which it began installing in 2003. Volkswagen, Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz also install such systems in at least some of their cars, the companies and industry experts said, some as far back as 10 years ago. General Motors installs brake override in all of its cars in which it is possible for the engine at full throttle to overwhelm the brakes. "Most other automakers have adopted this technology," said Sean Kane, a former researcher at the Center for Auto Safety who now works at Safety Research and Strategies. Not adding the systems "is one of the mistakes that created this perfect storm for Toyota ."
Toyota did not respond Thursday to questions about its decisions involving brake override. But at the Detroit Auto Show in December, Toyota North America President Yoshi Inaba said the company would begin equipping its vehicles with brake override. His comments followed a November statement from the company that the override system would be made standard on Toyota and Lexus vehicles starting with some models in January 2010. The precaution comes too late, however, to forestall a tsunami of negative publicity that has engulfed the company since it halted production and suspended sales of eight popular models after reports of unintended acceleration. For a company that famously aimed to become the largest automaker in the world by touting a reputation for reliability and safety, it has been a striking turnaround. The company has blamed the accelerations on faulty floor mats and their installation, as well as defective accelerator pedals, which they are seeking to redesign. The brake override systems, when they come, will provide a measure of redundancy. It was not immediately clear how much it would cost to install the brake override systems, and industry experts said the costs of the control technology are difficult to measure. "There's really no cost, but it's a critical skill issue -- we can only find so many people who can do this kind of work," said a senior engineer at a major automaker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "It would require a bunch of software and development people to design it, but spread across lots of cars, the money involved would be negligible. . . . No one wants a runaway."
As far back as 2004, government investigators were looking at 2002-2003 Toyota Camrys and Solaras and Lexus ES 300s to determine whether they were defective, gathering information about 37 owner complaints of sudden acceleration, according to the Center for Auto Safety. Automotive experts said that in at least some of those incidents, a brake override system could have prevented harm. In the accident that has drawn perhaps the most publicity, a 2009 Lexus ES 350 raced through San Diego , weaving at 120 miles an hour through rush-hour freeway traffic. Veteran California Highway Patrol officer Mark Saylor was at the wheel, with his wife, teenage daughter and brother-in-law aboard.
"We're in trouble. . . . There's no brakes," Saylor's brother-in-law told a police dispatcher over a cellphone. As they approached an intersection, and the end of the road, the passengers could be heard urging each other to pray. All four died. Afterward, investigators said that it appeared the brakes had been applied for so long that the brake pads melted, according to a report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Had a brake override system been at work, the engine would have been depowered -- not turned off, but slowed.
Until recently, an accelerator pedal opened the throttle mechanically. But newer pedals control the engine via sensors and a computer. The new throttle electronics and software have often themselves been the focus of some suspicion in the runaway crashes. Whatever the causes of accidents, engineers noted that there are trade-offs in using brake override systems. For example, some customers prefer to be able to apply the brake and step on the accelerator without reducing power to the engine, especially in high-performance driving.
Toyota, moreover, is not the only automaker to eschew the fail-safe technology.
In an e-mail, Honda spokeswoman Christina Ra said that "Honda and Acura vehicles do not apply any override logic between brake and accelerator pedal inputs. . . . We continue to accept application of the accelerator and brake pedals as representing the driver's intention." But experts said that the value of the brake override systems is that they can mitigate acceleration problems no matter where they come from. Toyota , as well as the NHTSA, appear to have struggled in diagnosing exactly what is causing the trouble.
"A brake override system can paper over a multitude of mistakes," Kane said.
By Blaine Harden
Jan. 28, 2010
Toyota sacrificed quality for global growth and got burned. That's the story Japanese automobile analysts offer to explain the faulty gas pedals that led to the automaker's unprecedented decision to shut down five North American assembly plants and suspend sales of eight of its most popular vehicles. Toyota 's own top executives do not dispute it. On Thursday, the company said its recall of millions of U.S. vehicles due to issues with faulty gas pedals was being extended to cover vehicles in Europe and China . "Our president, Akio Toyoda, has said that expansion may have occurred to the extent where it is difficult for us to keep an eye on the ball," said Paul Nolasco, a Toyota spokesman in Tokyo . "Other executives have said that part of the troubles we are having today have been because of speedy moves in the past." Toyota's push to become the world's largest carmaker has occurred during an especially risky era for the industry, with sluggish sales, thin profits, mounting competition and relentless pressure to cut costs. "This is a really tough time to make money," said Koji Endo, managing director of Advanced Research Japan , a corporate research firm in Tokyo . " Toyota has become maybe too successful, with operations spread around the world, and they always have to come up with new ideas to reduce costs." One of those ideas was to use the same part -- an accelerator pedal mechanism made by a supplier in Elkhart , Ind. -- in the eight different car models whose production was halted this week.
All big car companies use this kind of "platform sharing" to reduce costs, analysts say. But when something goes wrong -- in Toyota 's case, the gas pedal sometimes got stuck and caused runaway acceleration -- then "you increase the risk of having a really big problem," Endo said. Last week, Toyota recalled 2.3 million vehicles (the eight models it stopped making on Tuesday) and late last year it recalled as many as 4.3 million vehicles. Some of the recalls were to fix gas pedals, and some were to replace floor mats that could jam the pedals.
