Right after Toyota Motor Corp.’s Sudden Acceleration Recalls, Toyota has come under pressure for stopping matters for the Toyota Prius, Toyotas fashionable hybrid. According to Ray LaHood, Transportation Secretary, Transportation agents will commence an inquiry after written reports were obtained that the Japanese government has broached an investigation concerning brake misfunction charges, reported by the Japan Automobile Dealers Association.
Reported by a complaint filed with National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA): My 2010 Toyota Prius has a serious braking problem, the car lunges forward after (I) apply my brakes over a bumpy surface. This is very unexpected and luckily no one was in front of me otherwise I would have hit them. This already happened several times, took my car to the dealer and no solution, I dont know what to do with a brand new (car) like this. There are many complaints with similar descriptions around problems when encountering even minor bumps and potholes with the 2010 Prius.
This ongoing matter is on top of Toyotas recall of 3.8 million automobiles in Nov. ‘09 to doctor gas pedals and software to address what has been described as sudden acceleration troubles, which was pursued by the newest sudden acceleration recall on January 21, ‘10 when Toyota Motor Sales proclaimed a recall for 2,300,000 cars. Reported by a USA work titled “100 Toyota drivers filed complaints before recall”, there were more than one hundred complaints filed before Toyota made the recall announcement.
Lately, Ray LaHood made assertions which call into question Toyotas process on the sudden acceleration matter. According to Secretary LaHood, “Today, Toyota is apparently taking the right steps to address these safety issues. Unfortunately it took much effort to get to this point.” While at a Congressional hearing on February 3, 2010, the Transportation Secretary stated that owners of recalled Toyotas should halt driving them until the Toyotas are repaired.
And now Toyota documents, which the company is trying to preserve from the populace may bespeak a possible cover up. A one-time Toyota lawyer, Dimitrios Biller, as portion of his legal complaint against Toyota has declared that Toyota has hidden safety evidence in rollover suits. During Dec., Biller notified Toyota that he would supply a thorough replica of the written documents he possessed to the Los Angeles Times. Toyota replied by requesting a California arbitrator to block him from sending the written documents to anyone. If Toyota has nothing to cover up in the rollover suits and has provided another lawyer the same documents that Biller possesses, as it has intimated, what does Toyota have to conceal?
These on-going series of issues, the Prius brake issue and the one-time lawyer insinuating that the automaker hid papers, coupled with the Transportation Secretarys remarks concerning Toyotas handling of the sudden acceleration recall are wreaking a mass of scrutiny on Toyota, questioning the companys believability. Will the car manufacturer be able to regenerate it?