TOYOTA FIRST learnt of the problem with accelerator pedals sticking in vehicles in Ireland and England in spring last year.
According to a letter sent to the car firm by the chairman of the US energy and commerce committee on Tuesday, Toyota officials told the committee on January 27th that the company first learned of this problem through reports of accelerator pedals sticking in vehicles in Ireland and England more than seven months ago.
In a statement last night a spokesman for Toyota Ireland said: “We have over the past 12 months dealt with 11 sporadic and separate cases involving issues to do with accelerator pedals, the first of these being in January. 2009. It could not have been concluded that there was a discernible, definitive trend from these separate cases. Each of these cases was addressed individually, a replacement accelerator fitted and we then, as a matter of course, sent a report on the cases to Toyota Europe.”
The letter, addressed to James Lentz, president of Toyota Motor US, asks for clarification as to when Toyota began investigating the problem, and all relevant documents supporting the claim that cases of sudden acceleration in the cars are down to pedals sticking.
Toyota this week recalled 26,000 cars in Ireland – and 1.8 million across Europe – over the accelerator issue. The recall involves popular models such as the Yaris, Corolla, Avensis and RAV4, produced between February 2005 and January 5th of this year.
The global recall includes 2.3 million cars in the US. At least 15 lawsuits seeking class action status have been filed in the US against Toyota over the issue, and seven of them claim an electronic throttle system called ETCS-i is at fault instead of the pedals.
Meanwhile, US transportation secretary Ray LaHood said yesterday he had misspoken when he said that owners of the recalled Toyotas should stop driving them until the company fixes the problem. He said he would be contacting Toyota president Akio Toyoda directly to emphasise how seriously the Obama administration is taking investigations into reports of uncontrolled acceleration in Toyota vehicles.
Separately, the carmaker has been ordered by Japan’s government to investigate brake-related problems with the latest version of its Prius hybrid car. In Ireland, Toyota says that owners affected by the recall will be contacted in the next 10 days to organise appointments to have their cars checked by local dealers.