Late Wednesday, Toyota recalled an additional 1.1 million cars and light trucks in the United States . On Thursday, the company announced it will recall vehicles in Europe and China with gas-pedal issues. Toyota has informed Chinese authorities it will start a recall in February for 75,500 RAV4 sport-utility vehicles that were manufactured in China between March 2009 and January 2010, Toyota spokeswoman Ririko Takeuchi told the Associated Press. In Europe , the automaker is still investigating what models will be recalled, and how many.
Toyota said this week that its vehicle recalls and its decision to stop making eight car models were "voluntary." But Transportation Secretary Raymond LaHood said Wednesday that Toyota made these moves because federal safety officials told the company to do so. Toyota is facing a possible congressional investigation by a panel from the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and at least three major rental car companies have said they were temporarily removing tens of thousands of Toyotas from their fleets. Investors appear to be rethinking the value of Toyota . On Thursday in Tokyo , the company's stock fell 3.9 percent; it has lost 15 percent over the past five trading days. As Toyota shares sank, the stock of its main Asian rivals -- Honda, Nissan and Hyundai -- all rose. "If I owned Toyota , I think I would have to sell now," said Edwin Merner, president of Atlantis Investment Research in Tokyo . "I think it is going to take a couple of years for Toyota to overcome this blow to its image. There is a lot of competition from people who are making good cars and who want Toyota 's customers." Toyota, though, has very deep pockets, with tens of billions of dollars of reserves. Analysts also say the company understands the seriousness of its problems. "I think they are trying to be as earnest as possible," said Masahiro Fukuda, a senior analyst at Fourin, an automobile research company in Nagoya , Japan . "They are stopping the production lines and sales. I think they want to do it right and honestly." Still, industry insiders have known for some time that Toyota was expanding production in a way that hurt quality, Fukuda said. U.S. consumer ratings of Toyota quality have fallen in recent years.
"There was a feeling that this may happen," said Fukuda. "Production was expanding so fast that there was a lack of trained mechanics to teach the new ones. Those mechanics teaching were doing so with a bit of concern about their expertise."
By Peter Whoriskey
Jan. 29, 2010
Toyota Motor began facing complaints of runaway cars years ago, but the company did not install "brake override" systems in those vehicles, even as several other automakers deployed the technology to address such malfunctions. The brake override systems allow a driver to stop a car with the footbrake even if the accelerator is depressed and the vehicle is running at full throttle. The systems are an outgrowth of new electronics in cars, specifically in engine control. "If the brake and the accelerator are in an argument, the brake wins," a spokesman at Chrysler said in describing the systems, which it began installing in 2003. Volkswagen, Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz also install such systems in at least some of their cars, the companies and industry experts said, some as far back as 10 years ago. General Motors installs brake override in all of its cars in which it is possible for the engine at full throttle to overwhelm the brakes. "Most other automakers have adopted this technology," said Sean Kane, a former researcher at the Center for Auto Safety who now works at Safety Research and Strategies. Not adding the systems "is one of the mistakes that created this perfect storm for Toyota ."
Toyota did not respond Thursday to questions about its decisions involving brake override. But at the Detroit Auto Show in December, Toyota North America President Yoshi Inaba said the company would begin equipping its vehicles with brake override. His comments followed a November statement from the company that the override system would be made standard on Toyota and Lexus vehicles starting with some models in January 2010. The precaution comes too late, however, to forestall a tsunami of negative publicity that has engulfed the company since it halted production and suspended sales of eight popular models after reports of unintended acceleration. For a company that famously aimed to become the largest automaker in the world by touting a reputation for reliability and safety, it has been a striking turnaround. The company has blamed the accelerations on faulty floor mats and their installation, as well as defective accelerator pedals, which they are seeking to redesign. The brake override systems, when they come, will provide a measure of redundancy. It was not immediately clear how much it would cost to install the brake override systems, and industry experts said the costs of the control technology are difficult to measure. "There's really no cost, but it's a critical skill issue -- we can only find so many people who can do this kind of work," said a senior engineer at a major automaker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "It would require a bunch of software and development people to design it, but spread across lots of cars, the money involved would be negligible. . . . No one wants a runaway."
As far back as 2004, government investigators were looking at 2002-2003 Toyota Camrys and Solaras and Lexus ES 300s to determine whether they were defective, gathering information about 37 owner complaints of sudden acceleration, according to the Center for Auto Safety. Automotive experts said that in at least some of those incidents, a brake override system could have prevented harm. In the accident that has drawn perhaps the most publicity, a 2009 Lexus ES 350 raced through San Diego , weaving at 120 miles an hour through rush-hour freeway traffic. Veteran California Highway Patrol officer Mark Saylor was at the wheel, with his wife, teenage daughter and brother-in-law aboard.
"We're in trouble. . . . There's no brakes," Saylor's brother-in-law told a police dispatcher over a cellphone. As they approached an intersection, and the end of the road, the passengers could be heard urging each other to pray. All four died. Afterward, investigators said that it appeared the brakes had been applied for so long that the brake pads melted, according to a report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Had a brake override system been at work, the engine would have been depowered -- not turned off, but slowed.
Until recently, an accelerator pedal opened the throttle mechanically. But newer pedals control the engine via sensors and a computer. The new throttle electronics and software have often themselves been the focus of some suspicion in the runaway crashes. Whatever the causes of accidents, engineers noted that there are trade-offs in using brake override systems. For example, some customers prefer to be able to apply the brake and step on the accelerator without reducing power to the engine, especially in high-performance driving.
Toyota, moreover, is not the only automaker to eschew the fail-safe technology.
In an e-mail, Honda spokeswoman Christina Ra said that "Honda and Acura vehicles do not apply any override logic between brake and accelerator pedal inputs. . . . We continue to accept application of the accelerator and brake pedals as representing the driver's intention." But experts said that the value of the brake override systems is that they can mitigate acceleration problems no matter where they come from. Toyota , as well as the NHTSA, appear to have struggled in diagnosing exactly what is causing the trouble.
"A brake override system can paper over a multitude of mistakes," Kane said.
By Blaine Harden
Jan. 28, 2010
Toyota sacrificed quality for global growth and got burned. That's the story Japanese automobile analysts offer to explain the faulty gas pedals that led to the automaker's unprecedented decision to shut down five North American assembly plants and suspend sales of eight of its most popular vehicles. Toyota 's own top executives do not dispute it. On Thursday, the company said its recall of millions of U.S. vehicles due to issues with faulty gas pedals was being extended to cover vehicles in Europe and China . "Our president, Akio Toyoda, has said that expansion may have occurred to the extent where it is difficult for us to keep an eye on the ball," said Paul Nolasco, a Toyota spokesman in Tokyo . "Other executives have said that part of the troubles we are having today have been because of speedy moves in the past." Toyota's push to become the world's largest carmaker has occurred during an especially risky era for the industry, with sluggish sales, thin profits, mounting competition and relentless pressure to cut costs. "This is a really tough time to make money," said Koji Endo, managing director of Advanced Research Japan , a corporate research firm in Tokyo . " Toyota has become maybe too successful, with operations spread around the world, and they always have to come up with new ideas to reduce costs." One of those ideas was to use the same part -- an accelerator pedal mechanism made by a supplier in Elkhart , Ind. -- in the eight different car models whose production was halted this week.
All big car companies use this kind of "platform sharing" to reduce costs, analysts say. But when something goes wrong -- in Toyota 's case, the gas pedal sometimes got stuck and caused runaway acceleration -- then "you increase the risk of having a really big problem," Endo said. Last week, Toyota recalled 2.3 million vehicles (the eight models it stopped making on Tuesday) and late last year it recalled as many as 4.3 million vehicles. Some of the recalls were to fix gas pedals, and some were to replace floor mats that could jam the pedals.
Late Wednesday, Toyota recalled an additional 1.1 million cars and light trucks in the United States . On Thursday, the company announced it will recall vehicles in Europe and China with gas-pedal issues. Toyota has informed Chinese authorities it will start a recall in February for 75,500 RAV4 sport-utility vehicles that were manufactured in China between March 2009 and January 2010, Toyota spokeswoman Ririko Takeuchi told the Associated Press. In Europe , the automaker is still investigating what models will be recalled, and how many.
Toyota said this week that its vehicle recalls and its decision to stop making eight car models were "voluntary." But Transportation Secretary Raymond LaHood said Wednesday that Toyota made these moves because federal safety officials told the company to do so. Toyota is facing a possible congressional investigation by a panel from the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and at least three major rental car companies have said they were temporarily removing tens of thousands of Toyotas from their fleets. Investors appear to be rethinking the value of Toyota . On Thursday in Tokyo , the company's stock fell 3.9 percent; it has lost 15 percent over the past five trading days. As Toyota shares sank, the stock of its main Asian rivals -- Honda, Nissan and Hyundai -- all rose. "If I owned Toyota , I think I would have to sell now," said Edwin Merner, president of Atlantis Investment Research in Tokyo . "I think it is going to take a couple of years for Toyota to overcome this blow to its image. There is a lot of competition from people who are making good cars and who want Toyota 's customers." Toyota, though, has very deep pockets, with tens of billions of dollars of reserves. Analysts also say the company understands the seriousness of its problems. "I think they are trying to be as earnest as possible," said Masahiro Fukuda, a senior analyst at Fourin, an automobile research company in Nagoya , Japan . "They are stopping the production lines and sales. I think they want to do it right and honestly." Still, industry insiders have known for some time that Toyota was expanding production in a way that hurt quality, Fukuda said. U.S. consumer ratings of Toyota quality have fallen in recent years.
"There was a feeling that this may happen," said Fukuda. "Production was expanding so fast that there was a lack of trained mechanics to teach the new ones. Those mechanics teaching were doing so with a bit of concern about their expertise."
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